Tierney 'felt terrible about Parenthood'

Maura Tierney has admitted that she felt bad about dropping out of Parenthood.

The former ER star decided not to star in the show after discovering that she had breast cancer. She was later replaced by Lauren Graham.

In an interview with the New York Times, Tierney said: "I felt terrible leaving the Parenthood team in the lurch, but doing the show would have been very stressful because I didn't want that phase of my life documented on film."

Tierney, who is now starring in the play North Atlantic, added: "There is no HD in the theatre."

She also said that appearing in the production helped her to avoid thinking about her cancer.

"What appealed to me was that the focus of North Atlantic was more about performance rather than emoting," she explained. "Because I was at a point in my life where it was nice not to have to emote all over the place."

Tierney recently signed up to reprise her role in FX drama Rescue Me.