‘NCIS’ Star Pauley Perrette Talks Her Final Season And How Her Character Has Inspired Young Girls

‘NCIS’ Star Pauley Perrette Talks Her Final Season And How Her Character Has Inspired Young Girls

As fans brace themselves for the departure of Abby Sciuto from the CBS procedural NCIS, actress Pauley Perrette stopped by the newly minted Emmy award-winning daytime talk show The Talk today to reflect on her time as Abby on the popular series and the influence the character has had on audiences — specifically young girls.

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In the video above, Sara Gilbert pointed out that Abby, a forensic scientist on the show, has had made many girls pursue a career in math, science, and forensics — so much that it has been dubbed “the Abby effect.”

“Yeah, it’s been such an incredible journey, this one little fictional television character,” said Perrette. “It has been enormous and overwhelming for young girls around the world, every country in the world, and over the course of fifteen years… have modeled themselves after this TV character and it made math and science not only a viable plan for them but it made it accessible and fun, and it inspired these girls, which has been so heartwarming.”

She adds, “These are people who, sixteen years later, have gotten their degrees in science and math.”

After the interview, the ladies of The Talk surprised Perrette with a life-size balloon sculpture of her character made of over 400 balloons.

Perrette’s departure from NCIS was announced on October 4, 2017. In April, she happily tweeted out that she has completed her last scene on the show, which airs May 8.