Why did Patti LuPone quit Broadway? The truth behind singer’s resignation revealed

Patti LuPone shocked everyone yesterday with her tweet announcing her resignation from Actors Equity on Broadway.

At the time, LuPone provided no further explanation for how she came to make the career-altering decision.

The Broadway legend is finally speaking out about why she abruptly left the stage.

It was an exciting year for Broadway fans.

Everyone was shocked to learn in October that famed Broadway legend Patti LuPone is retiring for good.

LuPone announced her resignation from Actors Equity in a tweet yesterday, leaving outlets to decipher her rather vague statements as she intended.

LuPone said on Twitter:

“Quite a week on Broadway, seeing my name being bandied about. Gave up my Equity card; no longer part of that circus. Figure it out.”

The real reason for the departure was unclear at the time, but according to Playbill, LuPone mentioned the recent “Hadestown” debacle.

During a “Hadestown” performance last week, an audience member using a captioning device to help her hearing loss was reprimanded twice by Tony-winning actress Lillias White.

Withdrawing one’s “Equity card” or “Equity membership” from Actor’s Equity, allows performers to perform on Broadway and at many professional theatres throughout the United States.

LuPone discussed her situation in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE Magazine.

LuPone revealed:

“They accepted my resignation and told me that if I ever wanted to rejoin, I’d have to be approved. And it’s the perfect reason I withdrew from Equity. Fifty years to this year … I’ve been a card-carrying member of Equity, and they don’t know who I am basically. They just said, ‘Fine, but if you want to rejoin, we’re going to have to approve you.”

Patti LuPone was a three-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer for those who are unfamiliar. Two of her Tonys are for “Best Actress in a Musical,” the highest performance honor bestowed on a female artist at the Tonys. She earned them by starring in “Evita” and “Gypsy.”

LuPone won her third Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical earlier this year for the gender-flipped revival of “Company.”

The fact that her name had been brought up repeatedly in the previous week due to White’s incident on “Hadestown” prompted LuPone to resign. LuPone was not pleased, to say the least, with the backlash she has received in the past for infamously reprimanding audience members in more extreme scenarios.