Ryan Paevey’s reasons for walking away from Hallmark are completely heartbreaking. That said, those who have followed his career for a while know that there were already signs that the actor wanted to shift his focus several years back. We’re referring, of course, to Paevey’s 2018 exit from “General Hospital.” While the “Coyote Creek Christmas” star acknowledged that leaving the show was emotional for him — even telling Soap Opera Digest that he teared up while filming his final scenes — Paevey also made it clear that it was his own choice to leave the long-running soap. So much so, in fact, that he actually walked away without another gig in the pipeline, disclosing, “I didn’t have anything lined up; I had no idea what was next.”
Paevey was even prepared to go back to what he did before “General Hospital” — a combination of handyman jobs and bartending. That the Hallmark stalwart was so willing to step away makes sense given that he also divulged in an interview with Soap Hub that he went in to “General Hospital” with every intention of only doing it short-term. Fair enough, we guess — after all, Paevey confessed to Soaps in Depth that he had plenty of reservations when he took the job: “I didn’t even call myself an actor — I didn’t even know if I wanted to be an actor.” Even after signing on to work with Hallmark, clearly, that uncertainty lingered.
