Debra Messing recalls the ‘Will & Grace’ scene that left the audience ‘dead quiet’

“Will & Grace” provided countless laughs during its original eight-season run, but it’s a moment of drama that stands out to star Debra Messing.

Messing says the scene in a Season Five episode in which her character, Grace, has a huge argument with Eric McCormack’s Will, was the most difficult to shoot out of all 11 seasons the sitcom aired (the series returned for three more seasons in 2017). Season Five aired in 2002 and 2003.

“I think the big fight that Will and Grace got into during the first run,” she told People about which scene was the hardest to do. “I think that was surprisingly painful to shoot and I think that it really surprised the audience.”

Messing, who won one Emmy Award and was nominated four other times for her portrayal of neurotic interior designer Grace Adler, said the audience actually went silent.

“And they were dead quiet, which we had never experienced in all the years and so we knew that something important was happening,” she said. “So, that’s a very clear memory for me.”

In the episode, Will and Grace’s plans to have a baby together are derailed after she is swept off her feet by her Leo, played by Harry Connick Jr. The argument ends with Will kicking her out of the apartment, seemingly fracturing their perfect friendship.

Messing appreciated the chance to mix it up and veer away from what they usually did.

“I felt grateful that the writers gave us the opportunity to do something that had that much gravitas to it, you know?” she said. “It’s a sitcom and normally you don’t see that. And so I was just … I was grateful.”

Messing will dish on all things “Will & Grace” when she appears as a guest on “Just Jack & Will,” an upcoming rewatch podcast hosted by stars McCormack and Sean Hayes.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com