Alison Sweeney bids farewell to 'Days of Our Lives'

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Alison Sweeney has officially left Days of Our Lives.

The 38-year-old actress portrayed Samantha "Sami" Brady on the NBC soap opera for nearly 22 years, and took to Facebook to thank her fans after her final episode aired Thursday.

"I look back through all of it, and am proud of what I accomplished," Sweeney wrote. "Proud of the memories, the hard work and the fun times. I'm proud of who I've become as a result of my 21 years in Salem."

"I'm still going to be around okay?!" she continued. "So this isn't really goodbye. At least it isn't goodbye for me. This is just my opportunity to say a great big, sincere, tearful, THANK YOU. For everything. Every cheer, every tear, every tweet, post and letter. Thank you for investing in me and my character."

Sweeney was a longtime Days of Our Lives fan before she joined the series as Sami in January 1993. The character was known for her manipulative and troublemaking ways, and tumultuous relationships with Austin Reed (Austin Peck) and EJ DiMera (James Scott).

Sweeney left the program to dedicate more time to her family. The actress and David Sanov have been married since 2000, and the couple have a 5-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son. She will continue to host reality competition The Biggest Loser on NBC.