Jeri Weil has revealed the truth behind why her “Leave It to Beaver” character abruptly left the beloved show 65 years ago.
Weil, who portrayed Beaver Cleaver’s (Jerry Mathers) nemesis Judy Hensler on the classic sitcom from 1957 to 1960, opened up about the role and her abrupt exit during a recent episode of John Cato’s popular “That’s Classic!” podcast.
She revealed that the show’s director, Norman Tokar, would “come in and just rag on me until he got me really pissed off,” claiming he would then begin filming.
“He got me all riled up so I’d react the way he wanted,” Weil, 77, explained.
However, that was not the only reason the former child star quit both “Leave It to Beaver” and Hollywood for good during her formative years.
Weil further revealed that Tokar and the sitcom’s producers weren’t happy when she hit puberty.
“I was bigger than all the boys. I was taller. And they really had a problem with me starting to develop,” she shared. “They used Ace bandages around my breasts, because I was getting breasts.”
“It made me not want to do it anymore is how it affected me,” Weil added. “I didn’t want to do it.”
Weil’s experience on the show only worsened when, shortly before filming an episode, she got her first period.
“We were playing baseball, and they wanted me to hit the ball and twirl,” the former actress said. “I didn’t want to twirl because I thought everyone was going to see my Kotex pad.”
Despite being “freaked out” about the “pretty traumatic” incident, Weil still filmed the scene. But that was when she decided she could no longer star on the show.
“I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to grow up,” she remembered thinking. “So, that’s why I didn’t want to do it anymore.”
Elsewhere during the podcast episode, Weil joked that she should have continued acting instead of quitting when she did, especially because “many” of the other “Leave It to Beaver” child actors went on to achieve successful careers as adults.
Besides Weil and Mathers, the classic CBS sitcom included Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver) and Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell). Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley played Mathers’ onscreen parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver.
Weil, meanwhile, revealed that she and Dow became close before her exit from the show, and the pair “stayed in touch” up until his passing from cancer in 2022 at 77.
Earlier this year, Weil made similar remarks regarding her exit from “Leave It to Beaver,” which continued for three more seasons after her departure.
“I guess I had such a bad taste in my mouth from those experiences,” she told ReMind Magazine in March. “I just stopped and wanted nothing to do with it.”
She also addressed rumors that she was fired from the show.
“I read once where it said they fired me, but that wasn’t true,” she said. “They didn’t fire me. I don’t know where I read that, but they didn’t let me go. I let them go. That’s the true story.”
