Steve Burton Taking a Break From ‘General Hospital’

Steve Burton is taking a break from General Hospital and the role of Jason Morgan, two years after making his highly anticipated return to the soap.

In an Instagram post, the two-time Daytime Emmy winner explained that his latest exit is temporary and driven by personal reasons.

“Hey everyone, I wanted to share that I’ll be taking a short break from General Hospital,” he writes. “I’m newly married and looking forward to spending some quality time with my family. I’m grateful for all the support and will be back this summer. Much luv – sb.”

Steve Burton/Instagram

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Burton first joined GH in 1991 and went on to become one of daytime’s most popular stars before leaving in 2012. He returned to the soap from 2017-2021, then exited amid the network’s COVID vaccine mandate. He came back in 2024, appearing again on screen on March 4.

Outside of Port Charles, Burton has remained a fixture in daytime television. From 2013 to 2017, he played Dylan McAvoy on The Young and the Restless, and from 2022 to 2024, he returned to Days of our Lives, his first soap home in 1988, as Harris Michaels.

On a personal level, the past two years have brought significant changes for the actor. The father of three announced his engagement to cook and content creator Michelle Lundstrom, a New York City native, in January 2025. The couple married four months later on May 17, 2025.

Burton spoke candidly in 2024 about how he views the next chapter of his career. “I’m not saying that I’m retiring, but I just feel like I have two to three years left of acting, and then I want to do other things,” he said at the time. “But to be able to go back, I’m super grateful. I’m still here, 53 years old, and a show is calling for me. That’s a huge blessing, so I’ll take it.”

 

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He further reflected on becoming one of the genre’s most recognizable faces. “It’s hard to believe,” he noted. “What a career, you know? I just feel blessed. It’s hard to really put into words because I’m so super-grateful that as an actor, people even pick up the phone and call you. I always say I’m not the smartest guy, but I work hard, and I’ll continue to work hard. That goes back to my blue-collar roots growing up in the Midwest. I’m a worker. I just work.”

Though Burton has already filmed his last episode for now, the soap has big plans in place for his return. Executive producer Frank Valentini tells TV Insider, “We love Steve and I am glad the show worked it out so he can get some personal time with his family. We have some great Jason story leading up to the spring and look forward to his return in the summer.”

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