Eva LaRue is leaving “General Hospital” less than a year and a half after joining the cast of the popular soap opera.
The daytime veteran first appeared on the ABC series in February 2024 when she took on the role of Natalia Ramirez, a villain who instantly polarized viewers.
During a new interview with Soap Opera Digest, LaRue announced her departure from the show.
“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 said.
“General Hospital” executive producer Frank Valentini also confirmed LaRue’s departure in a statement to Soap Opera Digest.
“Eva’s been a dear friend for years and I am so pleased we found an opportunity to work together,” he said. “What originally was meant as a guest star arc turned into a longer and more satisfying arc, in thanks to Eva’s terrific work and chemistry with our cast. I was thrilled Eva was available to us in this extended role. I wish her all the best in her upcoming projects.”
LaRue, who is known for previously starring as Maria Santos Grey in “All My Children,” said “General Hospital” “felt like home” since there are several former “All My Children” stars on the cast.
The actor’s character, Natalia Ramirez, wasn’t a fan favorite. Per Soap Opera Digest, she was known as a “disapproving and homophobic mother.”
Still, LaRue said most viewers were respectful while interacting with her.
“They love, love, love their show and they may not like what your character’s doing, but the majority of the fans that would come on my page were really kind and they would just say, ‘We don’t like your character, we don’t like that she’s this horrible mom, but we like the story and we like the turmoil and the chaos and we like watching it all go down,’” she said.
During the June 30 episode of “General Hospital,” LaRue’s character ended up in a precarious situation when she consumed a combination of pills and alcohol after learning that Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) was going to send her away to Belize.
LaRue’s final episode of the show will air this week.
While looking back on her last few months of filming, the actor said she started to suspect that her character wasn’t going to last much longer back in January.
“They tried to rehabilitate my character and then all of a sudden, I have these scenes in January where, because Natalia had lied about her ex-husband and broken his trust, Sonny was like, ‘We can’t be friends anymore.’ And I thought, ‘Uh-oh, there we go,’ because that (relationship with Sonny) was kind of my character’s only lifeline.”
Playing a villain was “hard” for LaRue, who explained that soap opera viewers are hard core fans of their shows.
“The GH fans couldn’t stand (Natalia)! So that was tough, because especially if you are accustomed to being rooted for, to be rooted against is not as comfortable,” she said.
Still, LaRue said she had a “blast” working with her co-star, Benard and called him a “rock star.”
“I was so glad they put me with Maurice. That was really fun,” she said.
