The hit ABC TV show, Punky Brewster, starred Soleil Moon Frye. She played a spunky girl who was left in a grocery store by her mother. She gets adopted by an old photographer who is quite grouchy, but loving nonetheless. The show ended after season 4, even though it had fantastic ratings and was doing really well. Everyone wondered, why?
Many years passed and the mystery was revealed. Soleil Moon Frye, the 15-year-old actress who played the role of Punky Brewster, got breast reduction surgery. Her large breasts were causing back pain and she had to get the surgery. Without her, the show ended.
Lisa Bonet on The Cosby Show
Denise was the oldest daughter in the famous Cosby Family. The role was actually based on Bill Cosby’s real-life daughter, named Erinn. Erinn and Denise were the same age. The character Denise was a major favorite among fans. She was a beautiful and smart character, so what happened? Why did she leave so abruptly?
Lisa Bonet played the role of Denise and got pregnant while filming. It was sad that Bill Cosby did not want her on the show while pregnant because he did not want to have a single teen mom on his show! She was offered a spin-off and even came back to The Cosby Show later on.
Bob Odenkirk on Saturday Night Live
Bob Odenkirk has been a well-respected comedian and actor before voicing a character in The Incredibles 2 movie franchise. He actually was part of the famous Saturday Night Live cast for quite some time. While he did make a few appearances on screen, most of his work on the show was behind the scenes as a writer.
"A big part of the challenge I had at Saturday Night Live was my own immaturity," Odenkirk later realized. "I brought a lot of challenge to the show just because I was a person who was confrontational and suspicious of the establishment." Well, at least he's mature enough now to realize.
Maggie Roswell (Maude Flanders) on The Simpsons
The character Maude Flanders, on The Simpsons, suffered quite a tragic death on the show. They wrote in her death as death by t-shirt cannon. Despite being just a cartoon, it was a pretty radical death, and the end of a job for the actress Maggie Roswell, who voiced Maude.
Maggie did not live in LA for filming, so every time she was on an episode she had to fly herself to LA to shoot. This was getting expensive for her, so she tried to negotiate more money to take care of travel expenses. They did not give her a raise and ended up killing the character.
Scarlett Pomers On Reba
The role of Kyra Hart, the youngest daughter of Reba, on the TV show Reba, was played by actress Scarlett Pomers. She was one of the main characters on the show and was a saucy beauty. People loved her and were quite surprised when she left the show without a trace.
Sadly, Scarlett left the show because she went into rehab for her eating disorder. She had been suffering from anorexia and was weighing only 73 pounds. She appeared in 2 of the 22 episodes during season 5 and returned to Reba when she recovered, in 2006.