{"id":3578,"date":"2025-09-25T15:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T15:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=3578"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T15:52:10","slug":"michael-weatherlys-heartbreak-and-healing-why-the-ncis-star-took-a-step-back-from-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=3578","title":{"rendered":"Michael Weatherly\u2019s Heartbreak and Healing: Why the NCIS Star Took a Step Back from Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Michael Weatherly steps back onto our screens in\u00a0NCIS: Tony & Ziva<\/em>, he does so with a heavier heart-and a sharper sense of purpose.<\/p>\n

The 57-year-old actor, best known as Tony DiNozzo, recently spoke about the personal losses that reshaped his life and career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took a few years off because I had burned myself into a bit of a puddle,\u201d Weatherly told\u00a0Hello! Magazine.<\/em>\u00a0\u201cI did 125 episodes of\u00a0Bull<\/em>. I wasn\u2019t connecting with the character, so I took time off.\u201d<\/p>\n

That break was about more than fatigue. It was also about grief.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Family Shattered by Loss<\/h3>\n

While immersed in work, tragedy struck. \u201cI was so busy making television when my sister died that I didn\u2019t find out for three days,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

In the years after, his brother died in 2023, followed by his father in 2024. \u201cIt\u2019s very interesting how many people moved on to the next plane over the last few years,\u201d he reflected. \u201cAnd that brought an urgency back into my world.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Controversy to Introspection<\/h3>\n

Weatherly\u2019s career also faced turbulence. During\u00a0Bull<\/em>, he was accused of sexual harassment by costar Eliza Dushku. CBS later settled with Dushku for $9.5 million. Weatherly apologized publicly in 2018, admitting his remarks were \u201cnot funny and not appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, he has focused on self-reflection. \u201cMy wife and I talk about how hard it is to look at yourself,\u201d he shared. \u201cI did a lot of therapy, a lot of reckoning and examination of different things.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Approach<\/h3>\n

Time away gave him clarity. \u201cWhen I was at a certain point, I thought, \u2018If it feels wrong, it must be right.\u2019 Now, if it feels wrong, I say, \u2018Let\u2019s talk about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The result: \u201cI care a lot less about what people think about me. But in a great way-I want to be understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in the Spotlight<\/h3>\n

That sense of purpose drew him back to\u00a0NCIS: Tony & Ziva<\/em>, a Paramount+ spinoff following Tony and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) as they go on the run in Europe with their daughter, Tali.<\/p>\n

For Weatherly, it\u2019s more than a reunion-it\u2019s a chance to honor the resilience he\u2019s found in his own life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wait for the universe to do what it\u2019s gonna do,\u201d he said. \u201cI try not to push too hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

After years of loss, controversy, and reflection, Michael Weatherly\u2019s second act is built not just on charm, but on hard-won wisdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Michael Weatherly steps back onto our screens in\u00a0NCIS: Tony & Ziva, he does so with a heavier heart-and a sharper sense of purpose. The 57-year-old actor,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3580,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3578\/revisions\/3580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}