MINUTES AGO! Today’s News: Leslie Charleson reveals the shocking reason for not returning to General Hospital.
Monica has been mentioned quite a bit on General Hospital, but the character hasn’t been seen since the Dec. 21, 2023 episode when she joined the Quartermaine holiday festivities and assured Lois she could stay (especially since it would annoy Tracy).
But every mention of the beloved Quartermaine matriarch makes longtime fans wonder if Leslie Charleson will ever return to the soap again.
On GH, Monica has experienced ill health and injuries, much like her portrayer. Back in 2018, Charleson tripped over her dog and injured her leg, forcing the soap to recast the role temporarily with Patty McCormack.
Charleson was pleased with her replacement, telling Soaps In Depth she was impressed that for her recast, she “got somebody who won an Oscar. Wow!”
Then, in August 2019, Charleson was back in the hospital again undergoing surgery on her hand. “For a fracture that I got rescuing my tortoise off a hillside,” she explained on Facebook at the time.
The actress was spotted out to lunch in October 2024 using a walker to get around.
Our sister site Closer Weekly reports that a source tells them that Charleson is “doing OK under the circumstances and in no rush to push herself.”
Unfortunately, while fans would love to see the daytime vet back on GH, she source said, “Although she’d be welcome back to the show with open arms, it’s unlikely she’ll ever return.”
After making her daytime debut on the short-lived soap A Flame in the Wind in 1964, Charleson joined the cast of As the World Turns in 1966. From 1967-70, she starred as Iris Donnelly on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.
After numerous appearances in primetime and film, Charleson returned to daytime to take over the role of Monica Quartermaine, previously played by Patsy Rahn.
During her decades in Port Charles, she earned four Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress.
While it is a shame Charleson will likely never appear on GH again, fans have decades of storylines and award-worthy performances on which to look back fondly.
