Maxie is maxed out.
Kirsten Storms is taking an prolonged break from “General Hospital” after almost 20 years. The actress made the announcement in an Instagram video on July 7.
Storms, 41, has already filmed her closing scenes — for now. Amid her absence, she is transferring from Los Angeles to Nashville along with her daughter, Harper, 11, whom she shares along with her ex-husband and fellow cleaning soap actor, Brandon Borash.
“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,” she wrote. “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 “General Hospital” vet approached govt producer Frank Valentini in March about her plans to journey cross-country.
“I had a conversation with him about my reasons for wanting to move and my desire to not leave the show,” she mentioned within the clip. “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.”
Storms has performed Maxie Jones since 2005. The sequence debuted in April 1986 on ABC.
The actress will return later within the yr.
“It’s possible I will be back in December, maybe November,” she mentioned.
“I promise you the story line they have going on until my return to Port Charles is kind of incredible. You guys are gonna freak out actually.”
In relation to rumors that this temporary exit is everlasting, she quipped to followers: “Take it with a grain of salt.”
Different actors have taken on the function of Maxie in Storms’ absence. “Days of Our Lives” star Molly Burnett has stepped in and Nicole Paggi briefly changed her in 2023; she is going to seem once more as Maxie in episodes on July 30 and Aug. 13.
In 2011, Jen Lilley got here onboard when Storms took medical depart after being identified with endometriosis.
Storms, who returned one yr later, admitted she was stunned that her character was recast.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was taken aback a bit by it,” she informed Cleaning soap Opera Digest. “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 storyline. I was very excited just to know that she was still going to be in Port Charles and doing lots of things.”
Storms can also be identified for her work in Disney’s “Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century” movie franchise, and her credit in “7th Heaven,” “That’s So Raven,” and voicing Bonnie Rockwaller in “Kim Possible.”
