The actress recalled having a “distant relationship” with her career.

Anna Faris reveals she nearly retired from acting after Mom, was ‘pretty depressed’

The actress recalled having a “distant relationship” with her career.

By Shelby Stivale

Shelby Stivale

Shelby Stivale is a senior writer at **. She has been working at EW since July 2026. Her work has previously appeared on Us Weekly and J-14.

EW's editorial guidelines

August 20, 2026 12:16 p.m. ET

Anna Faris. Credit:

Candice Ward/Getty

- Anna Faris departed *Mom *in 2020 after seven seasons.

- The actress recalled feeling like her career was “being put out to pasture” and nearly retired.

- “I was, in hindsight, I think pretty depressed,” Faris said on the *Dear Chelsea *podcast.

Anna Faris felt like she her career was “being put out to pasture” after starring in seven seasons of *Mom*.

“I didn’t know what my ambition [was],” Faris said during the Aug. 20 episode of the *Dear Chelsea** *podcast. “I didn’t know where I stood, what opportunity there was.”

When the actress, who turns 50 in November, reached her late 40s, she was “disturbed by my lack of ambition.” Looking back, Faris said she was definitely experiencing some mental health issues. (Faris departed *Mom* in 2020 after its seventh season. The show went on for one more season before ending in 2021.)

“I was, in hindsight, I think pretty depressed, like, premenopausal depression without recognizing it,” the *Scary Movie* star continued. “I was just having a distant relationship with this city and my career and wondering if I had enough money to retire.”

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our ******EW Dispatch newsletter******.***

Faris said she was “going through this stuff” just before losing her house to the 2025 Pacific Palisades fires in Los Angeles. She compared the feeling of losing her house to “a million different winces,” meaning it was just something she remembered several times a day.

At the time, Faris had already been cast in the upcoming movie *Spa Weekend* when her house burned down, so the actress knew that her career would continue.

Anna Faris and Allison Janney on ‘Mom’.

“It was incredible to have that job. It still didn’t make me feel like I was having a career resurgence necessarily,” she continued. “It felt like a great gig but ... I’m always hedging my bets. Although you wouldn’t always know it by the way I behave.”

Faris recalled her time on set being “so good” for her because of what she was dealing with at the time. But it was also “still part of a slow retirement idea.”

'Scary Movie' cast: See the original parody's stars, then and now

Anna Faris addresses why she left 'Mom' and didn't return for the final season

Her mindset changed after a call from Marlon Wayans, revealing that they got the *Scary Movie *franchise back. (Faris said that making this year’s version of *Scary Movie*, the film that kickstarted her career, has felt like a “bow tie” on her life.)

“Suddenly I had this rush of like, what if my destiny hasn’t quite forged itself in slow aging actress retirement?” Faris recalled. “It was a very wonderful and heady year for me.”

The *House Bunny *actress added, “I feel more confident in what I have to offer, which might not be, I don’t know, for a wide audience. But I feel more solid in my own ability. I wish I had realized that earlier.”

Listen to Faris’ full appearance on *Dear Chelsea *below.

- Celebrities & Creators

- Entertainment Industry Roles

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Actors”