“General Hospital” fan favorite Kelly Monaco returned to social media after a yearlong hiatus to mark a major milestone. Monaco celebrated a big birthday with a brief but sweet life update after staying out of the spotlight since her exit from the ABC soap as Sam McCall.
Kelly Monaco Marks 50th Birthday With Return to Social Media
Taking to Instagram, the “Port Charles” alum revealed she was celebrating her 50th birthday. Monaco shared a video of her decked out in a black baseball hat, a white long-sleeve t-shirt, black workout pants, and pink sneakers, outside on a track with her nephew, Chris Monaco.
Mary J. Blige’s “Real Love” was playing in the background as Monaco showed some of her workout routine. In her caption, Monaco revealed the reason for breaking her social media silence after a over a year.
“Today I turned 50! There’s no place like home… coach @__monaco getting me back in shape. 💕,” she wrote as her caption.
Monaco didn’t spill any other details, but that didn’t stop some of her fellow “General Hospital” co-stars from jumping in the comments to acknowledge her big day.
“Happy Birthday Kid❤️,” wrote Michael Easton (Finn), who, along with working with Monaco on “General Hospital”, also starred with her on the spin-off “Port Charles.”
Kimberly McCullough (Robin) expressed, “Yes girl get it!”, while Cameron Mathison (Drew) left clapping emojis as his reaction. “Looking fiine as ever 🔥,” declared Lexi Ainsworth (ex-Kristina).
“One Life to Live” alum Kristen Alderson (Starr) stated, “Happy Birthday to the coolest chick around!😍😎💕” “Happy Birthday beauty. Go go go. ❤️❤️❤️” shared “The Bold and the Beautiful” star Rebecca Budig (Taylor).
Former “Dancing with the Stars” host Tom Bergeron spilled, “Those are the kind of moves that won you that 1st Mirror Ball Trophy 👏🏼🥳.” Fans were thrilled to see a glimpse of Monaco and said as much in the comments, calling it a “treat” and letting her know she is “gorgeous” at any age.
‘General Hospital’ Star Kelly Monaco Steps Away From The Spotlight
In August 2024, the news that Monaco was let go from “General Hospital” rocked the soap world. Three months later, in November 2024, Monaco made her final appearance as Sam after 21 years with the ABC soap.
Monaco has only spoken out about the firing in a since-deleted Instagram comment, calling it “retaliation.” Monaco insisted it had to do with the fallout of Billy Miller (ex-Drew/Jason) being fired after Steve Burton (Jason) returned to play Jason Morgan. She vowed to make a “proper statement” about her firing, but that has not happened.
Fans thought they would get the full story when Monaco announced a podcast, “Bad Bunnies”, with her good friend Shanna Moakler. In fact, that was Monaco’s last social media post, unitl now, which was shared on March 13, 2025.
The podcast never happened, though. Moakler revealed in the summer of 2025, in a since-deleted Instagram post, that Monaco had other work projects she was focused on, so they were no longer doing the podcast together.
Other than that, Monaco has disappeared from the spotlight, focused on living a very private life and has yet to speak out on her “General Hospital” exit.
