Kelly Monaco is still understandably salty about her firing from General Hospital after more than 20 years in the role of Samantha 'Sam' McCall.
via: EW
The actress shared a behind-the-scenes photo of her "last scene with the Davis girls" on Instagram over the weekend, writing that it "still doesn't make any sense to me." In the photo, Monaco shares a couch with Nancy Lee Grahn, Kristin Vaganos, and Kate Mansi, who play her mother and half-sisters on the long-running ABC soap.
"I love you. All will be well," Grahn commented under Monaco's post. "There are some things a TV mother just knows."
Monaco has played mob daughter and former bad girl Sam McCall since 2003, spanning nearly 2,300 episodes. Entertainment Weekly confirmed in August that Moncao would be leaving the show after 21 years, but the reason for her departure is still unclear.
General Hospital has generated a considerable amount of staffing news this year, from the planned reunion of Genie Francis' Laura with Lucky, her onscreen son played by Jonathan Jackson, to the departure of Nicholas Alexander Chavez for Ryan Murphy-land, to a guest appearance from SNL star Sarah Sherman and the return of both Emma Samms and Rick Hearst.
But neither ABC nor Monaco have explained the reason behind her momentous exit. Monaco didn't respond to EW's requests for comment at the time of her exit news or about her recent Instagram post.
In a since-deleted reply to a comment on a Sept. 30 Instagram post by Soap Hub, Monaco reportedly wrote, "'No primary role'.. do your homework. When Billy Miller was fired, Sam's storyline stopped. Stripping Sam of every characteristic she had. Something I worked for decades to build… Slowly dismantling her, into a character that I did not recognize, let alone the audience. Call it what you will… retaliation at [its] finest. I will give a proper statement. The truth will set you free."
Before Monaco joined General Hospital, she played the character Livvie Locke on the General Hospital spinoff Port Charles. She has played Sam McCall consistently except for three brief instances in which Lindsay Hartley briefly filled in for her in 2020, 2022, and 2024.
Monca's work on Port Charles earned her a Daytime Emmy nomination in 2003, and she was nominated again in 2006 for her work on GH.
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC, and can be streamed on Hulu and Spectrum On Demand.
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