Last week marked the end of Emmy winner Kelly Thiebaud's time as Britt Westbourne. It was a ten-year journey that saw the character go from tossing a young girl's doll on a barbecue to heroically giving her own life to save that of someone else.
In an emotional Instagram post, Thiebaud looked back at her time on General Hospital, calling it an experience she will cherish for the rest of her life.
"A tribute to all the years I've been lucky enough to entertain you as Dr. Britt Westbourne and lucky enough to work with such wonderful and kind people," Thiebaud captioned the video. "Being on this show, being in your living rooms everyday, is an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. Thank you for all of the amazing support over the years. There are so many people not in this video only because I didn't get a picture with you but I truly miss seeing all of your faces at work. One day I hope to share all of my stories about being on @generalhospitalabc with my kids and what a fun time I had. I love you all."
In an interview with Soap Digest, Thiebaud talked about what led to her decision to depart the ABC soap. Like many other daytime actors before her, Thiebaud wanted a chance to tackle other projects, projects that would more than likely not be possible if she remained at GH.
"As much as I love Britt and I love the fans and I love working on General Hospital, I just felt like I had to leave and go pursue those other dreams and goals of mine," Thiebaud explaining, noting that she'd like to try her hand at film and theater.
It was not a role on ABC's primetime hit Station 19 that led Thiebaud to walk away.
"I don't know what it was about that Deadline article that made people think that I was leaving for [Station 19]," the actress commented. Thiebaud noted that she probably could have found a way to do both GH and Station 19 if she had wanted to work on both shows.
Rewinding a couple of years, Thiebaud's 2020 return "was only supposed to be temporary" and certainly wasn't supposed to stretch into 2022. It was Britt and Jason's fledgling romance that prompted Thiebaud to stick around. The actress called the Britt/Jason pairing "something really magical," and she admits to being shocked when Burton was written off the show.
It was that shocking exit, in part, that helped Thiebaud win her first Daytime Emmy in 2022. Britt and Jason's relationship featured heavily in Thiebaud's Emmy reel.
When the time came for Thiebaud to share her desire to leave GH with the show's boss, Frank Valentini, she said the executive producer understood, and everyone involved decided that in order for Thiebaud to really feel closure... Britt needed to die.
"I know this isn't the way that the fans wanted things to happen, but I hope that they like how we wrapped up this special character," Thiebaud explained. I'm so grateful to them for the support that I've gotten over the years, and I hope they continue to follow me in what I do next."
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