“Big Bang Theory” Star Opens Up About His Decision to Leave the Show

Jim Parsons in "The Big Bang Theory"

Jim Parsons has revealed the real reason he decided to leave The Big Bang Theory after twelve seasons on the show.

Parsons played Sheldon Cooper on the show, which ran for twelve seasons and snapped up four Emmys and one Golden Globe. Speaking on David Tennant’s podcast, Parsons revealed what prompted him to leave the show after so many years.

“It was a complicated road as you can imagine,” he explained. “In retrospect, it was just happening before my eyes. We went through the 11th season and that summer I went to New York to do Boys in the Band on Broadway.”

He went onto reveal that on top of scheduling conflicts, it was the death of his beloved dog that prompted Parsons to reflect on his career.

“I was so beaten down. I walked out for curtain call [on Boys in the Band] and I slipped and I broke my foot. It was the scariest moment for the next couple of days because I felt like I was at the edge of a cliff,” he recalled.

“I was teetering and I saw something really dark below between the death of the dog. The bottom line was that it was a really intense summer. The dog passing away, he was 14, and Todd and I had been together for 15 years at that point, so it just was the end of an era.”

“I had this moment of clarity that I think you’re very fortunate to get in a lot of ways, of going: ‘Don’t keep speeding by’. You know? ‘Use this time to take a look around’. And I did.”

Parsons may have left The Big Bang Theory but you can still watch seasons one through twelve on Netflix now.