Rick Hearst: "The Truth of the Matter"
Rick Hearst sat down with TVGuide Magazine to dish on his General Hospital exit and his Bold and the Beautiful return.
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Let’s set the record straight. There’s been buzz that you kinda screwed GH by leaving so quickly for B&B that they didn’t have time to write your character a proper send-off.
People had some crazy perceptions of what went down. “Machiavellian Hearst dumps GH for B&B!” Here’s the truth of the matter. I was placed on recurring status and I was a gun for hire but still in the middle of a story with GH. I auditioned for some pilots and the season finale of CSI: New York. Then, lo and behold, one day I’m sitting at home and I overhear my wife talking on the phone for 5 or 10 minutes to somebody named Brad — and I’m thinking, “Well, that’s it. She’s found somebody else. The marriage is over.” Suddenly, she hands me the phone and says “Honey, it’s [B&B executive producer] Brad Bell.”
He called you direct with the offer? No middleman?
Brad just cuts through all the bull and goes right to the person. He’s just so up and so positive. He said, “I heard the
news” and asked if I’d like to come back. It all happened so fast. [GH head writer] Bob Guza really had to move to get me out. There wasn’t time to really do anything. Ric just gets in an elevator with an “I’ll be back” —full-on Terminator-style. It was so crazy. I walked out the door at GH on May 21 and reported for work at B&B the very next day. In one way, it was like being shot out of a friggin’ cannon. In another way, it was like coming home. It was such a nice, easy transition. [Laughs] Let’s face it, it’s not a big stretch. I’m going from a fast-talking, scheming attorney to a fast-talking, scheming publicist.
