Julianna Margulies turned down $27 million (£19.5 million) to return to E.R. for a seventh season following a sign from the universe.
The actress received a huge offer to film another two seasons of the beloved medical drama, in which she portrayed Carol Hathaway, but was ready to try something new, contrary to the advice of her agents and loved ones.
"I was going back to New York to go and do this play and then all this money came up," she told Oprah Winfrey in a taped interview for this weekend's Super Soul Sunday.
"Everyone I asked said, 'You'd be crazy (not to sign on). Take the money, take the money'," Margulies recalled.
"I felt very alone because I had already planned what I was going to do before they had offered me that money. I had my life planned," she went on.
Rather than taking her friends' advice, Margulies asked the universe to send her a sign to guide her decision making, sharing: "I had heard a friend got some spiritual books and I had been studying some Buddhism, so I went (to a bookstore) and I ran my finger down a shelf and I picked out a book, Awakening the Buddha Within."
The book offered Margulies some timely guidance.
Recollecting: "I brought it home and I said nothing," she explained: "I walked into my bedroom, I opened the book, I closed my eyes and I (pointed to a random line) and I opened my eyes and the line was, 'I knew I wanted to learn more, not earn more'".
Margulies originally signed up for a guest role on the show, but recently revealed George Clooney urged her not to take another job afterwards because he was sure producers would want her back as a permanent cast member.
"George called me. He said, 'If you're thinking about taking a job, I urge you not to. I think in the next couple of days, you might be offered a series regular role'. I was like, 'But I died! How does that work?' He was like, 'I don't know, but I think it's going to work'," she said.
