General Hospital’s Eva LaRue broke her silence about her exit — and shared how fan backlash contributed to her departure.
LaRue, 58, confirmed on Monday, June 30, that she was leaving the show after playing Natalia Ramirez on the long-running soap opera.
“I was originally only supposed to be on the show for a couple of months,” LaRue told Soap Opera Digest. “And it ended up being a much longer run, which was great — and really fun because there are so many All My Children actors there and so it felt like home.”
LaRue, who made her debut on General Hospital in February 2024, will have her last episodes air this week. She was originally introduced as Blaze’s (Jacqueline Grace Lopez) mom before General Hospital’s writers tried to set Natalia up with Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard).
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“People just weren’t buying it, because they just hated my character so much,” LaRue explained. “I was so vilified that no matter what [the writers] did, it just wasn’t a solid enough rehabilitation that they were gonna buy me with Sonny.”
LaRue knew her time on the show was coming to an end after they “finally let that idea go” of Natalia and Sonny together.
“I realized, OK, I’m probably not much longer for this world,’” she noted. “It was hard for me, actually — for me as a person. Because in daytime, when you play a character like Maria Santos [on All My Children], love her or hate her, she was not ever meant to be a vilified character. And so it was hard from being that character, being a fan favorite, to being, like, literally hated.”
LaRue admitted it was “tough” to see herself being “rooted against” off screen. She went on to praise those viewers who were “just so loyal to their show.” LaRue acknowledged that the “majority” of fans “see the whole picture, and they don’t have to love you to love what’s going on, because they know it all serves the story.”
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“I had a blast at General Hospital,” she said. “I loved being there and I had a lot of really great scenes and I loved everybody that I got to work with. It was just an awesome experience, and I was really glad that I got to stay longer than I was supposed to.”
After news broke about LaRue’s stint in Port Charles coming to an end, executive producer Frank Valentini released a statement about her time on the show.
“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.”
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC and is available to stream on Hulu.
