Since leaving acting, Pauley has kept a low profile, only making a few public appearances at charity events and staying active on social media.
In a pair of photos she posted on Instagram, she showed off her impressive muscles by flexing her biceps, each of which bore a pair of flower tattoos.
"Another great advantage of doing all your own yard work," she wrote alongside her post. "About to do a full tilt hillside terracing job solo…with a shovel, gonna need those guns!"
Her fans were all over the place, leaving comments such as “Suns out guns out!! Go Conquer Your Quest!” and “Wow, I forgot that you’re such a little muscle mommy right now!” as well as “Indeed, this will definitely serve you well! We see you're not just sitting around doing nothing!”
Pauley's last role was in the short-lived CBS sitcom Broke. The show was canceled after 13 episodes in 2020. Her most famous role is her 15-year run on the CBS crime drama NCIS that catapulted her to fame.
She played Abby Sciuto, a forensic scientist, from the show's first season in 2003 until the end of its 15th season. She quickly became a fan favorite.
While the California resident hasn't said why she quit acting, but there were rumors going around that she and co-star Mark Harmon weren't on the best of terms. People even went so far as to look back at scenes to see if they ever had a scene together. It turned out that Mark's dog, who had been on set a lot, had bit a crew member in 2016 who needed 15 stitches.
According to sources, Pauley was the first to request that the dog not be brought back to the set, but the animal allegedly did return, and cast members were afraid to request a rule change because Mark was the executive producer.
The two stars then reached an agreement with show creators that they would never appear in the same scene together. However, in late 2017, Pauley revealed she had decided to leave the show, telling CBS Sunday Morning that, although it was her decision, she was "still grieving".
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