General Hospital's Kirsten Storms excitedly moved to Tennessee with her daughter, Harper Rose. Because she moved to the Volunteer State, Kirsten took a step back from her role of Maxie Jones on the soap opera.
"I'm very excited to be making Tennessee my home!" she told her 423k Instagram followers. "I can't wait to return to GH, once Harper and I are settled in our new town." Watch the video below.
While there were some reports that this was a rash decision, Kirsten explained to her fans it was long planned. "In March I [spoke with] Frank Valentini, our amazing executive producer, [about] my reasons for wanting to move and my desire to not leave the show," she said.
And thankfully for Kirsten, Frank didn't want that either.
"When you approach a job like this they can always be like 'forget it we'll let you out of the contract if you're going to leave the state,'" she said in the Instagram video. "GH did not do that. Which was kind of amazing."
During Kirsten's absence, the role of Maxie will be played by Nicole Paggi. In a conversation with Soap Opera Digest, she revealed: "I would be lying if I didn't say that I was taken aback a bit by it. [But] I would prefer that someone play Maxie and be playing Maxie well to keep the character relevant."
© Instagram"In the soap world still…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," Kirsten explained. "I was very excited just to know that [Maxie] was still going to be in Port Charles and doing lots of things."
Kirsten filmed her last episodes in March, noting it was "possible" that she'll be back on set "in December, maybe November," promising fans that they "are going to freak out" when they get to see her "return to Port Charles."
© GettyThe General Hospital star first broke into acting in the Disney Channel Original Movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. She joined the show in 2005 when she was just 21 years old.
Kirsten captioned her Instagram: "It's always been a dream of mine to move to a place like [Tennessee], it's hard to believe it's really happening."
Kirsten co-parents Harper, 11, with her ex-husband Brandon Barash.
© WireImageThe two actors worked together on General Hospital, where Brandon played Johnny Zacchara. He was on the show from 2013 to 2016. In 2013, the couple surprised fans when they revealed they secretly got married two months earlier. That same announcement came with the news that they were expecting Harper.
The couple divorced in 2016, but frequently share cute photos of their daughter to Instagram, showing their relationship remains positive. Kirsten is grateful to ABC and GH during this move.
© Getty Images"I really want to thank GH, the ABC executives, the writers, for agreeing to let me take this time," she explained on Instagram. "I know Frank and the producers there know my reasons and I am so grateful that they understand and are supportive."
