The January 21st episode of General Hospital at last revealed how Chad Duell exited stage left. In the wake of the explosion that tore through dad Sonny’s penthouse, Michael suffered burns severe enough that he’s had to remain sedated ever since — while his family fought over how best to treat him! In the end, after waking him for a brief, painful few moments of questioning, Carly and Willow determined that he wanted to head to Germany for the same treatment Ava got. And by the end of the episode, Carly was boarding a plane with her son to take him. (All courtesy of Brennan, of course!).
Luckily, based on the Emmy winner’s recent interview with Maurice Benard on State of Mind, it doesn’t sound like this is a final farewell, just a much-needed step away.
A Real-Life Heartbreak
Though the actor hasn’t shared the news or talked about it, his father passed away recently. He, though, still hasn’t really processed what happened. “We haven’t had a funeral, we haven’t done anything,” he explained to Benard. Duell’s father died down in Arizona, “and things happened very quickly. It was weird. Usually, you do a funeral for somebody and you go up there, you talk. We didn’t do a funeral. There’s no closure right now.”
They cremated his dad, Duell started to explain, before stopping himself in something like disbelief. “This is so weird,” he admitted, “because it doesn’t feel real. That’s the reason why it’s hard to talk about this right now.”
The family hasn’t held a service or marked his passing, and Duell’s been struggling with it since it happened over a month ago, as of State of Mind’s taping. “I remember I was completely by myself when it happened,” he recalled to Benard. “[Partner] Luana and my son [Dawson], they were in Brazil the day it happened, and I was home. I was just completely by myself, and it was just strange dealing with it alone.”
The loss tore through him, Duell explained, and he’d never cried so hard in his life. His father had type one diabetes, heart problems, a valve that needed fixing and a dog bite that had given him sepsis. He’d suffered multiple heart attacks, and Duell had visited him, but then he had another heart attack when the actor was back in Los Angeles and passed away.
Looking for Closure
Sometimes, father and son would go for a few weeks between catching up on the phone. “At first, it was kind of like that,” Duell said, growing emotional. “It was like, ‘Oh yeah I haven’t talked to him.’ Usually in like three, four weeks, sometimes I just pick up the phone, and it’s past that mark now. This is the longest I’ve gone without talking to him, and I just get these random thoughts like, ‘He’s gone. I want to talk to him about football or catch up,’ and so it sucks.”
Duell is, though, heading down to Arizona shortly, and the family is going to do a little something to commemorate his father and hopefully give everyone the closure they haven’t been able to feel. But that, the actor admits, is part of the reason why he’s stepping back from General Hospital.
Counting His Blessings
When Benard asked his TV son his biggest fear later in the interview, Duell admitted it was “unrealized potential.” The State of Mind host noted that that was probably part of why Michael’s portrayer was leaving. And while he wishes Duell would stay, he understands the exit as he’s been talking about stepping back for a while now.
It’s not, Duell explained, him thinking he needs to “get the hell out” of daytime or General Hospital. “I realize how unbelievably blessed I am to be in this situation,” he shared, “and on the show as long as I have. [I’m lucky] to have so many great people that I work with all the time for such a long time. I look at it as it’s just taking a step away. We’ll see what happens with doing that, but there’s lots going on, a lot of changes also in my life. I just want to take some time to maybe go home for a bit and have Dawson, for instance, be around his nieces and nephews and just be around some family for a while.”
That’s really the biggest thing for him. Heading back home for a while to spend time with family. If other opportunities crop up, he’ll consider them, but he’s not leaving to search them out. He sat down to talk with executive producer Frank Valentini about the decision and, as Duell said, “he’s very understanding. I really respect him and appreciate him for allowing that. The door’s open there for me when I’m ready to come back.”
Both Duell and Benard agreed that Michael’s exit was incredibly well done and looked incredible. But doing the show for 15 years is “like you’re on a treadmill for such a long time. You want just take a step off for a bit, catch your breath and step back on, possibly, down the line with a different perspective and new respect and everything. “
Exiting General Hospital is like a “reset” for a lot of personal reasons and hopefully, afterwards, Duell and Michael will be back once again.
