Emmy Rossum Is Finally Getting Real About Why She Left Shameless

Emmy Rossum is ready to talk about the most shocking move she’s made in her acting career. Back in 2018, she surprised fans by announcing she was leaving Shameless, the long-running dramedy that she helmed for nearly a decade as the put-upon eldest daughter of a neglectful deadbeat father. At the time, Rossum didn’t provide a clear explanation for her exit, simply writing that she was “filled with gratitude” for her years on the series.

Rossum’s last appearance was Season 9’s finale, in which her character Fiona Gallagher decides to use half of the $100,000 she had just earned from a prior investment to cut ties with her family and start a new life outside of Chicago, leaving the other half of the money to her siblings. Shameless continued for two more seasons without Fiona, eventually ending in 2021. Rossum did not return for the series finale.

Over the years, there has been a lot of speculation about why Rossum left the popular series she was the star of. She shut down one theory during her July 8 appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “A common misconception is that I left to go have babies,” Rossum said. “That could not be further from the truth.”

Rossum’s departure announcement came a year after she married writer/director Sam Esmail in 2017. Shortly after her final episode of Shameless aired, Rossum gave birth to two kids: a daughter born in 2021, and a son born in 2023.

Despite the timing, Rossum clarified that her departure from Shameless had nothing to do with her home life. Instead, she wanted to focus on her new production company, Composition 8, which she publicly announced one month after her final Shameless episode aired.

“I had already set up my production company,” Rossum said. “I had set up my first show and I was greenlit, getting ready to make it.” The show is likely Angelyne, the 2022 Peacock miniseries that was picked up in 2020, with Rossum starring as the eponymous L.A. fixture.

Although Rossum was ready to focus on new projects, she reiterated how difficult it was for her to ultimately exit Shameless. “I wanted to stay in the job,” Rossum said. “I loved the job. I loved the job until it felt like there wasn’t enough juice to squeeze out of the lemon. We had made 110 episodes.”

“I left with a lot of grief and sorrow and I would miss all those people and I couldn’t believe they were going to go on a journey without me,” Rossum added. “But I was also really excited. I felt like I was launching.”