“I thought, ‘Maybe that’s my sign that I’m not living the moments enough, because they can go away so quickly,’” the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star recalled.

Sarah Michelle Gellar stepped away from acting because of Robin Williams’ death: ‘That loss was so huge’

"I thought, 'Maybe that's my sign that I'm not living the moments enough, because they can go away so quickly,'" the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star recalled.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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January 8, 2026 7:27 p.m. ET

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Sarah Michelle Gellar in Los Angeles on Oct. 21, 2025; Robin Williams in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2013. Credit:

River Callaway/Variety via Getty; CBS Photo Archive/CBS via Getty

- Sarah Michelle Gellar stepped away from acting after her *Crazy Ones* costar Robin Williams died in 2014.

- "I thought, 'Maybe that's my sign that I'm not living the moments enough, because they can go away so quickly,'" the actress remembered.

- Gellar primarily focused on her children and provided voice work in animated projects from 2014 to 2023.

Sarah Michelle Gellar was deeply affected by the death of Robin Williams.

The *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* actress, who starred with the late *Patch Adams* actor on the sitcom *The Crazy Ones*, reflected on how Williams' passing in 2014 led her to step back from acting during a conversation with Evan Ross Katz on his podcast *Shut Up Evan*.

"I had had children back to back. I started *Crazy Ones* when my son was three months old," Gellar remembered of the show, which was canceled after one season a few months before Williams' death. "I was breastfeeding the entire time. And then Robin passed away, and everything just sort of hit me. It was like, the postpartum hit me, and that loss was so huge. And I just felt a little directionless for the first time in my life."

Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar in 'The Crazy Ones'.

Richard Cartwright/CBS via Getty

Gellar said that Williams' death, coupled with the other overwhelming factors in her life, led her to a period of introspection. "I thought, 'Maybe that's my sign that I'm not living the moments enough, because they can go away so quickly,'" she said. "And at that point, I just said I needed to take a break. And I'm so glad I did on so many levels."

The *Scooby-Doo* actress said that her acting hiatus allowed her to be extremely present with her family. "First of all, I'll never get that time back with my kids," she said. "I didn't miss a show, a performance, a first step, a lost tooth. Every moment, I was able to be there for. And that's not something you can do as a working actor. Our days are long. We travel a lot."

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Gellar's time away from the spotlight also helped her gain a new perspective on her profession. "I also got to a place where I realized how much I actually missed it, and now I appreciate it in a different way," she said. "I also pick my projects differently now. I used to have this, like, 'I need to know what my next job is. I have to work' — work to find how I thought of myself."

She continued, "But now work is just a part of how I think of myself. And so now I pick jobs because I really want to work with that person. Or I think this would be so much fun. I don't have this desire to prove stuff that I used to have."

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Robin Williams in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 29, 2013.

Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

Gellar said that she hopes she has struck the right balance of her career and her family. "I also didn't want to be that person that all of a sudden, then my kids left and then I was directionless again," she said. "Because when you do step away from acting, you never know if there's going to be a career to go back to. It doesn't matter who you are. Sometimes audiences move on and that's okay. That's acceptable. I'm very, very grateful that I found that that's not been the case, and there's still a place for me."

Gellar will next star in *Ready or Not 2: Here We Come* alongside Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton. The film marks her first non-cameo live-action movie performance since 2009's *Veronika Decides to Die*. Gellar primarily worked in animated projects between *The Crazy Ones*' conclusion in 2014 and her 2023 Paramount+ series *Wolf Pack*.

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Gellar is also set to return to her most iconic series in the *Buffy the Vampire Slayer* revival alongside Ryan Kiera Armstrong, who will play a new slayer in the long-awaited continuation of the teen fantasy show.

Listen to Gellar's full conversation with Katz above.**

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