Desperate Housewives star calls her exit from the show ‘degrading’ and ‘demoralising’

Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan has described her exit from the US hit show as “degrading”. 

Sheridan’s character, Edie Britt, was killed off in the ABC comedy-drama series in 2009. Shortly after, the actress filed a lawsuit against ABC, production studio Touchstone and show creator Marc Cherry, claiming that Cherry had struck her on set and that she was written off the show after complaining about the alleged incident. 

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Sheridan has reflected on the lawsuit as well as her exit from the show, stating it led her to re-evaluate her relationship with the TV industry. 

She said: “What happened at the end of Desperate Housewives was degrading and demoralising.

“It sent me under a rock. I really grappled with what happened, losing faith in people and really not trusting the business at all. I didn’t know that I wanted anything to do with the business for some time.” 

Sheridan revealed she didn’t think about returning to series TV until the CW approached her to star in the Dynasty reboot as Alexis Carrington. 

“When Edie Britt died on Desperate Housewives, I feel like the audience felt like Nicollette died with her. And I thought [Dynasty] was such a splashy, fun, strong comeback.

“It was just the right thing at the right time,” she added.

Sheridan also touched on her legal battle which is still going eight years after the initial lawsuit. A judge threw out her case last year, but Sheridan is still appealing.

She told Entertainment Weekly: “I was vilified for standing up for my rights, not only as a woman but as a human being. And I was punished for it. But that wasn’t going to stop me because I had to get my dignity back, and if I’d let it slide, I couldn’t have looked myself in the mirror.” 

Sheridan marks her return to TV as Alexis Carrington in the CW Dynasty reboot on March 23.