Credit: Images: Lisa Rose/JPI, ABC (3), John Paschal/JPI
Antonio Sabáto Jr.
Image Credit: John Paschal/JPI
After enthusiastically supporting Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, Sabáto (once Jagger Cates on General Hospital) “had to sell everything… to pay all my debts,” he told Variety in 2020. Eventually, he moved to Florida and took a job in construction. “I’m in the car all day,” he said, “going through all the sites. Five days a week, nonstop.” Note: This is not a photo of him checking the structural integrity of this wall.
Kelli McCarty
Image Credit: Brian Lowe/JPI
Following her 1999-2006 run as Beth Wallace on Passions, the former Miss Kansas USA transitioned into… er, adult films. But she didn’t just want to appear in pornos; she reportedly had her hardcore contract stipulate that she’d also have a hand in her movies’ writing, casting and editing. Just to be clear, she is not pictured with her porn-flick scene partner.
Robert Kelker-Kelly
Image Credit: ABC
The Another World alum (as Sam Fowler) did the near impossible in 1992 by getting Days of our Lives fans to accept him as Bo Brady. Yet, aside from recurring appearances on General Hospital (as Stavros Cassadine), he didn’t work much following his departure from Salem. So “I’m a charter pilot” now, he told We Love Soaps in 2013. “I’m living in the Midwest — and I’m a dad.”
Marcy Walker
Image Credit: NBC
For almost a quarter of a century, Walker (best known as All My Children baddie Liza Colby) was a soap star with a capital S — two of ’em, even. Later, though, she left showbiz completely and became a children’s pastor. In 1997, “I gave my life to Jesus,” the Emmy winner told the Edmond Outlook in 2012, “when I said, ‘I don’t want to be the lord of my own life.’”
Thad Luckinbill
Image Credit: John Paschal/JPI
Though still acting as of 2019 — when he reprised his role of J.T. Hellstrom on The Young and the Restless — Luckinbill now works a whole lot as a producer. Among his behind-the-scenes credits are 2016’s La La Land, which was nominated for a whopping 14 Academy Awards, and 12 Strong, in which he co-starred with Chris Hemsworth.
Sharon Gabet
Image Credit: Lisa Rose/JPI
After bitchifying one of the 1980s’ most infamous daytime scamps — The Edge of Night’s Raven Whitney — Gabet continued to act until her third child was born with autism. Then “it was time to settle down,” she told TapInto.net. The daytime legend (pictured in 2002 with Terry Davis, who played The Edge of Night’s April Scott) returned to her original vocation of nursing — “It was scary but amazing” — before retiring in 2013.
Chad Brannon
Image Credit: Lisa Rose/JPI
He has a face that the camera loves, but since 2006, Brannon (once Zander Smith on General Hospital) hasn’t been seen nearly as much on screen. That’s because he’s been working heavily in voiceovers. In fact, you’ve almost certainly heard him “mouthing off,” so to speak, in promos for The Simpsons, Family Guy and/or Bob’s Burgers.
Beth Chamberlin
Image Credit: John Paschal/JPI
“Let’s get physical!” has been Chamberlin’s motto in recent years. “At 43, Guiding Light was writing [Beth Spaulding] like an old granny,” she says. Then the actress became a kettlebell enthusiast and “found myself in a love story with a character half my age!” (Hey there, Coop, pictured.) After the soap’s cancellation in 2009, she became a fitness trainer and is now in the best shape of her life!
Kimberly McCullough
Image Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
She still appears on General Hospital now and then as Robin Scorpio, the heroine she’s played since she was 7 years old. But these days, the Emmy winner’s focus is on directing primetime series. Since 2013, she’s racked up enough credits to break IMDb, from The Conners to Roswell, New Mexico, starring fellow General Hospital alum Nathan Dean Parsons (ex-Ethan).
Maitland Ward
Image Credit: JC Olivera/JPI
Oh, the irony — The Bold and the Beautiful ingenue Jessica Forrester was scandalized to learn that her beau was a stripper (and shtupping her mother). But her portrayer is now the star of X-rated movies. “I’m good at it,” she told The Daily Beast in 2019. “If you talked to my younger, more virginal soap-opera self, I never would have seen this coming out of me.”
Lonnie Quinn
Image Credit: George De Sota/JPI
In the late 1980s, Quinn’s acting career got off to a good start: He played Will Cortlandt on All My Children before being replaced by James Patrick Stuart (now Valentin on General Hospital). Post-Pine Valley, Quinn became a weather anchor, and the forecast called for… great success. He’s since won 14 (!!!) Emmys and cameoed on As the World Turns with Lesli Kay as Molly (pictured — duh).
Terri Conn
Image Credit: George De Sota/JPI
After more than a decade playing As the World Turns’ Katie Peretti (and a far shorter stint as One Life to Live’s Aubrey Wentworth), Conn, who’s married to As the World Turns leading man Austin Peck (Brad), found herself at a crossroads. And the direction that she took? As good as she was at selling a story, no matter how wacky, she became a QVC host.