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Steve Carell says The Office farewell was ’emotional torture’

Steve Carell found leaving ‘The Office’ to be "emotional torture".

The 58-year-old actor played office manager Michael Scott in the US sitcom about a fictional paper company firm for almost a decade.

Reflecting on his farewell during Spotify’s ‘An Oral History of The Office’ podcast, he told former co-star Brian Baumgartner: "It was almost more than I bargained for…

"I had [goodbye] scenes with everyone in the cast and it was emotional torture. It was like just fraught with emotion … and joy and sadness and nostalgia.

"But it was also really beautiful. I’d like treasure just doing that episode because it did allow me to kind of have a finality with everybody."

Jenna Fischer – who played Pam Beesly in the show – also opened up about her own emotional experience of working on the actor’s last episode, which was called ‘Goodbye, Michael’.

Michael and Pam shared a goodbye scene at an airport as Steve’s character left for Colorado.

However, director Paul Feig decided not to include sound, which left the actors open to say whatever they wanted to each other.

Jenna said: "I ran up to Steve, and I just told him all the ways I was going to miss him and how grateful I was for his friendship and the privilege of working with him.

"And I’m sobbing, and he’s sobbing, and we’re hugging, and I didn’t want to let him go, and I didn’t want the scene to end."

Meanwhile, Jennifer Garner recently admitted she had finally caught up on the entire show, and she was left in tears by the finale.

Alongside a slow-motion video of herself in tears, Jennifer said: "My kids and I have spent months piled on the couch working our way through "How to Behave as Grownups", aka #TheOffice.

"Apparently we are sensitive people – the finale hit us pretty hard.

"When I realized I’d accidentally shot my farewell testimonial in slo-mo I realized: your Monday might need this, too. #thankyoucastandcrew #pleasecomeoverweloveyou #icantwithfinales (sic)"