Sarah Michelle Gellar stepped away from acting after Robin Williams died

Sarah Michelle Gellar has revealed that the tragic death of Robin Williams prompted her to turn her back on Hollywood for almost eight years.

The Cruel Intentions star quit showbiz in 2014 after her co-star Williams on the sitcom The Crazy Ones died by suicide.

“I’ve worked my whole life. When I had kids — right after Robin died — a lot of things happened in my life and I just said, ‘I need to take a break,’” Gellar, 45, tell people.

Gellar and Williams collaborated on The Crazy Ones from 2013 to 2014, with Gellar playing Williams’ daughter on screen.

This marked Williams’ last TV role before his death on August 11, 2014, at the age of 63.

The comedian battled drug addiction throughout his career and completed a rehab shortly before his death.

An autopsy revealed Williams unknowingly had Lewy body dementia, the second most common form of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. Before his death, he was being treated for Parkinson’s disease.

As she was dealing with Williams’ passing, Gellar said she remembers thinking, “I need to be here for the early formative years of my kid’s life.

“I needed a break to be the parent I wanted to be.”

Gellar has two children with actor husband Freddie Prinze Jr – Charlotte Grace, 12, and Rocky James, 9. Now that her kids are grown up, Gellar has found the right opportunity to return to show business with the Wolf Pack.

The actress also said she “really misses” her career.

“But it’s also looking for the right opportunity, and what speaks to you speaks to your audience.”

After rising to fame as a star on the ’90s hit series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Gellar is also now the executive producer of the Paramount+ paranormal series Wolf Pack, where he plays arson investigator Kristin Ramsey.

Set in the world of Teen Wolf, adapted from the book series by Edo van Belkom.

It also stars Armani Jackson and Bella Shepard.