Daytime fans have been hoping that Rebecca Budig will make a return to General Hospital, especially since there have been a lot of recent mentions of her character, Hayden Barnes, and her former All My Children co-star Cameron Mathison is now mixing it up in Port Charles as Drew Cain. While there's currently no news about Budig's status with the ABC soap, the actress did take to social media with a fun announcement for fans.
In a post made to Instagram that accompanies a gorgeous photo of herself, Budig shares that she plans to let people into her life more by increasing her social media activity in the year ahead.
"I know I don't post a lot on here. Mostly because social media is not my thing," she shares. "While I do have my gripes about it, I also understand that it's a space that can bring people together."
The actress goes on to assure fans who have left her messages and comments that they haven't written in vain -- it's very likely that she saw the love and appreciates it. "Even though I am terrible at responding to comments, I do try and read each and every one," she admits.
Budig then explains why she has decided to step up her social media game. "The past couple of years have been busy in myriad ways... which is why I have decided to take a stab at sharing more on here," she writes. "Thank you for following along... and for your support."
Several daytime stars close to Budig weighed in with their excitement and support of the actress' announcement, including Mathison, Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea Lawson, The Young and the Restless; ex-Annie Novak, AMC), Eva LaRue (ex-Celeste Rosales, Y&R; ex-Maria Santos, AMC), Alicia Minshew (ex-Kendall Hart, AMC), Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe Mitchell, Y&R; ex-Maggie Stone, AMC), Tamara Braun (Ava Vitali, Days of our Lives; ex-Kim Nero, GH; ex-Reese Williams, AMC), Ian Buchanan (ex-Duke Lavery, GH; ex-Greg Madden, AMC), and Finola Hughes (Anna Devane, GH/AMC).
Chrishell Stause (ex-Jordan Ashford, DAYS; ex-Amanda Dillon, AMC) also commented on the actress' post, sharing that she selfishly loves the thought of having Budig on her Instagram feed more often. Budig's response was a warning that fans might want to heed, as well: "Don't get too excited," she wrote to Stause. "You know me!"
Budig joined GH in 2015 and played the role of Hayden until 2017, when she was let go due to "storyline necessity." She returned to the ABC soap opera in 2019 for a story arc that ended with Nikolas manipulating Hayden into leaving town. There were hints that perhaps the character was being held in the same location as Drew, but Drew is now back in Port Charles, and so far, Hayden's whereabouts remain unknown.
How do you feel about Rebecca Budig's plan to be more active on social media? Are you hoping that she'll return as GH's Hayden in 2022? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
