Jonathan Jackson has revealed that his surprise decision to leave long-running soap opera General Hospital just nine months after returning came down to the difficulty of splitting his life between Nashville and Los Angeles.
The 43-year-old actor and musician first played Lucky Spencer on the show in 1993, when he was 11 years old.
He told TV Insider that it was never the plan to end his latest stint so soon. “It was more of a real, sincere attempt from myself and from General Hospital to make it work for a longer period of time,” said Jackson. “The hope was to be able to stay on longer.”
However, he went on to explain that the logistics of traveling between his home in Tennessee and the show’s tapings in California had taken a toll on his family life.
“There was always that possibility because it was a bit of an experiment on my part to see if I could make it work with the family dynamic,” said the father-of-three.
“There were moments where I thought, ‘I think I can find this balance with the family and time back and forth,’ and then you just have to pray about it and try to do what you feel is right. We gave it our best shot, but we weren’t able to keep it going.”
Jackson added that after leaving the show, he plans to focus on music and poetry. “There’s some touring coming up,” he revealed. “I’ll be releasing a solo album later this year. I have at least one book that’s coming out later this year as well, a book of poetry and an anthology of poems that I’ve been working on for at least 15 years now. It’s called Anthology of Longing.”
The day after news broke about Jackson’s departure, ABC announced that Kelly Thiebaud will return to General Hospital in July.
“It is good to be home,” the Daytime Emmy-winning actor told Deadline.
“I am thrilled to have Kelly back on our show,” added GH executive producer Frank Valentini. “We have some great twists and turns planned for her character.”
Thiebaud, 42, was first introduced as Dr. Britt Westbourne in 2012. Her surprise return comes two years after she exited the show in 2023 following the death of her conniving character, at the hands of the Hook serial killer. It’s currently unclear whether Thiebaud will be returning as Westbourne or as an entirely new character.
