Melissa Barrera Reflects on 'Hardest Year' After Scream Firing: 'Felt Like My Life Was Over'

Melissa Barrera reflects on the “darkest and most difficult” year of her life.

In an interview with a British newspaper The Independentactress, 34, discussed her dismissal from the upcoming Scream VII back in November for her social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war.

Reflecting on being dropped from the upcoming film – 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 rethink everything.”

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

“It was quiet for about 10 months. I still got offers here and there for little things – I won’t lie and say there was nothing – but [the message] it was, like, ‘Oh, she probably doesn’t have a job, she’d say yes to anything,'” Barrera — who recently promoted her latest film, Your Monster – they told the outlet.

Melissa Barrera.

Steven Ferdman/Getty

Melissa Barrera says the support of fans in the months since Scream The dismissal was ‘so nice’

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

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

Barrera played Sam Carpenter in both 2022 films Scream and in 2023 Scream VI. Her character is introduced as Scream the daughter of villain Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and was set to follow in the footsteps of Sidney Prescott’s Neve Campbell as the franchise’s new lead. Campbell has now agreed to return for a seventh installment after previously stepping down over a pay dispute.

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

Melissa Barrera.

Dominik Bindl/Getty

Shortly after the news broke, the actress insisted in a statement on her Instagram Story: “I condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hatred and prejudice of any kind against any group of people.”

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

In March, she said Rolling Stone layoffs, “I’m not the first person this has happened to, but it was shocking. I don’t even know what to say.”

Melissa Barrera says Scream Costar Jenna Ortega was a ‘huge support’ after her layoff: ‘Sisters for life’

Melissa Barrera in ‘Scream VI’.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES/Alamy

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After Barrera’s sudden exit from Scream VIIit was announced that her co-star in the last two films of the franchise, Jenna Ortega, had also dropped out of the project. Barrera’s Sam played Ortega’s character Tara’s older sister in the movies.

A month later, the film’s director Christopher Landon announced that he was no longer involved with the film, sharing with X at the time that the film “was a dream job that turned into a nightmare.”

Scream VII expected in theaters on February 27, 2026.

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Source: HIS Education