Ryan Paevey Explains Why He’s Taking a Break From Acting — Read His Statement
Two months after sharing his plans to step away from acting in 2024, Ryan Paevey is opening up more about his decision to take a hiatus.
In a recent statement to Heavy, the actor — who deactivated his X and Facebook accounts earlier this month — aimed to set the record straight about his choice to step back from Hollywood, amid what he called “speculation from third parties that have taken my words and expanded upon them to meet their narrative, or flat out misrepresented my words or misconstrued their meaning.”
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After confirming he won’t be acting for the foreseeable future, Paevey elaborated that Hollywood “hasn’t felt like the place for me in quite some time now, and my mental health has suffered from it… I’ve had many years of smooth sailing, and am very lucky to be able to say that, but the waters have been much rougher the last year or so.”
Paevey went on to allege that he has been the victim of several financial scams in recent years (“I’ve had bank accounts hacked, money embezzled, investments stolen,” he said), but it was his mother’s diagnosis with lung cancer that prompted him to reprioritize family and time spent at home.
“Please don’t think for a second that it’s ‘all bad news,'” he continued. “I have so, so much to be grateful for. I am grateful to this industry as a whole, I am grateful to General Hospital for giving a green actor a chance and tolerating his learning curve, to Hallmark for changing my life and taking me to places that have become my favorite on Earth, to my managers for seeing something in a grunt with no résumé and helping to architect a whole new trajectory and life for him, and to all of YOU who have helped raise up this handyman and bartender and taking him on a decade-long adventure the likes of which he never imagined. I have so much to be thankful for, and not a day goes by that I don’t think that thought.”
Paevey first alluded to his acting hiatus in April, when he told fans on social media that there was “sadly no word” of his next TV-movie project with Hallmark Channel. (He’s starred in several flicks at the cabler, including Fourth Down and Love and Under the Christmas Sky in 2023.) At the time, Paevey suggested that he might take a break from acting altogether, after recent industry experiences “left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth,” but he didn’t elaborate further on the circumstances.
“I’d like to think the powers that be [at Hallmark Channel] know I’d happily do another film if they wanted me to,” he remarked at the time. “But I don’t know anymore… so I’m just gonna do life, and make plans, and work… and whatever happens happens.”
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