Melissa Barrera Reflects on 'Hardest Year' AfterScreamFiring: 'Felt Like My Life Was Over'

Mar. 15, 2025

Melissa Barrera.Photo:Vivien Killilea/Getty

Vivien Killilea/Getty

Melissa Barrerais looking back on the “darkest and hardest” year of her life.

In an interview with U.K. newspaperThe Independent, the actress, 34, discussedher firing from the upcomingScream VIIback in November due to her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.

Reflecting on being cut from the upcoming flick — in which she was set to return as Sam Carpenter — Barrera said: “It was the darkest and hardest year of my life, and I had to reevaluate everything."

“There were times where I felt like my life was over,” she added, admitting that work dried up after Spyglass released a statement in November confirming she’d been cut.

“It was quiet for, like, 10 months. I was still getting offers for small things here and there – I’m not going to lie and say there was nothing – but [the message] was, like, ‘Oh, she probably doesn’t have work, she’ll say yes to anything,’ ” Barrera — who has recently been promoting her latest movie,Your Monster— told the outlet.

Melissa Barrera.Steven Ferdman/Getty

Steven Ferdman/Getty

Elsewhere in the interview, she said her “fatal flaw” was her “tough exterior.”

“You’d never know when I’m panicking … Like, am I a sociopath? Because I should be dying right now. Especially after this last year for me, how am I even alive?” she told the outlet.

Barrera starred as Sam Carpenter in both 2022’sScreamand 2023’sScream VI.Her character was introduced asScreamvillain Billy Loomis’ (Skeet Ulrich) daughter and was set to follow in the footsteps ofNeve Campbell’s Sidney Prescottas the new franchise lead. Campbell has now agreed to return for the seventh installment after previouslystepping down due to a salary dispute.

In November, Spyglass said it holds “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech” following Barrera’s social media posts.

Melissa Barrera.Dominik Bindl/Getty

Dominik Bindl/Getty

Shortly after the news was released, the actress insisted in astatement on her Instagram Story, “I condemn Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people.”

“As a Latina, a proud Mexicana,” she continued, “I feel the responsibility of having a platform that allows me the privilege of being heard, and therefore I have tried to use it to raise awareness about issues I care about and to lend my voice to those in need.”

In March, she toldRolling Stoneofthe firing, “I’m not the first person that’s happened to, but it was shocking. I don’t even know what to say.”

Melissa Barrera in ‘Scream VI’.PARAMOUNT PICTURES/Alamy

PARAMOUNT PICTURES/Alamy

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One month later, the film’s director Christopher Landon announced hewas no longer involved with the movie, sharingon Xat the time that the film “was a dream job that turned into a nightmare.”

Scream VIIis expected to hit theaters on Feb. 27, 2026.

source: people.com