Kelly Thiebaud will return to General Hospital on Friday, July 18, two years after her character, Britt Westbourne, was killed off.

The actress, who joined the soap in 2012 and has taken two previous breaks, says she appreciates the rare opportunity to step away and come back. “I admire the people who’ve been on for 10-plus years and have stayed there, and they’ve really built something with their lives on and off the show,” she begins. “I think that’s really amazing to be able to do that. I know myself too well to know that’s not the type of person that I am. I am very much a free spirit. I need to go and roam and do things and feel like I can go on adventures and have the freedom to embark on whatever comes my way. And thankfully, I have a boss [executive producer Frank Valentini] who understands, so that’s very lucky.”

After wrapping her run as Britt in 2023, Thiebaud appeared as Eva Vasquez on the now-canceled Station 19, then moved to London and didn’t see a future on the soap. “I did walk away from my last day on set thinking that I would never return,” she shares. “And that’s why I think coming back now has so many feelings attached to it.”

Of her time abroad, Thiebaud remarks, “I loved living there. I miss it every day. There was a massive adjustment, though, coming from sunny Los Angeles to gray, foggy London. There was some depression just dealing with that change, and then the work stuff happened, where we had a strike, and that was a whole other stressful situation. But overall, my experience outside of that, living in London, was just so incredible. It’s a wonderful city.”

Exclusive first look at Kelly Thiebaud back on GH this week below!

When she came home to the U.S., Thiebaud found herself thinking about Port Charles again. “There were multiple signs, let’s just say, that I was receiving from people, and General Hospital just kind of kept coming back up in my life,” she explains. “After much talk with my executive producer, Frank, and going over things with myself and where my life is currently, it felt like there was a lot of unfinished business there. It just felt like this was a really good time, and that this door was being opened to me for a specific reason, and I felt extremely grateful for even the opportunity of them considering bringing me back on the show. So, a lot of different things that aligned perfectly with the opportunity to be back.”

Thiebaud credits her time away with helping her grow both personally and professionally. “It gives you a sense of adventure and freedom and you grow,” she says. “Hopefully, you’re working on other projects, which is just going to make you better as an actor. For me, this last time around, I went through so much; that’s the golden ticket, in a way. The more life experience you can add to your tool belt just infuses your work and makes you a better actor. And I hope that is what happens this next time around, that I’m going to take everything that I’ve gone through and just be better and more honest and more authentic with my work.”

Returning to the demanding schedule of soap work was a big adjustment. “I felt so rusty, I felt so off my game,” Thiebaud admits of her first couple of weeks back. “It’s like learning to ride a bike and taking off the training wheels. I feel like I’m starting over, and that’s the frustrating thing.

“When I left the show, I felt like I was at the height of the work that I had done, and my acting was growing and expanding so much,” she continues. “And I left just at that peak moment, and now I feel like I have to rebuild all that all over again and get comfortable performing the way that you do for daytime in the dialogue and the blocking and the props and everything. I’m a little nervous to see my first couple of episodes, but I’m sure it will be fine.”

But she knew she made the right decision to return the moment she stepped into the studio. “It was so much like a family that I was coming back to, and that was just so meaningful for me,” she explains. “I missed the people. I was so excited when I first walked on stage to see the crew, camera operators, the lighting guys, the audio people, the hair and makeup people who I absolutely love. I had a full breakdown in the makeup room with my old makeup artist and Cynthia Watros, who plays Nina [Reeves]. So, it was a really overwhelming first day back, and I was just so excited to see everyone and see that some things had changed, but it also had still stayed the same.”

Plus, she was ready to get to work. “I missed the consistency of acting,” she notes. “I missed getting to be creative and play and do weird and fun and exciting things in storytelling. It’s a special job, daytime television.”

Ricky Middlesworth/ABC via Getty Images

As is the connection between the actors and the audience. Thiebaud is appreciative of the fan support she’s received since announcing she’ll be back on the soap. “It just makes me so happy, reading everyone’s messages and seeing how excited everyone is,” she says. “It just feels really good, and it’s just more of a confirmation that I’m supposed to be here right now. I’m supposed to be back on the show. There’s a lot of story to be told, and I’m just excited to get to entertain everyone again.”

While it’s still a mystery who she’ll be playing, Thiebaud is just happy to be back. “I’m extremely grateful and really excited to take things up a notch with this third time around and have a good time on the show,” she enthuses. “Because to have a job like this, where you can keep stepping in and out of, doesn’t happen all the time. And I feel extremely lucky.”

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