Anthony Anderson Cried While Filming the Series Finale of 'Black-ish' : 'Didn't Expect to Lose It'

The final episode of Black-ish will air Tuesday night on ABC

Anthony Anderson and Ellen DeGeneres. Photo: Michael Rozman/Warner Bros.

Anthony Anderson is having a hard time saying goodbye to Black-ish.

During a recent appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the actor, 51, opened up about filming the final episode of the hit ABC series, revealing that he wasn't able to hold back the tears.

"I did [cry]. I didn't cry as much as Tracee Ellis Ross, though. She cried every day," Anderson said. "Actually the last day, I think I cried a little bit more than [Ross] did, and I didn't think it was going to hit me the way that it did."

Anderson said he thought he was emotionally prepared to wrap the series — but he was quickly proven wrong.

"We knew what the last day was," he said. "I had been prepping myself for it, and in the last scene on the last day is when I lost it, and it was unexpected for me. I didn't expect to lose it the way that I did, but that just goes to show how much I love what I do [and] love doing it with the people that I did it with for the last eight years."

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Black-ish has been airing on ABC since 2014, and will air its final episode on Tuesday night. The sitcom followed the Johnson family, a Black family who aims to get in touch with their cultural roots after moving into a wealthy and predominately white community.

Listen below to an interview with Black-ish star Marcus Scribner on our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

Black-ish also starred Ross as Anderson's wife, Yara Shahidi, Marsai Martin, Marcus Scribner and Miles Brown.

Anderson said the series was the product of a conversation about what television was missing in terms of representation. "When Kenya [Barris] and I sat down almost 10 years ago now, we looked at what was missing from the landscape of television for us — he and I as viewers — and we wanted to make an important show that had an impact," he said. "We took a page from Norman Lear's book with The Jeffersons, Good Times, All in the Family, and we wanted to do a show like that — a show that had social commentary, with unapologetic lead characters — and I believe we were successful."

The actor also recently spoke about the unapologetic nature of the series to PEOPLE. "That's what made our show appealing," he said. "And with the worldwide audience, wanting to better ourselves and live the American dream and have the best for all of our family, that's what it was all about."

The final episode airs Tuesday at 9:30 ET on ABC.