Nina Dobrev Leaving 'Vampire Diaries' After Season 6

"The Vampire Diaries" star Nina Dobrev has confirmed that she will be leaving the show at the end of its current sixth season, thus validating the rumors that had been swirling for days.

Dobrev made the confirmation in an Instagram post.

Dobrev spent the weekend with the cast and crew of the show on a holiday on Lake Lanier, Georgia. Some posted photos with the hashtag #WeWillMissYouNina on their Instagram accounts but removed them a short while later.

In her Instagram post, Dobrev expressed her views on the show but provided little details on her departure. She said the weekend outing by the cast and crew of "The Vampire Diaries" was actually a "goodbye party" for her.

Dobrev said she wanted "Elena's story to be a six-season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime."

She also described how on the show she went from being a human to "a vampire, a doppelganger, a crazy immortal, a doppelganger pretending to be human, and a human pretending to be a doppelganger."

The official statement on Dobrev's departure came from "The Vampire Diaries" Producer Julie Plec who said "Nina is excited to spread her wings, get some rest, travel the world and also take it by storm, and we support her a thousand-fold." She said she and the people behind the show will "miss Nina and the four hundred characters she played."

Following the news of her departure, fans of "The Vampire Diaries" took to social media sites to express their disappointment. Some said the show should not proceed and asked for it to be "killed."

Dobrev played Elena Gilbert on the show and also the vampire Katherine. Gilbert was romantically involved with brothers Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley).

Fans of the show were delighted when Dobrev and Somerhalder began dating a few years ago only to break up last year. Somerhalder is engaged to marry actress Nikki Reed.