Interview with Hayley Erin
Credit: Image: Jill Johnson/JPI

General Hospital alum headed to a new primetime show.

As Soaps.com viewers know, Hayley Erin left General Hospital after her character Kiki Jerome was found murdered. Recently the actress spoke with Soap Opera Digest about her shocking exit from the soap. Erin was cast in The Perfectionists, a spinoff of Pretty Little Liars, which has been taping in Portland, Oregon. She revealed, “I wanted to do both shows, and we were all saying for the longest time, ‘We’re going to make it work, we’re going to make it work, we’re going to make it work.’ But when push came to shove, it just wasn’t as easy as it sounded and this was really the only option left. Everyone was really sweet and gracious about it, so I didn’t feel like I was being cast aside or sent off in some sort of negative way. It was sort of a cathartic way to leave and move on to my next project, the death of a character that I’ve been playing and living for all these years.”

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Because of The Perfectionists, wrapping up taping at GH became hectic. “The past couple of months of shows I did, we filmed in, like two weeks and it was really all out of order. We taped all of the death stuff, like, weeks before I actually finished taping and because that wasn’t the last stuff I taped, it got to be kind of fun. The last scenes I shot were the scenes where Sasha puts the glass to Griffin’s face, so it wasn’t really this big, sad goodbye scene. I think how it panned out made it a very easy transition. It wasn’t so harsh; it wasn’t like I got killed and that was the last time I was ever there. When I was done with my scenes, everyone was so sweet, and we did a goodbye cake.” Still saying goodbye wasn’t easy for her. “I can justify all the professional reasons for moving from one project to another, but the hardest part was saying goodbye to the people who have become my family over the past couple of years. But everyone was so happy for me, and I think that just speaks to the camaraderie of the cast. Sadly Maura West (Ava Jerome) was not on set her last day, which Erin didn’t see as a bad thing. “I was never faced with actually saying goodbye to her, which would have destroyed me emotionally. We’ve talked since then, so we just keep carrying on our own friendship, but in a new way.  She has also been in touch with Matt Cohen (Griffin Munroe) since leaving and reveals she appears in his upcoming film Mama Bear. “Staying in touch with him has helped me realize that it wasn’t actually goodbye, it was, ‘I’ll see you guys later, in a new, different way.'”

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Of her new role on The Perfectionists, which is still being kept a secret, Erin said, “It’s been awesome, and I love Portland. This is the most exciting project I could possibly be working on as a young adult woman, especially coming from a soap background. It’s a soap for young adults! And it’s got all these fun elements of the thriller and horror [genre], and it’s just awesome to be here. I think the new show is going to look beautiful, and I get to live 20 minutes from my brother.” Her brother moved to Portland three years ago and she told herself if she ever got the chance to live there that she would take it. When asked if she’d ever return to GH as part of a dream or as a ghost she enthusiastically replied, “Not only would I be open to it, this is a formal application for that. I would love that more than anything.” To her fans, she said, “Thank you. It was an honor to be in their living rooms and hopefully, to brighten their day. To feel overall that I played an important part in people’s lives makes me feel so grateful.”