Sarah Joy Brown (Claudia) has announced she is leaving ABC's General Hospital. "All the news that is fit to print. Claudia Zacchara has been a wild ride, every ride stops when the music ends. The Music stops mid Oct," the actress posted via Twitter earlier today. "Its been nice being back at GH, but it's time for the Character to come to an end, at least for me. Much love."
This news should come of no surprise to her fans. The three time Emmy Winner has made no secret of her displeasure with the direction her character was taken in. "GH is a fantastic Drama, but Claudia Z is a mess. I've spoken my peace about CZ hurting Kids. I'm strongly opposed to the ideas.U support?" she wrote on her Twitter page in August.
"It's important to me that Claudia is multidimensional," said Brown to in the August 11 issue of Soap Opera Digest. "How can anyone relate to or be sympathetic to someone who'd go after a kid. But I've said it before. I love the 'opera' in soap opera." That same week, Soap Opera Weekly reported in their August 11 issue the actress implied she was considering now renewing her contract during General Hospital's Fan Club Weekend in July.
Soap Opera Digest is reporting the actress will be leaving in November. "Her departure from Port Charles will be buzz-worthy for November sweeps," said a spokesperson to SOD.
Brown rejoined GH in January 2008 as mob princess Claudia Zacchara after a 7 year absence. Her much anticipated and heavily promoted return would suffer from mixed reactions by the fans. The inconsistent writing for Claudia made it hard for fans to connect to her. It also didn't help that Claudia had little, if no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Claudia slept with Sonny (Maurice Benard) almost immediately upon her introduction, incurring the wrath of fans of Sonny & Kate (Megan Ward). Any chance of "redeeming" the character was severely reduced in April 2008, when Sonny's son Michael (then Dylan Cash) was shot in the head after the hit she ordered went terribly wrong. In the months after, Claudia lied and covered up her involvement in the shooting. To make matters worse, Claudia and Sonny married later in the year!
Over time, their tumultuous relationship seemed to soften after Claudia would prove herself useful to Sonny. When Claudia's involvement in Michael's shooting became in danger of being exposed, she concocted a plan to get pregnant with Sonny's child, thereby preventing Sonny or Jason (Steve Burton) from killing her. The paternity of her child was in question, as Claudia had an ongoing relationship with Sonny's brother Ric (Rick Hearst) at the time. Claudia lost the child in a car accident the same day it was confirmed Sonny was the father. Any chance of "redeeming" the character was once again lost after Claudia vowed revenge on Michael (now played by Drew Garrett), whom she believed to be initially responsible. When Claudia learned it was Sonny's other child Kristina (Lexi Ainsworth) who caused the accident, she promised to make Kristina pay for what happened to her baby, even leaving the girl to die during an accident at a hospital carnival.
The actress seemed to be looking forward to the future, and thanked her fans. "Have a film in the works for Nov - a lead role to die for - and we shall c what else comes up. Thank you for your support, means the world!" she tweeted.
So what does this mean for Claudia? It seems doubtful that GH would recast the role, but stranger things have happened. The walls will soon close in on Claudia though, as the list of Port Charles residents with a bone to pick with her continues to grow. She'll also have more to deal with when Sam (Kelly Monaco), Jason and Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) team up to get the goods on Claudia on October 7!
Soap Opera Source wishes Sarah the best in all her future endeavors!
SUEBEA
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screw general hospital sarah brown was the only one worth watching everyoneelse is boring and sucks.goobye general after 30 yrs hello bold and the beautifull her new show she was to good for general anyway. |
SUEBEA
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... SARAH BROWN WAS THE ONLY ONE WORTH WATCHING.GOOBYE GENERAL AFTER 30 YRS I AM TAKEN AS MANY FANS AS I CAN WITH ME.  |
EJami/JaSam Fan
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... It was poor of the GH writers to bring back an actress for a role that was doomed from the start. For Sarah Brown, I hope she finds a role that will support her awesome talent as an actress. As for Claudia Z, I'm glad she's being written off the show. I'm all for twisted, but her character was just downright evil and sick. I'm not sure if the writers believed that her baby story would provoke sympathy from their viewers, but IMO, it only made her more sick. I'm rooting for you Sarah Brown! Don't leave daytime all together. There are many other roles out there for you |
Becky
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... I applaud Sarah. She knows her character sucks and the writing on the show is horrible so she’s got the balls to leave. I wish many of her other co-workers would do the same. I really want Claudia to go out with a big ass bang. I want her to shoot up the town, I know they’re not gonna kill off their new IT girl, but can she at least put a bullet in Olivia before she leaves. She doesn’t have to die, just let her be in a comma for a month or two. Oh and can Claudia shoot Sonny in the nuts ensuring that he never father’s a child again. And sadly I want brother Johnny to feel the raft of his sister too. What a punk ass sell out he has become actually Johnny can just die no wait I can’t wait until his mama starts banging Sonny right in front of his face, now that is going to be must see TV. Good luck Sarah. |
