Anneliese van der Pol revealed that it wasn’t her decision to leave That’s So Raven and its spinoff Raven’s Home.
On Friday (Aug. 11), the 38-year-old actress published a TikTok using the viral audio from Phineas and Ferb of the character, Dr. Doofenschmirtz, who spoke about a rare incident occurring twice.
“Wow! If I had a nickel for every time I was asked to leave a show starring Raven…” she captioned the video clip while holding up two fingers for each show. She famously portrayed Chelsea Daniels on the original show between 2003 and 2007 for a total of 100 episodes, which was the entire series, so it is unclear what exactly happened.
van der Pol then came back as Chelsea Grayson on Raven’s Home between 2017-2022 for a total of 82 episodes across four seasons. van der Pol did not reveal the exact reasons she was asked to leave both shows but the comments section begged for a storytime to explain the situations.
Raven previously addressed van der Pol’s absence after the conclusion of Season 4 in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. At the time, other series regulars including Navia Robinson (Nia), Jason Maybaum (Levi) and Sky Katz (Tess) also left the show.
“Listen, they’re a part of our family. There are references and we definitely explain what’s going on,” Raven explained at the time. “I think that’s very important, because we respect the people that are watching the show. Everybody grows and your family changes eventually and the people close to you change and it’s not… It doesn’t change you. It hopefully will help you grow as a human. It’s always good to have those people that know you from your past and you call on them and you reference them. It’s about moving forward. Of course, we pay homage to those who have got us here.”
Ironically, van der Pol worked and is adjacently with Disney as she is a Broadway singer and performer. She recently was a singer as part of the Disney Princess- The Concert tour where she performed Disney classic songs from their beloved films.