Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ NCIS star Pauley Perrette said she’s leaving the
CBS crime drama after
15 years on the show. Perrette, who plays pigtailed forensic scientist Abby Sciuto on the CBS show, confirmed reports of her departure this season on Twitter, writing Wednesday that “there have been all kinds of false rumors as to why” she’s leaving. She said neither CBS nor the show’s producers are “mad” at her, and the decision to leave was one she made last year. “I hope everyone will love and enjoy everything Abby not only for the rest of the season but for everything she has given all of us for 16 years,” she said in a note posted on Twitter. The 48-year-old Perrette adds that she loves her character “as much as you do.” NCIS executive producers George Schenck and Frank Cardea said in a statement: “We’ve known for some time this would be Pauley’s final season on ‘NCIS’ and have been working toward a special send-off.” They said, “Abby is a character that inspires millions of fans around the world, and all of us at ‘NCIS’ are appreciative of Pauley for portraying her.” The ensemble series about Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents said farewell to another original cast member in 2016 when Michael Weatherly, who played Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, left the show after a 13-season stint. NCIS, which also stars Mark Harmon and David McCallum, kicked off its 15th season on Sept. 26.
■ Tennis icon Billie Jean King is not mincing words about the many white women who voted for Donald Trump, saying they “really don’t like themselves.” King, a leader in the fight for equal pay for women in tennis, also says she feels there is more misogyny now than when she defeated Bobby Riggs in the famous “Battle of the Sexes” match in 1973, the subject of the new movie starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell. The film, in addition to chronicling the match that drew up to 90 million TV viewers, depicts King’s budding secret relationship with Marilyn Barnett while she was married to Larry King. “I think there’s a lot of misogyny — I think it’s higher now than it was,” King said in an interview Tuesday at a Manhattan awards ceremony where she was honored by the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation, which provides gymnastics programs to underserved communities. Exit polls indicated that in November, 53 percent of white women voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton. “I’m really upset with women, actually,” King said. “I’m upset with the white women that voted for Mr. Trump. I think they really don’t like themselves … I think a lot of women don’t like themselves.” She added: “Girls are brought up to be perfect, and boys are brought up to be brave. Well, a girl can never be perfect. So we never can win.”