Jennifer Esposito is being written out of the cast of the CBS show Blue Bloods after appearing in 42 episodes. As one might imagine, she’s not too thrilled with this news, and has taken to Twitter to call out CBS.
Esposito suffers from Celiac Disease, a digestive disease that interferes with the way one gets their nutriets from food. It damages the small intestines from an immune response to gluten. Esposito actually operates the Jennifer’s Way Foundation, designed to educate and raise awareness about the disease. She’s been dealing with it for years, throughout her acting career.
In a story she shares on the JennifersWay.org site, she writes, “In spite of all this though, I had managed to become a self made, hard working, award winning actress. Almost 15 years as a working actress in a god forsaken, takes no prisoners business that would make the strongest man crumble. Worked hard and managed to own my own home by the age of 25. And at this point of my life I was a friend, an aunt, a godmother, a sister and a self respecting 35-year-old women. I had traveled to foreign countries alone. I have had good relationships and bad. Cried, learned from mistakes, got back up. I’ve never fallen in to the evils of ‘Hollywood’ – never had an eating disorder, I worked out to stay healthy, and never took a drug in my life. I learned to meditate and developed a strong spiritual center. I’ve been at my lowest and knew to count my blessings for what was, rather than for what was not.”
Now, she appears to be dealing with some familiar “evils,” as CBS has written her out of the show, following a reported collapse on set. She has taken to Twitter to call out the network, which maintains that since she is only available to work on a “very limited part-time schedule,” she is “unable to perform the demands of her role,” and that they needed to put her character on a “leave of absence.” The network says it hopes she will be able to return at some point in the future.
Here is what Esposito has been saying (in addition to numerous retweets from her supporters):
The New York Post reports:
Sources tell us that Jennifer collapsed on the set in August, complaining that producers were “working her too hard…”
One source said, “She said she was being worked too hard and was escorted to her trailer and filming was halted. The crew was forced to come back to finish the scene on a Saturday a few weeks later, and that was when Jennifer discovered from the script they were writing her off the show.”
The publication also shares a statement from Esposito’s lawyer, who said, “The suggestion that Ms. Esposito created a scene and was escorted to her trailer is a vicious falsehood.”
The outpour of support from fans on Twitter has been astounding, giving us one of the latest examples of how Twitter (and social media in general) are truly putting fans in connection with the celebrities they admire. Sometimes, this even leads to increased awareness for a cause. If nothing else, Esposito can likely take some amount of comfort in that aspect of the story.
Image: Blue Bloods (CBS)