Sad News! Violet was in a plane crash, Jophielle Love will never return to GH! Emotional Farewell Jophielle to General Hospital!

Jophielle Love’s Violet Finn left Port Charles on the Monday, October 21 episode of General Hospital, marking the end — at least for now — of the young, Daytime Emmy-nominated actress’s stint on the show.

The Good-Bye Girl
Love made her GH debut as the daughter of Rebecca Budig’s Hayden Barnes and Michael Easton’s Hamilton Finn on October 23, 2019. “I remember my first scene with Michael and Rebecca,” says Love.

“I remember thinking that it was funny that my first scene on General Hospital was in a hospital bed after I had just been on the set next door, on Grey’s Anatomy, also in a hospital bed. I also remember bonding right away with my new parents. I loved fixing Michael’s hair before each scene.”

Wee Work: A 5-year-old Love on her first day of work at GH with her TV parents, Rebecca Budig (ex-Hayden) and Michael Easton (Finn).

Five years later, Love has grown close to her castmates and other colleagues at the show, but particularly the actors who played her family members. “My GH family is like a second family to me,” she declares. And with her exit occurring on the heels of the departures first of Violet’s grandfather, Gregory Harrison’s Gregory, who passed away in May, and then Easton’s Finn, who went to rehab in June, “These past few months have been pretty hard,” she admits. “We had a sweet family and everyone disappeared, one after another.”

At least Violet does get to reunite with her dad — albeit off camera. Love notes of the story move, “The rehab is done, so Violet has no reason to stay away from her dad, but it is so sad that it means leaving the show for who knows how long!”

Wrapping up her stint was bittersweet. On her final day, “I was very sad,” she admits. “It was fun to end it with a tea party, which is Violet’s favorite thing to do. But the long good-byes .… so hard. I think I was already crying before they called, ‘Action!’ ”

Love could relate to what Violet was going through as the character said her fictional farewells. She recalls, “Violet says, ‘It’s weird to feel so happy and so sad at the same time.’ She was happy to be on her way to see her dad, and also incredibly sad to leave her new home and family at the Quartermaines. And I felt just like that on this last day. It was almost like crying while smiling… and then I realized I was the one going through that door!”

She was given a loving send-off when the cameras stopped rolling. “At the end of the scene, everyone was there. Frank [Valentini, executive producer] had a big bouquet of flowers, Mark [Teschner, casting director] said some nice things about my first audition when I was 4 years old, everyone clapped and gave me hugs. I felt very loved.”

Love will miss the camaraderie she felt with her friends on the show. “The thing is, I love being with everyone at work,” she says. “I love making jokes, playing hide and seek with the people in the costume department. I love scaring my ‘frenemy,’ Elisabeth from Costume, between takes.

We play that ongoing game where we pretend to not like each other on set and give each other the evil look. It’s fun. I love when Frank stops by the set during my scenes… I always try to make him proud. I will miss all my kid friends I got to play with, and I will miss saying hi to everyone in their dressing rooms through the [Intercom].”

The show has made a huge mark on Love’s growth as an artist over the past five years. “When I started, I was 5 years old; I had one or two words per scene,” she recalls. “And by the end, five years later — that’s half of my life, by the way — I was doing sometimes two and one time even three episodes per day with many, many pages to learn.

The show made me become an actress. It taught me that I can learn a lot of lines in a very short time. It also gave me my first Emmy nomination as a songwriter [for ‘Shine,’ which she performed on-screen in 2023]. That is so great because my other dream is to become a singer. I love singing and I love writing songs.”

All in all, she says that being on GH “pretty much taught me everything about working on a TV set as an actor. This has been the best learning experience. Now I can’t wait to do more.”

She appreciates the viewer support she’s gotten over the course of her GH run. “The fans are great,” she enthuses. “I read their comments sometimes and they are always so sweet. They are so loyal! Most of them have been watching the show for years. I met some of them at the GH conventions.

They are very loving. GH is like a family to them, too. They care for us, they care for the characters and the actors. They probably won’t like seeing Violet leaving.”

Violet’s departure was scripted to leave the door wide open for a comeback, and Love says she would “100 percent” embrace the opportunity to return to the show. “I don’t know how or when, but I hope it is not in too long from now.

It would be great if I could come back with my dad but as we saw, there is no way of knowing what the story will be. I could be back next year or in 10 years! In the meantime, you can see me on Will Trent, and let’s see what other projects I get to work on.

I am excited to see what happens. And I just want to say thank you to Frank and everyone at GH for giving me this incredible experience on the show!”