Is Maura West leaving General Hospital? Rumor explored

Maura West plays the role of Ava Jerome on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. The character first appeared on the show on May 8, 2013, and since then has been played by Maura West. Ava Jerome belongs to the Jerome Crime Family and is the daughter of Victor Jerome.

Maura West has been part of General Hospital for more than a decade and is not going to leave the show since there is no official confirmation made by the show or the actress to date. Ava Jerome’s journey on the show has been filled with problems as all the time there is something or the other happening with her.

Ava’s time on General Hospital includes her involvement with the Corinthos family, the shocking revelation of her daughter’s paternity, and her criminal history. Ava also faced a near-death experience after which she returned as Denise DeMuccio and witnessed Valentin Cassadine killing Nikolas.

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What led to speculations about Maura West leaving General Hospital?

The rumors about Maura West leaving the ABC soap opera General Hospital started with The Chat podcast host Casey posting on her social media about a female character leaving the show later this year.

Casey, who is also known to be a soap opera insider, posted on her X account on May 17, 2024:

“Expect a very very popular and beloved actress to possibly be out this year. I’d be shocked if the original path doesn’t go to plan.”

This post led to many speculations by fans about the character who could be possibly leaving General Hospital. Looking at Maura’s character arc on the show, it seems more likely to be Ava who would have to leave Port Charles because of her wrongdoings.

The recent plot adds up to these speculations as in the previously aired episodes, Ava found that Sonny’s medications for bipolar disorder are being compromised, but she didn’t tell anyone and kept it to herself which puts questions about her plans.

Ava got into more trouble as she revealed that she was the one responsible for Alexis Davis losing her license to practice. Sonny knocked her out of his penthouse which led to a heated argument between them.

Even though fans are tense about Ava Jerome leaving Port Charles and Maura West leaving General Hospital, the actress seems chill about the future of her character.

While talking in an interview with Women’s World on June 25, 2024, Maura opened up on enjoying her character’s storyline and appreciated her evilness.

“I don’t think that redemption is necessary for a bad girl or a borderline villain,” Maura said.

“Ava does not exist to be nice and friendly and get along with everybody and be like, ‘Hi, Carly! How’s life?’ No, I’m here to be the bad girl. That’s what I do,” she added.

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Who is Maura West?

Maura West DeFreitas, also known as Maura West, was born on April 27, 1972, in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. She spent the early days of her life in Ludlow, Massachusetts, and completed her bachelor's from Boston University with a degree in fine arts.

Maura started her acting career in 1995 with her first role as Carly Tenney in the CBS soap opera As the World Turns and remained part of the until it ended in 2010. She then joined The Young and the Restless in 2010 as Diane Jenkins and continued till 2011.

Finally, in 2013 Maura landed in the role of Ava Jerome and since then has been working with General Hospital. Maura has been nominated 12 times for the Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and has won the award thrice, including one for her role on GH.

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Fans can expect to see more of Maura West in the new episodes of General Hospital on ABC.