Pauley Perrette has no plans to ever return to acting

She told Britain's Hello! magazine: "I'm not ungrateful for the benefits that it gave to me.

"But I'm a different person now, and I want to be here for it - the good and the bad and the painful.

"I want to be me all the time, and it takes a good amount of courage for me to say that to myself but it's authentically how I feel."

The 55-year-old star has a "deep need to find authenticity" in all areas of life, and having the "escape" of being an actor feels counterproductive.

She explained: "At this point in my life I have this deep need to find authenticity in everything, and being an actor, especially at certain points in my life, was a great escape; it's like a drug because I didn't have to be me, I could be somebody else.

"My character didn't have all of the problems that I was having."

Pauley doesn't even enjoy watching fictional shows or films, because she'd rather be consuming "the truth".

She added: "It's why I only watch documentaries, I want the truth.

"For me, going back to being an actor would be taking away from this life of true authenticity that I'm living 100 percent of the time."

A couple of years ago, Pauley opened up on a "massive stroke" she suffered in 2021, which saw her lose all feeling on the "entire right side" of her body.

She told 'Entertainment Tonight': "I woke up and had no feeling on the entire right side of my body.

"At first I thought I had just slept funny. When I kept realising the extent of the numbness; couldn't feel my finger touching my face, couldn't feel my face being touched by my finger, couldn't feel my laptop sitting on my lap, no feeling at all on the right hand side - I could have burned myself or cut my finger off and wouldn't have known - I called my doctor and he said, 'GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM IMMEDIATELY.' "