General Hospital’s Steve Burton Shares His Struggle With Kelly Monaco’s ‘Heartbreaking’ Exit

“JaSam” without Sam? It just doesn’t feel right — and didn’t to Steve Burton, either, when he was working out how to act his last General Hospital scenes with Kelly Monaco, who for ages had been his leading lady.

“I was really at a loss in the sense of I wasn’t sure how to play this,” he said during an episode of The Daily Drama Podcast. “Obviously, we have a huge history. Obviously, we’ve worked together for a long time, so there [were] all of these things going on, but I didn’t have a clear vision.”

Helping to give the Emmy winner perspective was co-star Maurice Benard, Sonny to his Jason. The don’s portrayer told his buddy, “Whatever happens in there is supposed to happen. And that’s it. You don’t have to force anything. Just let it work.”

That, it did. Burton gave a terrific performance as Stone Cold tried to say goodbye to the former wife who would forever hold a piece of his heart. “It was very sad,” he said, “because Kelly was obviously leaving, and then the emotion of the character passing and all these things, and I just thought everybody really did a wonderful job.

“I had to shoot that stuff with her first and then go backward because we shot everything out of order,” he went on, “so those are my first scenes. It was really interesting to have gotten all that emotion out and then have to go back. I know people in movies do this all the time, but as an actor, it’s not your favorite thing to do.”

Since Monaco’s exit was revealed, she has not said what precipitated it. But she has called her ouster “retaliation at its finest.”