Lindsey Morgan’s decision to leave Walker during its second season came as a surprise to many fans, but the actress is now opening up about the personal and health-related struggles behind her departure. On the I’ve Never Said This Before podcast, the 34-year-old star revealed that a spinal injury, severe anxiety, and the overwhelming stress of her career led her to make one of the toughest choices of her life.
Back in 2021, Lindsey made the difficult announcement that she would be stepping away from the hit The CW series, citing “personal reasons” at the time. However, in this candid interview, she shared more details about the toll her health had taken on her both mentally and physically. “I had a spinal injury, which was affecting my nervous system and my brainstem,” she explained, noting that this condition caused her significant anxiety and stress, ultimately impacting her ability to perform at work.
Leaving Walker, where she played lead female character Micki Ramirez, was not a decision Lindsey took lightly. It was especially difficult because she had spent years manifesting and working hard to reach this point in her career. “Up until this point, I had been manifesting. I really wanted to be a lead. I wanted to get a promotion in my career journey. When Walker came, I was the lead female. That was my dream come true,” she shared.
Becoming a lead actress on a major television show was something Lindsey had worked toward for a long time. Her career was on the rise, and from the outside, it seemed like everything was going perfectly. “I was really blessed and lucky that I started working and didn’t stop,” she reflected. But the constant work without rest came at a cost. “Looking back, I realized my mistake in the sense of, like an athlete, I was working, working, working out putting, outputting, outputting, but I wasn’t recovering.”
Despite achieving her career dreams, Lindsey was struggling internally. Her health issues, combined with the pressures of being a lead on a hit show, left her feeling overwhelmed. “All my dreams were coming true, and I was a mess. Me, personally, was not in a good place. My anxiety was through the roof,” she said. As her mental and physical health deteriorated, Lindsey began to feel like she was failing—not only herself but also those around her. “I feel like I did not do good work. And looking back on it now, it was because I was so stressed out in my body — mentally and physically. I was a mess.”
The decision to leave Walker wasn’t just about stepping away from a job; it was about prioritizing her health and well-being. Lindsey’s doctors gave her a choice: continue working long, grueling hours and manage her symptoms with medication, or make a drastic change to her lifestyle. She realized that in order to heal, she needed to step back and take care of herself. Doctors told her that she could stay busy and stressed, and work 16 hours a day for four to five days a week and use medication to cope. Or, they said, she had to change her lifestyle.
For Lindsey, the hardest part of leaving the show was the fear of letting people down—particularly her co-star Jared Padalecki and the Walker team. “I’m somebody that really pushes themselves and has really high standards, and I never want to let anyone around me down,” she admitted. The thought of stepping away made her feel like she was failing those she worked with. “I felt a little bit like I let Jared down, or let the show down, and that was the hardest part for me.”
Even now, Lindsey admits that the decision to leave still makes her emotional. But she knows it was the right choice. “It still makes me emotional, which I know is silly, because I was doing what I needed to do to take care of myself, and that’s more important,” she said, reflecting on the difficult but necessary step she took.
