How NCIS stars found out about Cote de Pablo’s shocking exit ’20 minutes before everyone else!!!!

In 2013 NCIS fans were left shocked when Cote de Pablo made the surprising announcement that she was leaving the hit TV series.

But it turns out that the news was also a huge shock to the cast, with the likes of Michael Weatherly and Pauley Perrette only finding out 20 minutes before it was released to the media.

“It was huge news to us,” Pauley told E! News at the time.“I found out literally 20 minutes before it was released in the press,” she said. “But we love her. She’s our friend. She had a personal decision to make. No one wanted her to leave. There was no drama…there really isn’t much to tell. There really wasn’t any drama. But we love her, we respect her and that’s what happened.”

Cote left the show in 2013; her character Ziva David was killed in a bomb explosion in Israel. But the actress, who appeared in seasons three to ten, made a surprise return in 2019, when it was revealed that Ziva was in fact alive and in hiding.

After uncovering terrorist Mira Sahar Azam as the mastermind behind the attempt to murder Ziva, LeRoy Gibbs (Mark Harmon) shot her down, freeing his colleague from a life on the run.