Kirsten Storms Was ‘Taken Aback’ When She Learned She’d Be Temporarily Replaced on ‘General Hospital’

Kirsten Storms is opening up about what it was like to be temporarily replaced in her long-running “General Hospital” role.

Storms, who has played Maxie on the historic soap opera since May 2005, was recently replaced temporarily by Nicole Paggi due to scheduling conflicts. In a recent sit-down with Soap Opera Digest, Storms said that she was at first surprised to hear that she’d be tagged out of the role during her absence, but was glad that someone would be there to keep her storyline going.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was taken aback a bit by it,” she said. “I would prefer that someone play Maxie and be playing Maxie well to keep the character relevant and in the soap world still because 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. I was very excited just to know that she was still going to be in Port Charles and doing lots of things.”

This isn’t the first time that another actress has subbed in to play Maxie. Jen Lilley stepped in to play the role in September 2011 when Storms was forced to take medical leave after being diagnosed with endometriosis. Storms returned to the show a year later.

This also isn’t the first time Paggi stepped in to play Maxie. She played the role in December 2023. Her other credits include “Clipped,” “The Rookie: Feds,” “9-1-9,” “Rizzoli & Isles” and “Mad Love.”