General Hospital star Kirsten Storms is taking an extended break from the long-running ABC soap opera — and she’s already filmed her final scenes for now.
The 41-year-old actress, who plays Maxie Jones, shared in an Instagram video on Monday, July 7, that she plans to move from Los Angeles to Nashville with her daughter, Harper, 11, whom she shares with her ex-husband and fellow soap actor, Brandon Borash.
In the video, Storms said her hiatus has been in the works since March, explaining that she approached GH executive producer Frank Valentini about her cross-country move.
“I had a conversation with him about my reasons for wanting to move and my desire to not leave the show,” she said. “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.”
Drama in Port Charles! A Breakdown of ‘General Hospital’ Recent Shakeups
Storms said she has already “had my final taping day for the year,” adding, “It’s possible I will be back in December, maybe November.”
“I promise you the story line they have going on until my return to Port Charles is kind of incredible,” the actress teased what’s to come for Maxie. “You guys are gonna freak out actually. “
Storms captioned her post, “I’m very excited to be making Tennessee my home! 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.”
The former Days of Our Lives star has played Maxie since 2005, though producers have temporarily recast the part with other actresses to accommodate Storms.
Kirsten Storms Recalls ‘Weird’ ‘GH’ Story Line With Actor She Knew as a Teen
Most recently, Nicole Paggi took over the role of Maxie in various episodes beginning with the Thursday, July 3, episode due to scheduling conflicts, per Soap Opera Digest.
Paggi, who previously filled in for Storms in December 2023, will appear in further episodes in July and August, according to the outlet. Storms is expected to be back on screen on August 18.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was taken aback a bit by it,” Storms told Soap Opera Digest about GH’s decision to temporarily recast Maxie in the summer episodes.
But, she added, “I would prefer that someone play Maxie and be playing Maxie well to keep the character relevant and in the soap world still because it doesn’t take much for a character to die off and for somebody else to come in and be in a front-burner story line. I was very excited just to know that she was still going to be in Port Charles and doing lots of things.”
