Jennifer Love Hewitt breaks down her emotional return to 9-1-1: 'I hope fans will forgive her'

9-1-1 fans have been waiting for this day for six months, some going as far as declaring Monday "National Maddie Day."

Jennifer Love Hewitt's Maddie Buckley shocked fans last fall when she left her infant daughter at the 118 fire station and departed Los Angeles — telling the love of her life, Chimney (Kenneth Choi), not to come looking for her.

In real life, Hewitt went on maternity leave with the promise she'd eventually return to the Fox action drama. "The fans know in real life why I left, and they're forgiving of that, and that's really beautiful," the actress tells EW. But she's concerned viewers will harbor resentment toward Maddie: "For the character… I hope what she says [about her absence] is enough."

On tonight's episode (also a Criminal Minds mini-reunion with Hewitt and A.J. Cook), it's revealed Maddie spent the last six months seeking treatment for postpartum depression after almost taking her life by walking into the ocean. She's eventually diagnosed with postpartum thyroiditis and starts on the lengthy road to recovery, which leads her to an unexpected reunion with Chimney and their daughter.

Double-tasking while on the treadmill, Hewitt spoke to EW about her fears the audience won't accept Maddie's journey, what had her crying on set, and what the future holds for "Madney."

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This episode was quite acting exercise for you.

JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT: The whole story line has been very important for me personally to do, just for moms in general having PPD. But also I think in the episode answers a lot of questions about who Maddie is, because we're able to talk about her family a little bit, and her abusive marriage for a second, and the familial trauma that happened for her as a young kid — and that all meets up in this kind of PPD section of her life that kind of rears its ugly head in the ocean. So it was just really important to do, and I was really excited to get to do it. But it was definitely daunting. I felt a huge responsibility to show the real truth about what happens.

What was the fan reaction to Maddie's time away from the show?

A lot of them DMed me, and they're like, "Well, why is she gone for long? How could she stay away for six months?" But when you really break down what treatment for somebody who's gone through what she's gone through looks like, it takes time. And I think that Maddie finally realized — after trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma — that she really had to heal in order to hopefully go back and start a life that was going to be different this time. I hope fans will forgive her for taking that time, because when you say "six months away from your child and the person that you love and your family members and the people at the 9-1-1 call center," that feels very long. But when you really look at it and go, "Oh, every day she had to get a little bit better," which is the truth of what happens in those treatment centers and for what she has, it's important I think to play that out for people. I think I say at one point in one of the new episodes that Maddie is like a fugitive, and that's how I always looked at her in my mind: She's a fugitive, she's always on the run, always changing and always molding herself to just like be better for a little while and put a band-aid on it until something else happens that reawakens that trauma. And I think in Boston she's really trying not to do that.

What was it like filming Maddie's reunion with Chimney in the middle of a crisis, as Maddie's friend Tara [A.J. Cook] is in distress?

Initially when they were like, "Yeah, so they're going to see each other for the first time while this woman is aspirating on the ground and there's all these drunk St. Paddy's day people standing by," I think we both were a little bit like, "What?!" Like, that's going to be their first moment to see each other? How is that going to play out? But when we got there and we did it, it felt right. I think that's who she is. I mean, in her darkest moment — when she came into the show and she was on the run — she started to train to be a 9-1-1 operator. And very quickly she realized that they were helping her, but I also think her happy place is being able to be there for people. That is the first responder way. I think what resonates with people about the show is that you get to see their humanity in the midst of all these extreme circumstances. It's beautiful to see Maddie and Chimney completely broken, but able to still have that first responder heart. I think it's really cool, and it's just who they are.

Then we get the quieter scene on the bench where Maddie gets to explain why she left ...

I just remember the day that we sat down to do that big scene on the bench where they finally get to kind of say something to each other in the rehearsal, Kenny and I both were just crying. And I was like, "I have to save this, this has to actually go on camera. I don't know why I'm crying right now." But I really felt like it had been a long time. It had been a long time and knowing what they both had been through, and knowing that Maddie had to say something and that it probably ... The thing I don't know is if what Maddie says, and what she's been through, is going to be necessarily enough for the audience to say its okay [she left]. I think, for Chimney, it's enough to understand where she's been and what she's been going through — and I hope that's also true for the audience.

What does the future hold for Maddie as a mom?

From the moment Maddie gets the opportunity to be a mom again, being a mom will be first priority. And that was also important for me, given my own real-life story that's going on. I really wanted to believe that when she got the opportunity to have that door open for her again that she would take it, and she does.

And what about her future with Chimney?

Even though Maddie and Chimney see each other, and even though they have the conversation in Boston, I would label Maddie's social media as "relationship status: complicated." I would say it's complicated at best. Anybody who undergoes treatment and comes out of treatment, they have to reacclimate into life — and I think that'll be a slow process. And the Maddie and Chimney of it all just needs time to sort of figure itself out, I think. But obviously there's only so much story you can tell before just the season's over. We won't leave people hanging too long, I promise.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Related content:

• 9-1-1 new recruit Arielle Kebbel previews Lucy's future with the 118 (and Buck)
• Sorry 9-1-1 fans, Eddie isn't headed back to the 118 — at least any time soon
• How (and why) 9-1-1: Lone Star killed off Lisa Edelstein's character