MINUTES AGO! GH Confirms Alexa Havins’ Departure – What Happened?
Slipping into the role of Lulu Spencer may have seemed seemless for daytime vet Alexa Havins Bruening, but the General Hospital part was Havins Bruening’s first major role in a while. The actress spoke with Soap Opera Digest about her decision to step away from her career for a time, her decision to return, and running lines with fellow actor (and husband) Justin Bruening (ex-Jamie, All My Children).
Havins Bruening came to the realization, at a certain point, that pressing pause on acting was the right choice for her. She recalled:
It happened gradually on its own; it wasn’t like a hard, cold, ‘No. Stop.’ It was just, ‘This seems like the right thing to do.’ I had a hard time being away from the kids. I remember filming out of state, just crying in my pillow, like, ‘This does not make sense, being away from my kids.’ And Justin was working more and we wanted to keep the family together and travel with him.
She noted that Bruening has always supported his wife returning to work if she wanted, and he’s been great as she’s come back to TV. The two run lines together off screen, but she does miss having him on set. Havins Bruening mused:
The weird thing is not having him there [on the GH set] because we had, like, 24 hours a day together on All My Children. I said to him, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if all of a sudden you pop up in the back as an extra, and then you pop up in another one of my scenes, and then all of a sudden, it’s like, ‘Where’s Justin?’ It would be like Take Your Husband To Work Day! It does feel very strange going to work without him, I must say.
Havins Bruening has reunited with some of her AMC co-stars on GH. For example, Michael E. Knight, who portrayed Tad on AMC, now plays Lulu’s uncle Martin on GH. She said:
We had such a wonderful reunion in the hallway. It was just love. Oh, he’s the best. You just don’t skip a beat with somebody like Michael. Right away it was, ‘I love you!’ and into a hug. He and Justin were so close on All My Children and there’s just a love there that doesn’t stop. There’s just a pause button and then you pick right back up.
