Kristen Wiig Exits Saturday Night Live After 7 Years

USMagazine, Sunday, May 20, 2012, 8:55am (PDT)

It's the end of an era.

Kristen Wiig, 38, made her final appearance as a cast member on Saturday Night Live May 19. In her last sketch, host Mick Jagger gave her a sendoff during a mock graduation scene.

"Many of you are moving onto college, but I'd like to take a moment to say goodbye to one particular student who is leaving this summer . . .to become a nun," Jagger (as a teacher) said.

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"You've meant quite a lot to us over the last seven years -- she got held back! -- so our music department got together and prepared a song to say goodbye."

With that, cast members including Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, Andy Samberg, Seth Meyers and Kenan Thompson sang and danced around a teary-eyed Wiig. Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, 67, appeared as Wiig's final dance partner, and the funnywoman could barely contain her emotions.

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As "Goodbye Ruby Tuesday" played, Wiig clapped and sang along. Former cast members Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch and Chris Kattan joined in to send Wiig off in style.

As Us Weekly exclusively reported in April, Bridesmaids star Wiig had been planning to leave the NBC show at season's end. "It will be a huge blow to the show," an insider explained. "Kristen was talking about leaving a while ago. With her movie success, it's no surprise."

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Now that she's done with Saturday Night Live, Wiig plans to direct and "live in Paris and paint," she said on Here's the Thing With Alec Baldwin in April. "I want to do a lot of different things."

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This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Kristen Wiig Exits Saturday Night Live After 7 Years