Amy Jo Johnson, who starred in the first two seasons of “Felicity,” says she needed to leave the show to “fall apart” somewhere after her mother passed away.
“She got sick when we were doing the pilot and then that summer when we were filming she passed away,” Johnson, 47, told Page Six at the ATX TV Festival on Sunday. “It was just sort of this like rollercoaster ride for me emotionally for two years.I think I just needed to go fall apart somewhere.”
Johnson, who returned for the final few episodes, continued, “I went to J.J. [Abrams] and I was like, ‘I think I need a break.’ I was spinning out a bit. He was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll write you these episodes and if you promise to come back at the end.’ They were amazing, they really took care of me that way.”
After she left the show, Johnson fled to Chicago, where she recorded an album.
Johnson is living with her 9-year-old daughter in Toronto, where she’s taken a step back from acting to focus on writing and directing.
“It’s my passion now — all I want to do is write, direct and be a filmmaker,” she told us. “I love it and I love doing it in Toronto as well. I find that city to be quite nurturing and comforting. I don’t feel overwhelmed. I was very overwhelmed in Los Angeles and I don’t feel that there.”
Johnson is currently working on her second feature film.
