‘NCIS’ Alum Pauley Perrette Reveals Death of Fire Chief Uncle

Former NCIS star Pauley Perrette has had a difficult week. The actress revealed on Twitter Wednesday her uncle, a former fire department chief in Tennessee, has died. Perrette called him “one of my favorite people” and added a picture of him. Perrette shared the loving tribute just a few hours before CBS canceled her television comeback, the sitcom Broke.

“Lost my beloved Uncle Doug,” Perrette wrote on Twitter. “He was a Fire Chief in Tennessee and one of my favorite people. A friend asked me ‘How many lives do you think he saved?’ And I said ‘thousands.’ And I think of him in heaven with my mom and about his smile. And I smile. We were blessed to know him.”

Perrette, 51, was born in New Orleans, but moved around the country throughout her childhood. She has family in Tennessee, and thanked first responders when a deadly tornado hit the state in March. “For everyone who asked about my #Tennessee family, thank you,” she wrote at the time. “My [family] is ok but it was VERY CLOSE! So many lost so much.” She added the hashtag “Pray for Nashville.”

Many of Perrette’s fans sent their condolences to her family. “My condolences to you and your family and everyone who loved him,” one fan wrote in a tweet. “Never easy to let a wonderful person go. But the good memories will keep you going. Stay safe and healthy and do not grief to much if you can. Sending love.”

Perrette is best known for playing Abby Sciuto on NCIS from 2003 to 2018. She returned to television this year with Broke, in which Perrette played a single mother and bartender who suddenly has to welcome her estranged sister and spoiled brother-in-law into her home. Jane the Virgin star Jaime Camil played the brother-in-law and comedian Natasha Leggero starred as her sister. Izzy Diaz played the brother-in-law’s assistant and Antonio RaulCorbo played Paullette’s son. Only five of the eight episodes aired before CBS decided not to bring back the show for a second season. The remaining three episodes are still set to air.

“Hey Twitter family, it’s Pauley. I’ve got something really important that I want to talk about, and that’s this week’s episode of Broke this coming Thursday,” Perrette said in a video she shared on Twitter. “It’s called ‘Losing My Religion.’ It’s the most important half hour of television that I’ve ever done and the thing I’m the most proud of.”

“We are doing — in the middle of a prime time sitcom — we are doing a beautiful episode about faith and about God and about getting through trials and tribulations with our faith and our relationship to God,” Perrette added. “Sounds kind of crazy. It’s an idea that meant so much to me, and thankfully our showrunner, Alex Herschlag, was really into it, and we did it, and it’s really beautiful and I’m proud. And we shot this last year, not even knowing that this is exactly what is needed right now. So I hope it touches you as much as it did me. And we’re just super proud that we did it, and we’re support proud to show it to you.”