"I’m not interested in airing out dirty laundry"
Grace Park has broken her silence about her Hawaii Five-0 exit.
As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Grace Park has talked about her Hawaii Five-o exit for the first time.
In June 2017, Park and Daniel Dae Kim left the CBS series following a salary dispute. “Though I made myself available to come back, CBS and I weren’t able to agree to terms on a new contract, so I made the difficult choice not to continue,” Kim said at the time.
Whilst her co-star was outspoken about his decision, Park remained silent on the issue. She has since broken that silence.
Park told EW that she was reluctant to say anything because she did not necessarily have anything nice to say.
“Sometimes it’s better not to talk,” Park said. “I’m not interested in airing out dirty laundry.”
Although she had remained silent at the time, executive producer Peter M Lenkov sent a tweet that implied Park had left the show to be with her family. Lenkov wrote that Park had “away from her family for seven years.”
The 44-year-old actress told EW that she told Lenkov that she disapproved of his tweet.
“I let [Lenkov[ know, ‘That wasn’t cool that you made a statement on my behalf.’… I know he did it to be helpful, and I care about Peter as a person, but I didn’t leave for that reason,” she said.
Park added that there were multiple reasons for her departure from the show.
“There were a number of factors spanning the show that affected the non-renewal of my contract,” she said. “I’m grateful for the lessons learned, but I chose what was best for my integrity.”
“I know that people are always trying their best, and everyone’s coming from their own backgrounds,” she continued. “Throughout the whole series, I kept trying to see the best in everybody. Would I do it all over again? I wouldn’t be so quick to say yes.… I’m still figuring stuff out. Sometimes people are just really good at burying stuff, and I think I’m like that.”
Park will be starring as Katherine in ABC’s A Million Little Things this fall. Discussing her character, Park said, “she doesn’t need to be likable. She’s just doing the things she needs to get done.
“Not everyone might like her, and I thought that was actually quite a relief of pressure, that you didn’t need to make your character funny or likable or cool or sexy or the lead.”