Emily VanCamp Discusses Her 'Bittersweet' Exit from 'The Resident' : 'Family Is Where My Heart Is'

Emily VanCamp is opening up about how motherhood impacted her departure from The Resident.

In an interview with Deadline published after her final episode aired Tuesday, the 35-year-old actress said she first discussed leaving the show "a while ago" as her priorities "suddenly" shifted.

"I think there comes a moment in every woman's life — in every person's life — where it becomes less about work and more about family," she told the outlet, "and that's what happened while I was making the show. Doing that many episodes in a different city and then you add COVID to that, most of us couldn't see our families for almost a year. It really solidified for me that family is where my heart is at the moment."

VanCamp starred as Nicolette "Nic" Nevin, a nurse practitioner at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital, on the Fox medical drama for four years.

Please note the rest of the story contains spoilers for The Resident.

Season 5 of the series premiered on Sept. 21 without Nic, who was said to have been away at a spa before an accident left her with a brain injury.

On Tuesday's episode, Nic's husband Conrad Hawkins, played by Matt Czuchry, ultimately made the difficult decision to pull the plug on Nic's life support, leading to her death. The fictional couple had welcomed daughter Georgiana Grace (aka Gigi) in season 4.

In August, VanCamp gave birth to a daughter of her own named Iris, her first child with husband Josh Bowman.

Being pregnant while filming her final episodes was a "very interesting" experience for VanCamp, who tends to be "very private" about her family life. However, she told Deadline that it ultimately worked in her favor: "It allowed us to keep the pregnancy quiet and to have something that's just ours for a little while."

She added, "That was beautiful in and of itself — to finally have a little privacy. The timing wasn't exactly the same, so I was wearing a [prosthetic] belly over my belly. You know, after all the Marvel stuff it was nice to not have to focus so much on all of those things."

Leaving the show she loved, however, was "a bittersweet moment" for VanCamp. Luckily, she had the support of those on the Resident set.

"Oftentimes you hear about someone exiting a show because something bad had happened or there was some bad blood. But in this case, it's the exact opposite. There's nothing but love and respect between all of us and this decision was not an easy one for anybody but it was the right one for me, personally. I'm grateful that I was met with understanding and compassion."

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After the episode, VanCamp shared an emotional message for fans of The Resident on Instagram alongside a video paying tribute to her time on the series.

"Feeling so much gratitude for the relationships I've gained, the stories I've had the opportunity to tell and the many lessons I've learned from playing Nic Nevin on The Resident," she wrote, in part. "Thank you to everyone who came on this journey with me and this wonderful character.

The Resident airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on FOX.