General Hospital Confirms Eva LaRue Is Out — But Natalia May Not Be Leaving the Way We Were Expecting!

For the life of us, we’ll never understand why General Hospital recruited an actress as indefatigably appealing as Eva LaRue and then saddled her with a character that we were immediately going to hate: homophobic momager Natalia Rogers-Ramirez. But alas, that’s exactly what happened when she joined the cast in 2024. 

Now, a year and a half later, it the actress, who is as beloved as her on-screen counterpart is loathed, is out. TV Insider confirms that LaRue is exiting this week, and, after Monday’s episode, we can’t say we’re surprised! 

We’ve known for some time that Natalia would be high-tailing it for Belize, set up with a new identity and a new life far away from Port Charles in order to keep her from telling all that she knows about the mobster’s shady business practices to keep from going to jail for (not her first) DUI. She wept a bit about leaving behind her children, but let’s face it, ma’am, they are not fans of yours. 

But poor, deluded Natalia had it in her mind somehow that Sonny would be joining her on this excursion. He, of course, had other plans, and apologized for the confusion after Natalia interrupted granddaughter Daisy’s christening on Monday, June 30th. It… didn’t make her feel any better. 

She ran back to the Metro Court, started packing, then added some whiskey and pill popping to the mix. As she grew more unstable, she tried texting Marco, who was busy having a romantic dinner with Lucas, and wasn’t much interested in his mom’s drunken word salad. (Case in point about her kids not being fans of hers.) Natalia then passed out and, well, it’s not looking good.

Whether she survives or not is still a bit up in the air, but executive producer Frank Valentini shared a statement with TV Insider, confirming her exit this week. “Eva’s been a dear friend for years,” he said, “and I am so pleased we found an opportunity to work together! What originally was meant as a guest star arc turned into a longer and more satisfying arc, thanks to Eva’s terrific work and chemistry with our cast. I was thrilled Eva was available to us in this extended role. I wish her all the best in her upcoming projects.”

LaRue made her soap debut back in 1988 in the short-lived role of Margot Collins on Santa Barbara. After guest-starring on everything from Married… With Children to Dallas and co-hosting Candid Camera, she joined All My Children as Dr. Maria Santos. There, she met future husband John Callahan, who played Edmund Grey to her Maria.

From there, LaRue continued with her primetime career, recurring on Third Watch and fighting crime from 2005-12 on CSI: Miami. She dipped her toe back into daytime in 2019, recurring as Celeste Rosales on Young & Restless, then moved to Port Charles in 2024. Unfortunately, the deck was stacked against her. Natalia immediately turned off viewers, who were horrified that she’d kept daughter Blaze in the closet her whole life (and, we’d later learn, alienated son Marco as well). Natalia’s homophobic remarks during LGBTQ+ Pride Month last year were the last straw — no matter how much Sonny liked her.