Tracee Ellis Ross says that she was “very emotional” during the last week of filming on her hit comedy series Black-ish.
The ABC show, which airs its eighth — and final — season finale April 19, has become such a big part of her life that she had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that it was ending, the actress says on Monday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
“The whole season, I knew was the end, so I was very present and sort of aware of endings, even the things that bothered me,” she said, noting how sentimental she was on set. “But the last week I really said to myself, ‘Just let yourself feel whatever comes up,’ and I had a lot of tears. And it was also really wonderful to be able to take a moment. I was just talking to everybody and hearing their experience in the eight years and what about it was so special for them because we’ve been the same family for eight years, most of our crew is the same and everything’s so very emotional.”
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She noted that there’s no guidebook on how to deal with the ending of something one has been a part of for so long.
“There’s no ritual around ending a TV show, you know, and it’s a hard thing to end when it becomes your world and and your family and your life,” she said. “I spent more time with everyone on that [than] I did with my family.”
After DeGeneres noted that what “important show it is, was and always will be,” Ross replied: “I leave with a lot of joy and pride.”
The cast and creator Kenya Barris also appeared on a panel Saturday at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where star Anthony Anderson noted how personal the show was to him.
“What you saw on that screen was what I went through with my children, and what Kenya went through with his children, and our wives,” he said, as quoted by USA Today.
Added Barris: “We just want to be seen.”
Watch Ross’ appearance on DeGeneres’ show below.
