Why Donna Mills Abruptly Left Hollywood During Knots Landing

Knots Landing was a long-running spin-off of the soap opera Dallas that premiered on the

 CBS network in 1979

The show really took off during its second season, which is when actress Donna Mills

 premiered on the series as the character of Abby Fairgate Abby would go on to become one

 of the show’s standout characters over the course of its early run before the actress who

 played her abruptly left the series during its tenth season.

Join Facts Verse as we explore why Donna Mills abruptly left Hollywood during Knots

 Landing, After Being Introduced in Season Two, Abby Fairgate Became One of Knots

 Landing’s Most Popular Characters The show Knots Landing came on the air in 1979, and

 it was touted as a spin-off of CBS’ successful soap opera Dallas, Knots Landing went on to

 last for just as many seasons as Dallas did, with both shows yielding a staggering 14

 seasons by the time that they came to an end

This made Knots Landing a pretty successful spin-off, and a big part of that success

 came from the character of Abby Fairgate, Abby Fairgate - nee Cunningham - was

 introduced on Knots Landing during its second season, and she was played by

 actress Donna Mills

From the second season of the show until its tenth, Donna gradually became more and

 more popular until she was one of the show’s standout characters, Despite this, the actress

 who played her ended up having a change of heart about performing her role on the series

 after maintaining her tenure for around a decade and ended up quitting the show

When Donna Mills made the decision to quit Knots Landing during its tenth season,

 she explained to fans that the reason that she was doing so was that she had grown

 bored with her role on the program, Donna felt that she was no longer being challenged

 enough in the role of Abby Fairgate, and she intended to go out into the entertainment

 industry and find more challenging jobs to further her career, The character of Abby was

 always a huge troublemaker in the series, with her last season showcasing her doing such

 things as committing real-estate fraud and framing her son-in-law with a bag of cocaine.

The tenth season had started out with a multi-episode arc in which the character of Abby

 had pretended that she had a change of heart in order to pull a massive con on other

 characters on the show, Donna apparently enjoyed the chance to switch things up at first,

 but then ended up growing just as bored of playing the nice Abby Fairgate as she had of

 playing the mean one, The Stars of Knots Landing Were Allowed to Give a Good Deal of

 Creative Input in Regards to Their Characters For much of her time on the series,

 Donna Mills was allowed to give a fair amount of creative input in regards to how her

 character should be written for the series

When Donna grew bored of playing the fake nice Abby Fairgate that was introduced

 towards the beginning of the show’s tenth season, the writers ended that arc and brought

 back the mean Abby

Previously, Donna’s creative input had helped make the character of Abby Fairgate into

 the icon that she ended up becoming, and also helped shape Knots Landing. In addition to

 exercising her influence over the way that Abby Fairgate was written, Donna Mills also

 exercised her influence a great deal when it came to the way that her character dressed. One

 notable incident of Donna’s influence in these regards was when she demanded that her

 character wear a stain-resistant outfit while burying a corpse during a 1987 episode of

 Knots Landing.

The decision ended up being a good one, as the character of Abby was able to bury the body

 while still looking proper and prim! Donna Mills claims that, during much of her time on

 Knots Landing, there would be script read-throughs with the main cast where the cast

 members would all be encouraged to give their input regarding the script’s dialogue, These

 read-throughs would often result in slightly altered dialogue that was more in line with each

 given character, Sadly, Donna says that this process had ceased by the time that she exited

 from the series during its tenth season The actress may have inferred from this that the

 show’s creative staff was no longer quite as interested in delivering a great product as they

 had been previously, and this may have been another reason why she chose to exit the

 series

Donna Initially Quit Knots Landing to Tackle New and More Challenging Roles 

Elsewhere but Had a Change of Heart While Donna Mills initially claimed that she had

 exited from Knots Landing with the intention of finding more challenging roles than Abby

Fairgate elsewhere in the entertainment industry, the actress ended up realizing that it was

something else entirely that was inspiring her feelings of ennui Instead of finding other

 roles, Donna ended up leaving the entertainment industry for a period of almost two

 decades

The reason that she did this was to take care of her newly adopted daughter!

Donna Mills Became a Parent After Quitting Knots Landing

Donna Mills chose to stop playing Abby Fairgate on Knots Landing because she felt that her

continued time performing on the series was leaving a big hole in her heart At first, Donna

 had assumed that this hole in her heart could be filled by her taking on more challenging

 roles elsewhere in the entertainment industry However, this didn’t end up being the case!

Instead, Donna realized shortly after her exit from the series that what she really wanted was

 to be a parent Donna had worked incredibly hard during her years on Knots Landing, and

 there hadn’t been much time during those years for her to devote much energy to her

 personal life The actress has recalled how she was often forced to work so much during her

 days on the show that she would end up missing out on big events that she had been

 planning for weeks

Donna took this in stride, believing that the work that she was doing on the series was going

 to pay off in spades later in her career She was perhaps right, though it’s understandable

 why she later decided to give it all up and take some time to focus on herself and start a

 family Soon after departing from Knots Landing, Donna Mills went on to adopt a daughter

 named Chloe Donna was in her 50s at the time, and she adopted Chloe when the baby was

 only four days old For the first several years of Chloe's life, Donna continued working

 fairly consistently in the entertainment industry She was able to do this by bringing along

 her daughter with her to all of her jobs. 

However, by the time that Chloe was ready to start school, Donna decided that she

 needed to take a step back from her career so that she could be there for her daughter all

 the time. Donna felt that there was no point in her having adopted the girl if she was just

 going to end up handing all of her parental duties over to a nanny, so she subsequently

 quit acting!

Donna Quit Acting to Be There for Her Daughter 

Donna Mills quit acting so that she could be there more for her adopted daughter, and

 she didn’t end up returning to acting for 18 years!

Now that Chloe is an adult herself, Donna has finally stepped back into the acting game

The actress also claims that she isn’t above reprising the role of Abby Fairgate should Knots

 Landing ever end up being rebooted like Dallas recently was Donna has actually returned

 to reprise the character of Abby Fairgate twice since her initial exit from the series She was

 gracious enough to offer her returning presence to Knots Landing's two-part finale, which

 aired in 1993

The actress had started playing the character of Abby in 1980, a year into the show’s run,

 and had made her exit from the series in 1989 Besides returning to Knots Landing to

 reprise the role of Abby Fairgate for the show’s two-part 1993 finale, Donna Mills also

 returned to reprise the character in the 1997 miniseries Knots Landing: 

Back to the Cul-de-Sac

Donna’s willingness to step back into the shoes of Abby Fairgate suggests that she

 retroactively views her time on Knots Landing fairly positively, despite the fact that she

 ended up leaving he series before its end

Donna Mills has no regrets about the choice she ended up making to quit

Given that Donna was in her 50s at the time that she adopted her daughter, she claims that

 many people felt that she was too old to be a mother

Donna proved them all wrong by being the best mother that she could possibly be!

Donna claims that she felt that she had just as much energy as mothers half her age, and this

 is evidenced by the fact that the actress was able to continue working in the entertainment

industry while caring for her new baby for several years before taking a break when Chloe

got older

Other Facts About Donna Mills and Knots Landing

Other Facts About Donna Mills and Knots Landing Nearly a decade prior to receiving the

 role of Abby Fairgate on Knots Landing, Donna Mills’ breakout role had been in Clint

 Eastwood’s 1971 directorial debut, which was named Play Misty for Me Besides the role of

 Abby Fairgate, Donna’s role in Play Misty for Me arguably stands as her second-most

 iconic, Though the series Knots Landing was technically a spin-off of Dallas, the shows’

 creator had actually come up with the idea for Knots Landing first

The network rejected the idea, so he pitched Dallas instead

When Dallas became a huge hit, the creator started planting the seeds of Knots Landing into

 the series in hopes that he would eventually be able to turn it into a spin-off While Knots

 Landing would come to be known for its extravagant serialized arcs that gave its parent

 program a run for their money, the show started out with fairly self-contained stories that

 were typically concluded by the end of each episod Although actress Donna Mills initially

 claimed that she was quitting the popular series Knots Landing in order to find more

 challenging work elsewhere, she ended up quitting Hollywood in order to start a family!

Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that the stars of the hit 1979 soap opera

Knots Landing were allowed to have a good deal of creative input in regards to how their

characters on the series were written and that Donna Mills helped dictate how the character

of Abby Fairgate dressed on the show?