Pauley Perrette says she's 'terrified' of former 'NCIS' co-star Mark Harmon: I still have 'nightmares'

Pauley Perrette will never, ever return to NCIS — the show that made her famous — and the reason why is simple: Mark Harmon.

The actress blasted her former co-star on Twitter early Friday. After apparently getting one too many questions about whether she’d resurface on the CBS show, she made it perfectly clear that she won’t. Perrette didn’t hold back, saying the reason is because she’s “terrified of Harmon and him attacking me.”

Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette on "NCIS."  (Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images)
Mark Harmon and Pauley Perrette on "NCIS." (Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images)

It’s something the actress still has “nightmares” about, she wrote. The post also noted that her new show, Broke, on the same network, is a “SAFE AND HAPPY” environment.

Perrette knew her response would draw criticism and she was ready. “You think I didn’t expect blow back? You got me wrong,” she wrote in a second tweet. That was accompanied by a photo of a man whose face appeared bruised and had stitches in lacerations around his eye.

“THIS happened To my crew member,” she wrote, “and I fought like hell to keep it from happening again! To protect my crew! And then I was physically assaulted for saying NO!?and I lost my job.”

A last tweet was a promo for her new show and an apology for the “truths.” She said that a “gap year and lots of therapy” have given her perspective. “Just needed to tell the truth and move ON!”

Perrette played Abby Sciuto on the procedural show, and its spin-offs, from 2003 to 2018. A 2016 incident on the dog-friendly set with Harmon’s dog seemed to sour relations between the actress and the top-billed Harmon, who also serves as executive producer.

Harmon’s pit bull mix, which he often brought to the set, bit a crew member who was playfully rough-housing with the dog, TMZ reported at the time. The crew member reportedly needed 16 stitches.

Around the time Perrette left the show last year, The Wrap reported hat she and Harmon had such a big dispute over the dog incident that it led to them to no longer share screen time together — or even be on set on the same days. Apparently Perrette, a huge animal lover and animal rights activist, objected when Harmon’s dog was allowed to return to the set after the bite. Several people were uncomfortable with the dog’s presence, but were afraid to confront Harmon, their boss as EP.

Perrette made it clear there was drama. She tweeted about “multiple physical assaults” being the reason behind her departure. She also referenced “a machine” that was “keeping me silent and feeding FALSE stories about me. A very rich, very powerful publicity ‘machine’. No morals, no obligation to truth, and I’m just left here, reading the lies, trying to protect my crew. Trying to remain calm. He did it.”

She didn’t identify who “He” was at the time. CBS acknowledged that Perrette came to network execs about “a workplace concern” and they said they “worked with her to find a resolution.” She has said she had no issues with the network, which she continues to work for.

Yahoo has reached out to a rep for NCIS and will update this story when a statement is available.

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