Why Cote de Pablo Called it Splits with Diego Serrano

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Cote de Pablo returned to NCIS in season 16, on the finale, which aired May 21, 2019. She had originally left the show in October 2013. When de Pablo left NCIS it was reported by CBS that she left for 'undisclosed reasons', and she did stay just long enough to play out her character, Ziva David's storyline. When she left she told Cindy Elavsky, that Ziva could come back--she did not die, and therefore she showed interest in someday returning.

Her slow-burning romance with Michael Weather's Tony DiNozzo was never played out on screen; not really, as we never see Tony 'get' the girl. However, he does receive a daughter from Ziva, and for a while fans were yelling that Weatherly and de Pablo were seeing each other in the real world. Of course, at the time, she was in a long-standing relationship with actor Diego Serrano.

Wikimedia | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cote_de_Pablo_(19_September_2008)_4.jpg

Diego Serrano is an American born in Ecuador, and he's known for his roles in a handful of television shows and films. However he has not achieved household status such as Cote de Pablo. Serrano does boast more diversification of his portfolio than de Pablo, and the two of them were together for quite a long time.

Some of the things Serrano has been in are:

Mixing Nia, according to the IMDb page was about "Nia (Karyn Parsons) is a mixed-race woman at a crossroads in her life. When her boss at her advertising job urges her to target an alcoholic drink to African-American youth, she leaves, deciding to write a novel about growing up with a white father and a black mother. She meets Lewis (Isaiah Washington) in a class he teaches, and ends up juggling two relationships -- one with ex-colleague Matt (Eric Thal) and the other with Lewis. However, her race may be an issue for both men."

The 24 Hour Woman, according to the IMDb page was about "Description

Grace (Rosie Perez) is a motivated career woman, married to the co-host (Diego Serrano) of a show she produces on television. When she finds out that she's pregnant, she is surprised, apprehensive and immediately shoved into the spotlight when her boss, Joan, (Patti LuPone) uses Grace's pregnancy to draw in viewers. Grace must struggle to be the ideal wife and mother, all the while maintaining her sanity at work with the help of her assistant, Madeline (Marianne Jean-Baptiste)."

Cote de Pablo keeps her relationships private, just like Mark Harmon who plays Agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs. However she has spoken about her ex-boyfriend in interviews, and it came across that maybe his 'best' quality drove them apart. However, this is just our thoughts on it, and is in no way something the actors have confirmed.

Gettyimages | CBS Photo Archive

Cote de Pablo, during the relationship with Serrano, dove into detail about how they worked as a couple:

“I’m in a long-term relationship with [actor] Diego Serrano, and I’m very happy. He’s the worst influence that I have ever had in my entire life, and I love him for it. [Laughs] Every once in a while, he turns to me and goes, “Live a little.” I’ll have chicken with broccoli and he’s like, “What about the chocolate cake?” If it weren’t for him, I’d be the most boring person in Los Angeles.”
--Prevention

It seems that Serrano got de Pablo to step out of what she felt was her comfort zone. He forced her to move and try new things, which was something she came to love about him. He was less predictable, and he didn't care about the rules that Hollywood gave stars (or rather, society gave stars).

Gettyimages | CBS Photo Archive

The old say 'opposites attract' tends to be less true than we're led to believe. After all, why wouldn't you want to be with someone who has similar beliefs, similar things they like to do, hobbies, so on. If you're pushed outside of your comfort zone for too long, it causes nothing but disdain and resentment. It can be good for you, but if it goes on continuously it's got to take a toll.

So perhaps their differences in their approach to life is that really set them apart.

Cote de Pablo at one point over the years revealed that her ex-boyfriend was actually a really bad influence. What he was influencing, we still do not know, but if she felt that it was bad for her, he probably should have stopped influencing it. Alas, she seemed to enjoy Serrano while she had him, and aside from this comment about being a bad influence, which could easily refer to just encouraging her to eat whatever she wanted, there was never any bad blood between the two shown during interviews.