The wait for Euphoria season 3 is officially over, and after four long years, fans are reunited with some of their favorite characters. However, One Direction fanfic author-turned-dom top cam girl Kat Hernandez, played by Barbie Ferreira, is noticeably absent from the new batch of episodes.

During an April 14 appearance on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast, Barbie got candid about the real reason she exited the show in August 2022 and debunked rumors that her exit was due to a big falling-out between her and showrunner Sam Levinson.

“In fact, it was kind of the opposite of dramatic, where it was like a long process of being like, ‘I don’t know if this is it for me,’” she said of her exit, adding, “And then like having conversations with people and us trying to figure out how to make Kat a fully fleshed-out character, and it just wasn’t going anywhere.”

She went on to explain that she didn’t want to use her time being a background character when she could be flexing her acting muscles on other projects, like her new movies, Mile End Kicks and Faces of Death.

“So I truly was just like, since we can’t find anything and we can’t land on anything…let me just go do my thing. ’Cause it’s a long time and you can’t leave. And the thing is, I don’t need to be on the biggest TV show on earth if I’m not acting, you know?” she said. “I would rather do an indie movie where I’m acting, I'm flexing my muscles, I’m being creatively asked to do things rather than sitting around to be a background character.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Barbie spoke about being a prevalent figure in the body positivity movement during its heyday and opened up about people commenting on her body and weight loss.

“To me, talking about weight loss or glowing up is so boring,” she told host Amanda Hirsch. “I think people are just obsessed with that right now.”

She added, “It’s not just me. Every actress right now is being put under a microscope of being too skinny or too big. It’s all rage bait. If you can find something to rage bait about, it’s more effective in the algorithm.

“For me, I have the perspective of what’s happening because I’m like the first person, I’m the punching bag of everything,” Barbie continued. “It feels like a different place that we are in of society. A few years ago, it felt a little bit easier. It felt a little bit less of a conversation, and now it’s all people talk about. People are just obsessed with looks, and it’s not good for the psyche for anyone.”

Truer words, Barbie!