Heavy/Getty "The Way Home" star Chyler Leigh
After more than six months away from social media, actress Chyler Leigh, star of Hallmark‘s “The Way Home,” returned to Instagram on December 17, 2023, posting a vulnerable and honest message about her love/hate relationship with the medium.
Fans flooded Leigh with hundreds of comments, but the actress, who skyrocketed to fame on the series “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Supergirl,” has now deleted the post, in which said she was already worried that what she wrote might make her “sound like an A**HOLE.”
Here’s what you need to know:
Chyler Leigh’s Instagram Message Had Over 16,000 Likes Within an Hour of Her Posting
Leigh posted an Instagram image of her words, typed in white on a black background, late in the afternoon on December 17, but didn’t write an additional caption. The image didn’t quite fit the parameters of an Instagram post, so several letters at the ends of words were cut off.
“So…hi,” Leigh began her message. “I’ve been on quite the social media sabbatical…I gotta be honest… it’s a tough one for me. love the fact that, in so many ways, I can rely on my algorithm to flood me with sweet witchery, motivation quotes, life hacks, romantic quips… just inspiration in general. in any way…”
She continued, “I’ve been told I’m a wildly empathetic soul… which is a “blessing and a curse”… but truth? I don’t wanna sound like an A**HOLE but god…I’m tired. Does that make me selfish? Or just tired…”
In less than an hour, 16,238 followers had liked Leigh’s post and 348 had left comments, mostly encouraging her to do whatever was best for her when it came to social media engagement.
Later that night, she posted the message in her Instagram Stories, but revealed there were two more paragraphs to share, specifically about wanting to use the platform to celebrate “The Way Home” with others.
She continued, “I’m just grateful to be in a position to promote the work I’m so fully committed to…because this is what my life force has been poured into for all my career (but most specifically since this The Way Home) to positively praise what I’ve fully invested my time into…”
On a separate Story, Leigh wrote, “I hope that, as we been have been able to blindly delve into the world we’ve created for season 2 of @theWayHome, we can represent real life… in its ugly and beautiful renditions. I believe in us… hang on. You’re worth it. We’re worth it…”
Leigh later deleted the post from her Instagram feed. Though the most recent post there now is from a month ago, featuring a trailer for the second season of “The Way Home,” it was originally uploaded by Leigh’s co-star Evan Williams with her tagged.
Chyler Leigh Isn’t the Only ‘The Way Home’ Cast Member Who’s Struggled With Social Media
GettyAndie MacDowell, Sadie Laflamme-Snow, Chyler Leigh and Evan Williams attend Hallmark Channel’s “The Way Home” SAG Panel & Screening at NeueHouse Hollywood on December 18, 2023 in Hollywood
Leigh and Williams, along with their co-stars Andie MacDowell and Sadie LaFlamme-Snow, were in Hollywood together on December 18 for a SAG-sponsored panel discussion about “The Way Home.” The second season of the mystical family drama premieres on Hallmark Channel on January 21.
The series follows three generations of Landry women — led by MacDowell as the matriarch of a family whose relationships were fractured by trauma and loss. In the series premiere, Leigh’s character, Kat, and her 15-year-old daughter Alice — played by Laflamme-Snow — returned to the family farm and quaint Canadian town of Port Haven where MacDowell’s character, Del, still lives.
During the first season, when a magic pond is discovered on their land, Kat and Alice are able to secretly travel between the past and present, helping them uncover the truth behind family tragedies and hardship. Williams plays Kat’s childhood best friend and potential love interest who’s been connected to the family — and, it turns out, the pond — for decades.
The first season of the show wrapped in late March with higher ratings than any previous episode, according to Hallmark, which is a rarity in television since viewership often drops over the course of a season. And the show continues to grow its audience as new viewers discover it streaming on Peacock.
The cast, sans MacDowell, appeared on a panel together at New York Comic Con in October and all agreed the trajectory for the second season will blow fans’ minds. But it remains to be seen whether Leigh will return to Instagram to share more about making the series.
She’s not the only member of the cast caught in a love/hate relationship with social media, however. MacDowell, deleted her Instagram account in August after sharing a photo of herself playing with her granddaughter on a beach.
Over the photo, she wrote, “I’m going to delete my account and if you’re wondering what I’m doing it’s going to be more of this ❤️🥰 I’m tired of the world but not of this”