Why Did Kristina Leave General Hospital? Kate Mansi Opens up About Her Exit and Possible Return
Three years after taking over the role of Kristina Corinthos-Davis, Kate Mansi made the decision to leave General Hospital. As her final episode aired on June 12, the actress discussed her exit and her emotional final scenes in a new interview with TV Insider.
The End of an Era
Although Mansi has enjoyed her time at GH, with her husband, producer Matt McInnis, working overseas, the actress opted not to renew her contract in order to have more flexibility in her schedule. “I knew my contract was up in April and I wanted to give them proper notice so that they could plan their future storytelling,” she shared.
Having been running Charlie’s Pub in Port Charles for years, Kristina was inspired by recent events surrounding the loss of her baby and sister Molly’s (Kristen Vaganos) endometriosis to apply to medical school. After being accepted to UCLA, Kristina said tearful good-byes to parents Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) and Sonny (Maurice Benard), then shared a last breakfast with siblings Molly and Michael (Rory Gibson) to make sure they’d be okay without her before she flew off to the West Coast.
Once Mansi had made the decision to leave GH, the actress told Grahn, Vaganos, and Gibson first, but deliberately chose not to share the news with Benard until the day they were taping their final scenes together.
“He was crying, and he asked me in rehearsal, ‘Is this it, kid? Are you really leaving?’” she said. “And I said, ‘Yes.’ He gave me a big hug, and we both cried. During taping, it was a very meaningful, authentic reaction we both had saying good-bye to each other, which is what I really wanted, because the father-daughter relationship for Kristina and Sonny, and for Maurice and me, has been so special and unique. But it was really hard.”
During her final day at the studio, Mansi went through the gamut of emotions as she experienced the daily process for the last time. “After I finished my final scene, all the producers came out,” she shared. “I made a little speech, and I said how recently I had lost a very good friend, Patrick Muldoon [ex-Austin, Days of Our Lives], and that experience made me very aware of the friendships we create in these jobs on shows like this every single day and how much I cherish them.”
Having also played Abigail on DAYS, Mansi is well aware of the unique loyalty of soap fans and expressed her gratitude to them, saying, “Daytime fans are so diehard. I know I was coming in as a recast and I’m so grateful to have been accepted with such a warm welcome as Kristina, and to hear from some of my Abigail fans that they’ve enjoyed Kristina as well is so wonderful.”
As she prepares to join her husband in Europe, Mansi reported she has a new project in the works for this fall. But might she one day bring Kristina back to Port Charles as a successful doctor? Noted Mansi with a wink, “Anything is possible.”
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