Shocking Soap Opera Exits: Kristian Alfonso, Alison Sweeney and More

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Shocking Soap Opera Exits: Kristian Alfonso, Alison Sweeney and More

Nothing hurts like one of your favorite stars leaving one of your favorite shows. That's something that soap opera fans know better than many. Through the years, stars of Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, and many more have shocked audiences when deciding to leave. Alison Sweeney, for example, surprised longtime Days of Our Lives fans in 2014 when she announced that after 21 years on the soap opera, she'd be exiting. "I've been on Days of Our Lives since I was 16 years old, and I have never had more than a two-week vacation in that whole time," the actress, who joined Days in 1993, said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show at the time. "I'm celebrating my 21st year, and I decided that it's going to be my last year with the show. I have worked so much, and my daughter just turned 5 and my son is 9, and I just want to be with them." She also noted that balancing Days with The Biggest Loser, which she began hosting in 2007, just got to be too much. "For seven years I've done both shows," Sweeney said. "I'm really just excited to be with my kids and be with my husband and, I don't know, have fun. And I write. My second book's coming out. I love directing and just finding things to do." Other times, it's not exactly the star's choice. In 2019, The Young and the Restless' Daniel Goddard, who joined the show to play Cane Ashby in 2007, shared via social media that he had been ousted. "It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that I will no longer be part of the cast of the Young and the Restless," he posted on Twitter and Instagram at the time. "I am as shocked and gutted as you are. I almost didn’t post but I felt that the most loyal & loving fans an actor could wish for deserved to know and watch the last story arc knowing the rich meaning behind it. I am forever grateful for the 13 years I have been a part of the Y&R family, but sadly it seems that without Neil and Lily there just is no Cane." Scroll through the gallery below for more shocking soap opera exits through the years. [podcast_block]

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Shocking Soap Opera Exits: Kristian Alfonso, Alison Sweeney and More

Nothing hurts like one of your favorite stars leaving one of your favorite shows. That's something that soap opera fans know better than many. Through the years, stars of Days of Our Lives, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, and many more have shocked audiences when deciding to leave. Alison Sweeney, for example, surprised longtime Days of Our Lives fans in 2014 when she announced that after 21 years on the soap opera, she'd be exiting. "I've been on Days of Our Lives since I was 16 years old, and I have never had more than a two-week vacation in that whole time," the actress, who joined Days in 1993, said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show at the time. "I'm celebrating my 21st year, and I decided that it's going to be my last year with the show. I have worked so much, and my daughter just turned 5 and my son is 9, and I just want to be with them." She also noted that balancing Days with The Biggest Loser, which she began hosting in 2007, just got to be too much. "For seven years I've done both shows," Sweeney said. "I'm really just excited to be with my kids and be with my husband and, I don't know, have fun. And I write. My second book's coming out. I love directing and just finding things to do." Other times, it's not exactly the star's choice. In 2019, The Young and the Restless' Daniel Goddard, who joined the show to play Cane Ashby in 2007, shared via social media that he had been ousted. "It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that I will no longer be part of the cast of the Young and the Restless," he posted on Twitter and Instagram at the time. "I am as shocked and gutted as you are. I almost didn’t post but I felt that the most loyal & loving fans an actor could wish for deserved to know and watch the last story arc knowing the rich meaning behind it. I am forever grateful for the 13 years I have been a part of the Y&R family, but sadly it seems that without Neil and Lily there just is no Cane." Scroll through the gallery below for more shocking soap opera exits through the years. [podcast_block]

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Kimberly McCullough

In 2011, McCullough chose to leave General Hospital to pursue directing. She first joined the show as Robin Scorpio when she was 7 years old, in 1985. She continued until 1996, then returned in 2005.

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Susan Flannery

After 25 years of playing Stephanie Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful, Flannery chose to exit the show in 2012.

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Steve Burton

Burton, who joined General Hospital as Jason Morgan in 1991, announced he was exiting in 2012. "I've been through 21 years of ups and downs with GH — regime changes, cast and crew changes, budget cuts, shakeups of one kind or another, and it's been nothing but a huge positive in my life and for my family," he told TVGuide.com at the time. "I have no complaints, no negative feelings at all. But it's time to go. I'm going to take some time off and do nothing but relax, just enjoy life a little bit with my wife and kids."

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Alison Sweeney

Sweeney, who began on Days of Our Lives as Sami Brady back in 1993, announced in 2014 that she would be exiting the show after 21 years. "I decided that it's going to be my last year with the show," she said at the time. "I have worked so much, and my daughter just turned 5 and my son is 9, and I just want to be with them."

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Greg Rikaart

Rikaart shared that he was leaving The Young and the Restless in 2017 after playing Kevin Fisher for 14 years. "I have such love and fondness for the cast and crew of Y&R that when I watch Kevin enjoying himself in scenes, it’s hard to know where he ends and Greg begins. At the moment it is unclear what lies ahead for Kevin and I, as we will be saying goodbye to Genoa City for a while," he said in a statement at the time. "I am sad to leave a place I hold so dear but also really excited about what the future holds, I cannot overstate how much gratitude I have to all of you who have been such loud cheerleaders for me. You’ve all enriched my life."

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Eileen Davidson

Davidson chose to exit The Young and the Restless in 2018, revealing via Twitter that although she felt "blessed to be able to play Ashley Abbott," she wanted "a little more control over my day to day." She first joined the series in 1984 but exited multiple times over the years.

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Daniel Goddard

In 2019, Goddard, who portrayed Cane Ashby on The Young and the Restless, announced he was leaving the CBS soap. "It’s with a heavy [heart] that I share the news that I will no longer be part of the cast of The Young and the Restless,” he posted on Twitter. “I’m as shocked & gutted as [you are]. I’m forever grateful for my 13 [years] in the Y&R family but sadly it seems that without Neil & Lily… there just is no Cane."

Credit: Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock

Kristian Alfonso

After 37 years on Days of Our Lives, Alfonso announced she was exiting the series in July 2020. “I’ve been there for an incredibly long time and am hugely grateful that I was able to be a part of the Days of Our Lives family for as long as I was. But in the last few years, Days of Our Lives is not the Days of Our Lives as I know it,” she shared in an interview with Soap Opera Digest at the time. Upon leaving she "felt a sense of relief."

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Greg Vaughan

In August 2020, Vaughan announced that he was leaving Days of Our Lives after eight years of portraying Eric Brady. "A lot of things that were said to me or promised to me never came to fruition,” the Queen Sugar actor told Soap Opera Digest at the time. "I didn’t feel like all of the things that were being told to me were being delivered. I felt like a glorified extra in everybody else’s story line, and I never felt like Ari [Zucker] and I were given a, ‘Hey, you’re going to be our couple.’ So, it was time. My deal was over and that was it."

He also noted that the door is not permanently closed and he would consider returning in the future if he was asked.