The population of Port Charles is decreasing by one, for at least a few months.
“General Hospital” star Kirsten Storms posted a video on her Instagram page on July 7, announcing she will be stepping aside from the soap opera for an unspecified period of time so she can move with her daughter, Harper, to Tennessee.
“I’m very excited to be making Tennessee my home!” she captioned the clip.
“I can’t wait to return to ‘GH, ‘once Harper and I are settled in our new town. I plan on documenting as much of this new journey on my social media as I can. It’s always been a dream of mine to move to a place like this, it’s hard to believe it’s really happening,” she wrote.
Storms, who plays Maxie Jones on “General Hospital” and made her debut on the show in 2005, explained her decision in the video.
“I meant to post this video a few weeks ago, and time just got away from me, but in March, I asked Frank Valentini, our amazing executive producer, I had a conversation with him about my reasons for wanting to move and my desire to not leave the show,” she said.
“Now, when you approach a job like this, they can always be like, ‘Forget it. I will let you out of your contract if you’re going to leave the state.’ ‘GH’ did not do that, which was kind of amazing, because I also asked for some time off,” she continued.
Storms, who shares her daughter with ex-husband and former “General Hospital” star Brandon Barash, said she taped her final episode of the year “the week before last week” and hinted she could come back in a few months, while her plotline will energize viewers in her absence.
“It’s possible I will be back in December, maybe November, I promise you the storyline they have going on until my return to Port Charles is kind of incredible,” she said. “You guys are going to freak out, actually. (I) can’t wait to see the comments online about that.”
Storms also remained thankful she is getting the chance to take a hiatus from the show.
“I really want to thank ‘GH,’ the ABC network executives, the writers for agreeing to let me take this time. I know Frank and the producers there know my reasons, and I am so grateful that they understand and are supportive,” she said.
In addition, Storms tried to shut down any chatter about why she may be leaving.
“Really quick about the online rumors, and I’ll get into some of this stuff at a later date. This is just me very longwindedly explaining that I’m taking a break and moving to Tennessee,” she said. “If you don’t read about it or watch a video on it from my page, take it with a grain of salt. People like to say a whole bunch of stuff.”
Storms’ announcement came on the heels of Eva LaRue revealing she would be leaving the daytime sudser.
“I had a blast at ‘General Hospital.’ I loved being there and I had a lot of really great scenes and I loved everybody that I got to work with,” she told Soap Opera Digest.
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