Jessica Pearson, played by Gina Torres, was a total badass on “Suits.” Jessica rose above her competitors time and again, and she ran the firm as managing partner, often fighting to get her name on the masthead. As Torres told The New York Times about her role in the show, “In terms of an example of how a woman in power could function, I’m very proud of what I put out there.”
However, like any good character, Jessica was flawed, and those flaws did eventually determine her path. Jessica’s time as a managing partner was filled with dramatic events, to say the least, many of which tested her as a lawyer and as a person. After all the turmoil, Jessica realized that she had lost sight of why she became a lawyer in the first place. She left the firm to start practicing law in a way that fulfills her and helps others, and she did so in Chicago after she moved to be with Jeff Malone.
We got to see a little bit more of Jessica’s story in the spin-off “Pearson,” but the show was canceled after just one season. Ultimately Torres left “Suits” for personal reasons. “My contract was up, so this wasn’t a power play that went terribly wrong,” she said. “My personal life needed to be tended to.”
