{"id":339071,"date":"2025-10-28T19:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/339071\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T19:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:43:10","slug":"snl-stars-heidi-gardner-and-ego-nwodim-break-silence-on-struggles-after-shock-exits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/339071\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018SNL\u2019 Stars Heidi Gardner and Ego Nwodim Break Silence on Struggles After Shock Exits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner are getting \u201cvulnerable\u201d about everything that made SNL \u201csuch a challenging place\u201d to work.<\/p>\n

In an emotional conversation on Nwodim\u2019s Thanks Dad podcast<\/a> on Tuesday, Gardner became tearful as she recalled her time on the show for the first time after her exit. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am so honored that we worked so hard there, and then we also worked on our friendship so hard, which wasn\u2019t hard, by the way,\u201d Gardner said, \u201cI just mean\u2026 we\u2019re humans, so we have egos, we want things for ourselves, we want to succeed, and there weren\u2019t a lot of times when we were able to succeed in the way we wanted at the exact same time.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just being really vulnerable,\u201d she added, noting that Nwodim \u201chad the moment of the year\u201d when Gardner\u2019s \u201chero\u201d Jack Black hosted the show in April\u2014referring to the viral \u201cMiss Eggy\u201d moment<\/a> from \u201cWeekend Update.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a part of me, like if I think about it, I\u2019m like, wait, but I should want that for me. But you had it and it was f—ing awesome,\u201d Gardner said.<\/p>\n

\"HeidiSATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — Episode 1880 — Pictured: (l-r) Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Heidi Gardner, host Jack Black as Eddie, and Ego\u00a0Nwodim as Angie during the “One Uppers” sketch on Saturday, April 5, 2025 — (Photo by: Will Heath\/NBC via Getty Images) NBC\/Will Heath\/NBC via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Nwodim replied, \u201cIt\u2019s so easy to be caught up with your own stuff at SNL, and what you\u2019re getting on and what you\u2019re not getting on, and how you\u2019re succeeding and how you wish you were doing better, or how I want what that person has.\u201d She continued, \u201cI remember so many times being like, why can\u2019t we be able to be winning together at the same time, so it could feel like full celebration and not one of us mourning or frustrated and one of us like on cloud nine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner and Nwodim were two of the most surprising<\/a> exits from the show ahead of Season 51. The fan-favorite actresses were on the show for eight seasons and seven seasons, respectively. <\/p>\n

Gardner has never commented on the circumstances of her exit, despite reports that her contract was not extended at the end of Season 50\u2014and still did not confirm whether or not it was her choice to leave here. <\/p>\n

Nwodim was invited back for the next season, but decided to exit to pursue other projects amid show boss Lorne Michaels\u2019 shakeup, which included axing several beloved stars and adding a TikTok-heavy new slate of comedians. Devon Walker, who was cut from the show after three seasons, called the show \u201ctoxic as hell\u201d<\/a> on his way out. <\/p>\n

\"HeidiSATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “FYC 2025 Event” — Pictured: (l-r) Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim at The Television Academy in North Hollywood, CA on June 2, 2025 — (Photo by: Todd Williamson\/NBC via Getty Images) NBC\/Todd Williamson\/NBC via Getty Im <\/p>\n

Gardner and Nwodim hinted at similar thoughts on their experience, with Nwodim saying SNL was \u201cnot the easiest place to work.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe sketches, they come, they go, they\u2019re really fun. They can be hard, they can be things you\u2019re not into, whatever. But I\u2019m like, if you can leave\u2014in a place where it can get so competitive and you can become so self involved, if you can leave and be still remarkably lovely and such a light and still pouring into other people like you, I think you succeeded,\u201d she told Gardner. \u201cYou were just such a light in what can be such a challenging place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner are getting \u201cvulnerable\u201d about everything that made SNL \u201csuch a challenging place\u201d to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":339072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,171,1933,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-339071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-snl","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115453507598929673","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}