General Hospital Spoilers: Valentini Accuses LaRue, The Shocking Reason the Actress Was Fired
Eva LaRue‘s General Hospital character Natalia Rogers-Ramirez is exiting the series.
It comes just a over one year after the 58-year-old actress debuted the role of Blaze’s (Jacqueline Grace Lopez) homophobic mom.
LaRue, who has also worked on All My Children and CSI Miami, shared a headshot on Instagram this week, writing, ‘That’s a wrap on Natalia Ramirez.’
Executive producer Frank Valentini told Entertainment Weekly, ‘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. I was thrilled Eva was available to us in this extended role. I wish her all the best in her upcoming projects.’
She added that the show ‘felt like home’ due to the presence of other former All My Children actors.
Her final episode as Ramirez will air this week, after she previously swallowed a harmful mix of pills and alcohol upon learning she would be sent to Belize by Maurice Bernard’s Sonny Corinthos.
LaRue said she suspected her character would get the boot earlier this year.
‘I started to feel it in January. They tried to rehabilitate my character and then all of a sudden, I have these scenes in January where, because Natalia had lied about her ex-husband 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.’
The actress detailed the struggle to make viewers like her character.
‘People just weren’t buying it, because they just hated my character so much,’ she explained.
‘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.”‘
She also noted the contrast between playing Natalia and All My Children’s Maria, who was a hit with fans.
‘It was hard for me, actually — for me as a person,’ she reflected. ‘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.’
Despite the friction with fans, Eva stressed that she enjoyed her time on the show.
‘I had a blast at General Hospital. I loved being there and I had a lot of really great scenes and I loved everybody that I got to work with,’ she told the outlet.
‘It was just an awesome experience, and I was really glad that I got to stay longer than I was supposed to.’
