This actress is saying goodbye to Port Charles.
Eva LaRue, 58, announced she will be leaving “General Hospital” just one year after joining the beloved soap opera as Natalia Rogers-Ramirez.
The “CSI: Miami” alum played the homophobic mother of Jacqueline Grace Lopez’s Blaze. LaRue was no stranger to soaps, as she first rose to fame playing Maria Santos Grey on “All My Children.”
The news of Natalia’s demise comes after the character ingested a lethal mix of pills and alcohol when she discovered her former boyfriend, Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard), was going to ship her off to Belize. This week will be LaRue’s final episode of the show.
“I was originally only supposed to be on the show for a couple of months,” LaRue told Soap Digest on Monday. “And it ended up being a much longer run, which was great — and really fun because there are so many ‘All My Children’ actors there and so it felt like home.”
The Emmy winner had an inkling it might be the end for Natalia a few months ago, explaining to the outlet she “started to feel it in January.”
“They tried to rehabilitate my character,” LaRue confessed, “and then all of a sudden, I have these scenes in January where, because Natalia had lied about her ex-husband [Jenz Sidwell] and broken his trust, Sonny was like, ‘We can’t be friends anymore.’ And I thought, ‘Uh-oh, there we go,’ because that [relationship with Sonny] was kind of my character’s only lifeline.”
Despite her romance with Sonny, fans were still unhappy with Natalia.
“People just weren’t buying it, because they just hated my character so much,” LaRue recalled. “I was so vilified that no matter what [the writers] did, it just wasn’t a solid enough rehabilitation that they were gonna buy me with Sonny. And so when they finally let that idea go, I realized, ‘Okay, I’m probably not much longer for this world.’”
Looking back, the “Help for the Holidays” vet realized that if Natalia had been brought on as a long-term character from the start, the audience might have gravitated toward her more.
“I was supposed to just be kind of a conduit to the storyline and not really be there for very long, and they wrote me as, you know, this mom villain,” LaRue detailed. “And then it was really tough [to reverse that] when they were like, ‘Well, we’ve got her here, might as well keep her!’ Which was fine by me — I was happy to stick around. But it became a struggle to bring me back from the edge.”
The soap star compared playing Natalia to Maria back in the day, where she was always a beloved character.
“It was hard for me, actually — for me as a person,” admitted LaRue. “Because in daytime, when you play a character like Maria Santos, love her or hate her, she was not ever meant to be a vilified character. And so it was hard from being that character, being a fan favorite, to being, like, literally hated.”
She added, “The GH fans couldn’t stand [Natalia]! So that was tough, because especially if you are accustomed to being rooted for, to be rooted against is not as comfortable.”
Her exit aside, LaRue is grateful for her experience on the show, which is currently in its 62nd season after debuting in 1963.
“I had a blast at ‘General Hospital,’ she shared. “I loved being there and I had a lot of really great scenes and I loved everybody that I got to work with. It was just an awesome experience, and I was really glad that I got to stay longer than I was supposed to.”
“General Hospital” executive producer Frank Valentini told Entertainment Weekly on Monday, “Eva’s been a dear friend for years and I am so pleased we found an opportunity to work together.”
“What originally was meant as a guest star arc turned into a longer and more satisfying arc, in thanks to Eva’s terrific work and chemistry with our cast,” he continued. “I was thrilled Eva was available to us in this extended role. I wish her all the best in her upcoming projects.”
Over the past year, there have been many cast shake-ups in Port Charles.
First, Kelly Monaco, who starred as Sam McCall from 2003 to 2024, blasted the soap in August when they fired her after 21 years, claiming it was “retaliation.”
Shortly after, Brooklyn Rae Silzer, who portrayed Emma Drake for 13 years, was replaced by Braedyn Bruner.
At the time, the young star, 19, wrote on X that she was “forever grateful” for her spot on the daytime series.
In February, Cassandra James, who plays Dr. Terry Randolph, explained that fan favorites may not stay gone for long.
“Well, here’s the thing about a legacy like ‘General Hospital,’” the actress exclusively told The Post. “Our anniversary is coming up this year. We’re turning 62 this year. So, while there are definitely legacy actors who have left the show for many, you know, any number of reasons, the world of Port Charles is so big, and there are so many amazing places that the production can take the story.”
“So, I think the fans have nothing to worry about. There’s definitely, you know, there’s always someone coming back to town,” teased James. “There’s always legacy actors being shuffled around, coming back to the show. So, you’re never going to, you know, miss out on much.”
The star also touched on the death of her late co-star, Leslie Charleson — who played Dr. Monica Quartermaine for almost 50 years — after she passed away from blunt force trauma in January.
James reminisced, “We’re all really saddened by the loss. And, to be honest, my favorite thing about Leslie is she had a really wonderful sense of humor.”