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Jacqueline Grace Lopez Talks Her General Hospital Exit, Blaze and Kristina’s Break-up, Ricky Martin, and If She Could Return

By Michael Fairman

Published

2 years ago

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Photo: ABC

Back in mid-August, in an abrupt on-screen departure, Allison “Blaze” Rogers (Jacqueline Grace Lopez) not only had a devastating break-up of her relationship with Kristina Corinthos-Davis (Kate Mansi), but then left Port Charles and headed out to be the opening act and go on tour with music superstar, Miguel Morez (formerly played by Ricky Martin).

As General Hospital fans also know, Jacqueline Grace Lopez previously opened up that she was also caught off-guard when her storyline quickly wrapped. Now, for the first time since her exit, Lopez spoke on what went down behind the scenes at how she learned she would be leaving the role she loved to play on and off since 2022, and more.

During a livestream conversation on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, Jacqueline spoke on her exit, how the decision was made to make Allison gay, working with Kate Mansi and creating the couple known as ‘Kraze’, and if how you’re going to leave a show best to do it to go on tour with Ricky Martin, right?

Photo: ABC

HOW LEARNED BLAZE WAS BEING WRITTEN-OUT

Jacqueline found herself in shock when she found out after the most recent co-head writing change, she was leaving GH. “I found out via script and I confirmed it. I received the script for the first episode where we first learn about the tour,” Lopez began. “I remember reading that and going, ‘Oh, well, I changed  mind. So I’m staying and I’m taking care of my girlfriend because that makes sense because I love her and I want to be there for her.’ Then, the next day I got the second script, and I remember reading that and I was like, “Oh, I’m going.’ There was this ‘spidey sense’ for me of, ‘I think I’m being written off the show this time.'”

After reading the script details, Lopez checked with GH execs to make sure she is interpreting this to mean she is definitely exiting.”My last two days were the Monday and Tuesday before we went to break in July,” Jacqueline recalled. “So the week before, I sent an email to the powers that be. And I said, ‘I just need to know if I’m coming back on the other side of the break. And the response was, ‘We love you, but Blaze has to be gone for a while.’ So that’s how I found out.”

COULD A RETURN FOR BLAZE BE IN THE FUTURE?

On soap operas, the key phrase for all actors is ‘”never, say never.” After all, even if your character dies that doesn’t mean you cant come back! Looking at the current GH canvas, Lopez thinks there could still be a place for Blaze. “I think there’s possibility. I have an anchor parent (in Natalia). I have family on the show. I speak about additional family on the show. I think there’s space to come back, be it in passing. You know, Blaze has a tour date in Port Charles,’ shared Jacqueline. “From a character standpoint, I think Allie would drop everything for Kristina if need be. 90% of the heartbreak in that last scene between Allie and Kristina is that she knows she’s doing this because it’s about, ‘I love her so much and this is what she needs.’ So, I’d like to think there’s space to come back.”

Photo: ABC

FINDING OUT BLAZE WOULD RETURN TO THE SHOW IN AN LGBTQ+ LOVE STORY

When Allison first arrived on the scene back in 2022 as a singer, she was managed by the abusive Linc Brown. However, when GH brought Lopez back in this last incarnation, viewers learned Blaze was gay. Jacqueline explains, “I was off the the show for two months already. All of a sudden I get a call from Mark Teschner (casting director, GH).  He goes, ‘So Frank (Valentini, EP, GH) wants you back and but he wants to make Blaze queer. Are you comfortable doing that?’ I first wanted to sit with it because I said, ‘I don’t want to take an opportunity away from someone else who can authentically live this experience because I identify as straight.'”

Later, Lopez had second thoughts on her stance, adding, “Then, I thought about, and I said, ‘I’ve established this character. This character is mine. It’s just another layer (to her). Frank actually got on the phone with me, which I give him immense credit for, and he quelled my fears. I said, ‘I want to earn it. I don’t want to just drop in and all of a sudden I’m running around and this is my new identity. I want it to be a slow burn. So, fans don’t see it as just a token storyline drop kind of situation.’ Frank was wonderful. He said, ‘The gift of this medium is we can tell and build relationships organically and in long form, and we’ll earn it.’ He’s like, ‘Don’t worry. The audience will know it before the characters do.’ And he was absolutely right. They did it in a way where we learned all the layers of what she had gone through – that her mother was conservative-valued, and completely not accepting of this life that she believes her daughter was having.  It wasn’t just like, ‘Wait, all of a sudden, Blaze is gay?”

Photo: ABC

Jacqueline, who has shared the importance of representation in the media not only for LGBTQ+ community but as a Latina, earned many new fans on her GH journey.  She expressed, “It was a huge responsibility and something I don’t take lightly at all. One of my throughlines with how I try to carry myself in the world, both personally and professionally, is I try to help people feel seen. I tell stories. I want to get it right. I’m very blessed to have a lot of gay friends, and a lot of people in the LGBTQ+ community and allies as well. I have a friend who’s from Puerto Rico who came out, who ended up having to sleep with a bible under his pillow with passages just completely demonizing homosexuality and to pray the gay away. I get to go through this and feel the hurt and feel the shame. But to get to be Blaze, to get to be Allison, and feel my mom (Natalia) dismiss me in that way and not see me and not want to see who I love in my heart. I mean, even now, it’s just heartbreaking. It’s given me such an insight that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to experience in this way.”

Photo: ABC

WORKING WITH KATE MANSI

The main thrust of Jacqueline’s recent storyline was bringing the on-screen relationship of Blaze and Kristina to life. “Kate pretty much knows what she wants to do,” explains Lopez.  “For me, I was more the person where I was like, ‘This line it’s weird to me.’ And she goes, ‘We’ll figure it out.’ We would talk about it. We developed this routine where we would run lines with each other, then we would block on the day if there were questions brought up. Jacqueline recalled a key scene for Kate. “If we had any emotionally, impactful scenes, I made it a point to call her up or text her ahead of time, like the day when Kristina was in the bathroom after Chase and Brook Lynn’s wedding and she sees her dad (Sonny) beating up Dex. Kate had to come in so emotionally raw. I just remember texting her on the day just being like, ‘If you need anything from me or whatever you need from me, you let me know. ‘”

Photo: JPI

RICKY MARTIN

Now that Allison is off on a world tour with Miguel Morez, did Jacqueline realize at the time, that it meant her character was essentially going on tour with Ricky Martin in the story? Lopez recalled, “The only reason I knew Ricky played Miguel on GH is because of fan Wiki. So, when I saw Miguel Morez, I was like, ‘Either they just really love alliteration with names or this is an actual character.’ So I googled it and then I saw Ricky Martin and then I called casting and I was like, ‘I’m sorry … is Ricky Martin coming on the show? And they were like, “Not to my knowledge.” And then I left. (Laughs)

Watch the full interview with Jacqueline below.

Now, let us know do you want Blaze to return and eventually go back to Kristina? Were you glad the GH tackled, albeit for a short time this same-sex relationship, but also showing how a mother can be so disrupted and bigoted against her own daughter just for being her ‘authentic’ self? Share your thoughts via the comment section.

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Bring her back

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Good for her for speaking up before accepting the storyline. She’s so right. Don’t pander to audiences. Just write all characters with depth and it will transcend everything else.

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I think it would make perfect sense for her to return considering what Kristi’s going through because she can’t depend on her sister..

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General Hospital

Kelly Sullivan Gives High Praise to ‘General Hospital’s’ Maura West Recalling When Ava Shot Connie (Exclusive)

Published

14 hours ago

on

September 12, 2026

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Maura West and Kelly Sullivan

It was just over 13 years ago on General Hospital when Ava Jerome (Maura West) shot and killed Kate Howard/Connie Falconeri (Kelly Sullivan) in an effort to keep her quiet from revealing that Derek Wells was actually Ava’s back-from-the-dead brother, Julian Jerome (William deVry). It’s a crime that somehow Ava never has quite paid for either.

The episode back aired on August 13, 2013 and viewers had to say goodbye to Kelly Sullivan who played Kate and her alter, Connie. In the story, just before she died, Kate/Connie scrawled the letters AJ in her own blood, initially making the PCPD and Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) think that it was AJ Quatermaine (Sean Kanan) who did the deed.

Now, Sullivan recalled sharing scenes with the three-time Daytime Emmy-winning West, during a live conversation on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel. Kelly was the special guest talking about her recent return to the soaps in her new role as The Bold and the Beautiful’s Darcy Dylan.

Photo: JPI

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF MAURA WEST

Speaking of her final GH scenes and working with Maura West, Sullivan gave her then GH co-star major props. “If you’re going to be shot by somebody (on the soaps), you want to be shot by Maura West, c’mon!”

Maura West debuted back in May 2013 as Ava, and Sullivan remembered when the As the World Turns favorite began on GH. “I remember when Maura West first arrived at GH. She walked in with this cute little bob (hairdo) and she’s just delicious,” shared Sullivan.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Kelly revealed more about Maura, adding “I think she’s amazing! I remember right before I left the show, someone suggested, and I would still love to do this with her, if she ever want to, but someone suggested that they wanted to direct the stage play A Streetcar Named Desire with Maura and I, where I would play Stella and she would play Blanche! Wouldn’t that be great?”

Speaking of the Ava/Connie showdown scenes, Sullivan expressed, “On television and on General Hospital specifically, Maura West is able to play a character who does the most horrendous things and you still care about her and that’s the mark of a really great actor. In other words, you’re able to be liked in the midst of the most horrendous things, and as a performer not shying away from that, and to just have the courage to do what’s on the page (in the script).”

Photo: JPI

KELLY SULLIVAN PARTING THOUGHTS AS SHE LEFT GENERAL HOSPITAL

Kelly also shared her sentiments when she walked off the set of General Hospital after her run back in August of 2013. “I really was honored. Every day I would go to work and I would say a little prayer, which is I want to do justice for my character, explained Kelly. “It’s between me and my character. I get to walk this path with her and to leave the show on that note, which is, I left every out there. I just gave it my all and again what an honor it was to play Kate/Connie.”

You can catch the full conversation with Kelly where she talks about her time on General Hospital, The Young and the Restless where she played Sage Warner and now The Bold and the Beautiful below.

So, do you remember the Ava and Connie scenes where Ava shot and killed her? What did you think of Kelly Sullivan’s sentiments about Maura West? Share your thoughts via the comment section. But first, watch the reveal where Ava recalls murdering Connie below!

 

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General Hospital

Steve Burton Reportedly Signs Three-Year Contract with ‘General Hospital’

Published

15 hours ago

on

September 12, 2026

By

Steve Burton

The question of will Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) stay awhile at General Hospital after his recent extended hiatus from the show earlier this year, has reportedly been answered.

TMZ via court documents obtained in Burton’s ongoing legal battle with his ex-wife Sheree Gustin, shared that Steve actually inked a new three year deal with the ABC soap opera back in June.

That is significant because it was June when Burton returned back to work as Jason. In addition, the court filing confirmed that Burton had already moved back to California from Tennessee.

Steve Burton

Photo: ABC

STEVE’S HIATUS AND HIS RETURN TO PORT CHARLES

GH fans will recall, it was back in February of 2026, that Burton announced via his Instagram that he was stepping away from his role of Jason Morgan for short break and pointed to wanting to spend quality time with his new wife, Michelle Lundstrom Burton with whom he tied the knot back on May 17, 2025.

Steve expressed at that time, “I’m newly married and looking forward to spending some quality time with my family.” It was back on March 25 that viewers saw Jason carted away by the WSB after taking the fall for Rocco Falconeri (Finn Carr) who shot then WSB Director Ross Cullum (Andrew Hawkes).

Burton returned to work on June 1, and due to General Hospital taping roughly six weeks ahead of air, made his on-screen comeback on the July 13 episode.

GOING FOR GOLD AT THE UPCOMING DAYTIME EMMYS

Then, Steve and his enduring fans got an extra special treat on the same day, when it was revealed on Extra that he was nominated for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series category.

Steve previously won in the Supporting Actor category for his work as General Hospital’s Jason in 1998 and as The Young and the Restless’ Dylan McAvoy in 2018.

Now with Jason and Britt’s (Kelly Thiebaud) relationship seemingly hitting the skids, plus Jason’s commitment to staying out of mob life to focus on being present for his son Danny Morgan (Asher Antonyzyn), what does the future hold for the fan favorite character? Stay tuned.

So, happy to hear that Steve Burton signed a new three year deal with General Hospital? Knowing that, what storyline would you like to see Jason get involved and with who? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section.

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General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Jason and Britt Reach an Impasse; Is This the End of Their Relationship?

Published

21 hours ago

on

September 12, 2026

By

Jason and Britt

On the Friday, September 11 episode of General Hospital, Jason (Steve Burton) and Britt’s (Kelly Thiebaud) relationship becomes strained to potentially the point of no return.

Things take a turn when an unglued Britt having been traumatized by almost being killed by Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) asks Jason to back her up with the PCPD when she reports Anna for attempted murder.

However, Jason told Britt, he can’t. Jason shares that he does not believe Anna would have gone through with shooting her. Therefore, Britt was not in any real imminent danger. Britt is flabbergasted and hurt that Jason is refusing to tell the police what he actually witnessed for himself on Mount Emerson.

Britt

Courtesy/ABC

BRITT WANTS BACK UP FROM JASON

Jason counters that he can’t believe that Britt would want Anna punished. or sent to prison, or a mental facility after the trauma she endured while being locked up and mentally tortured while at Wyndemere.

He asks Britt, “How could you even say that you want her locked up or prosecuted for what she did when you knew she was being held prisoner and you did nothing to save her?” Britt is stunned by Jason’s response.

Coming up, official General Hospital spoilers share that on the upcoming Monday, September 14 episode, Jason confides in Carly (Laura Wright), while Britt is stung. In the video preview that aired at the end of the Friday, September 11 episode for this coming Monday, Britt says to Jason, “You don’t believe me. Do you?”

General Hospital head scribes, Chris Van Etten and Elizabeth Korte previously teased in their fall preview of the soap, “Britt and Jason have come a long way and fought a lot of enemies to be together. But the most stubborn obstacle to their happiness isn’t without, it’s within. Decisions Britt made to stay alive while under Cullum’s thumb will come back to haunt her and may prove too difficult for this unlikely couple to survive.”

So, what do you think will happen? Will Jason and Britt break-up over Britt’s lies and Jason’s unwillingness to report Anna’s crime against her? Do you want Jason and Britt to go their separate ways? If they do, will Britt become romantically involved with Dr. Tristan Roberts (Dean Geyer) ? If so, who do you pair Jason with? Anyone? Weigh-in via the comment section.

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Jonathan Bennett joins the cast of GH as Joe Fitzpatrick. Catch the latest promo! Leave a comment.Leave A Comment

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