Jonathan Jackson Breaks His Silence On General Hospital Exit
General Hospital fans were shocked last week by the news that five-time Daytime Emmy winner Jonathan Jackson, who returned to the show last summer as Lucky Spencer, would be leaving Port Charles in the coming days. Now, in a new interview with TV Insider, the actor opened up about his decision to walk away from GH.
Exit Strategy
The commute was a major factor in Jackson’s choice. The actor lives in Tennessee with his family — wife Lisa Vultaggio Jackson, who he met during her 1999-2001 run as Hannah Scott, and their three children, Caleb (born in 2003), Adora (born in 2005) and Titus (born in 2010, who briefly played the role of Lucky’s son Aidan) — and was flying back and forth to the GH studio in Los Angeles for work. He described splitting his time between opposite sides of the country as “a bit of an experiment on my part,” one that ultimately he decided wasn’t sustainable over the long run. “We gave it our best shot, but we weren’t able to keep it going,” he summed up.
If Lucky’s decision to leave town seemed abrupt, well, that’s because Jackson “was trying to stay in the moment” and didn’t make up his mind to leave until very recently. Once the actor did give his notice, the show quickly scripted an exit arc for him that saw Liz turn down Lucky’s marriage proposal on the grounds that he wouldn’t be happy putting down permanent roots in Port Charles. Lucky acknowledged that she was right and decided to head out of town swiftly, since it would be too painful to stick around knowing that he and Liz didn’t have a future together.
While Liz and Lucky didn’t get the happy ending many fans who’ve followed their love story since they were teenagers were hoping for, Jackson shared that reconnecting with Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) was a highlight of his nine-month comeback. During Jackson’s last sustained run on the show, from 2009-11, “it was more of the implosion of Lucky and Elizabeth, and it was just kind of full-on tragedy,” he reflected. “This time, there was a lot of goodness and a lot of sweetness amidst the drama.”
Jackson and Herbst first began working together when she joined the show in 1997, four years after his own GH debut. He had nothing but praise for the experience of getting to share the stage with her again, declaring, “Becky is really one of the most talented people that I’ve worked with.” He described Herbst as “an incredibly intuitive and very smart actress. I mean, she just doesn’t miss things. She’s just really an amazing performer, so it was a joy for me to get to work with her again.”
The actor also voiced how happy he was to get to reunite with on-screen mother Genie Francis (Laura) and longtime co-star Maurice Benard (Sonny), and said he “absolutely loved” getting to work with Kate Mansi (Kristina) for the first time.
Now that he’s wrapped his time at GH, Jackson shared that he’ll be releasing a solo album and a book of poetry this year, and will be focusing on “music and books and whatever other projects come along.”
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