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GENERAL HOSPITAL

Kimberly McCullough Opens up About Returning to GENERAL HOSPITAL (EXCLUSIVE)

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After seemingly announcing her retirement via social media, GENERAL HOSPITAL alumna Kimberly McCullough sets the record straight with Soaps In Depth about what she meant — and whether she’d bring Robin back to Port Charles. In an Instagram post looking back at her accomplishments late last year, McCullough included “retired from acting” as one of them. However, she told In Depth, “I did not mean it to be an announcement.”

The Daytime Emmy winner, who’s played Robin since they were both 7 years old, explains that her statement was about embracing her success as a director. “For a long time, I was wondering, ‘Is directing going to be a career? Is it going to work? I’m going to keep going for it… but I just don’t know.”

Kimberly McCullough directing
The actress-turned-director is surer now of her career path.William Hart/FOX

Now that she has 25 episodes of TV under her director’s belt, McCullough is seeing her future more clearly. “I’m just starting to feel like it’s working,” she said. “And it’s also becoming harder and harder to do guest appearances on GH because my schedule is getting so crazy — and I have a kid,” son Otis, who celebrates his second birthday in June.

McCullough went on to share that GH executive producer Frank Valentini invited her back late last year, but the timing just wasn’t right. “I’d been working for six straight months,” she explained. “I had been on location in New Mexico, Montreal, and New York. I was like, ‘I haven’t been home for more than like, three days straight. I’ve gotta be home.'”

That said, McCullough isn’t counting out a return to GH. “No, I don’t think it’s the last [you’ll see] of me,” she said. “But you know, I also don’t look like an actor anymore. I’ve gained weight and I’m fine with that. For me to maintain that level of [fitness], it’s like being an athlete. You have to maintain it. It takes money, time, effort, and focus — and I’m focused on other things. I’m focused on my brain. I’m focused on being a mother, and on growing in other ways. And honestly, I just don’t have the time to do that right now.”

GH Anna Robin
McCullough’s come a long way from her GH debut in 1985.Craig Sjodin/ABC

In the meantime, McCullough’s next directorial effort to watch for is the ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO episode “I’ll Stand By You” — which will be the fifth installment of the second season of the CW drama starring fellow GH alum Nathan Dean Parsons (ex-Ethan). Last month, McCullough returned to HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL: THE MUSICAL: THE SERIES, currently streaming on Disney+. Having directed two episodes of the first season, she was thrilled to get behind the camera for Season 2 and shared lots of on-set pics via Instagram.

For more on your favorite GH stars — past and present — keep reading the ABC edition of Soaps In Depth magazine.

This story originally appeared in our print magazine

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