Tragic Details About Hallmark Star Ryan Paevey

Ryan Paevey's exit from "General Hospital" in 2018 was a tragedy for fans of the long-running soap, who had grown to love his character, Nathan West. However, Paevey didn't receive a warm welcome from many viewers when he first joined the series. "There were people lining up around the block to tell me how much they couldn't wait for me to get fired!" he recalled to Soap Opera Digest.

While Paevey was eventually able to win hearts and change minds, getting killed off the show could have been the nail in the coffin for his acting career. With no roles booked, he was considering the serious possibility that he might have to revert to bartending and doing repair work. "I mean, that's what I grew up doing. I have way more experience being poor than I do having money," he said. But the Hallmark Channel offered him a lifeline. He'd previously been cast in "Unleashing Mr. Darcy," and Paevey quickly began accruing Hallmark credits once he had more free time to dedicate to working with the network. The "Darcy" movie became a franchise, and other films he went on to appear in include "Christmas at the Plaza," "A Fabled Holiday," and "A Little Daytime Drama," which is fittingly about a soap star.

Paevey described himself as fortunate to get two big career breaks, but he's discovered how unfortunate it is that life can't always be like the resolution of a Hallmark movie.

When Ryan Paevey showed up for his first day at work on the set of "General Hospital," having a bad case of butterflies in his stomach was far from his most serious concern. In addition to struggling with newbie nerves, he found himself battling to keep his stomach settled for a different reason. "I also had massive food poisoning ... The universe was definitely testing me," he told TV Insider. "I was super sick and had to learn 36 pages of dialogue." That had to be a real challenge for someone so new to working in television — while he was acting out his scenes, Paevey also had to act like he wasn't feeling nauseous. It was not an ideal situation for making a good first impression on viewers, either. In his 2019 Soap Opera Digest interview, Paevey said he was well aware of the numerous negative tweets about his performance.

Paevey experienced stomach issues again while shooting the 2020 Hallmark movie "A Timeless Christmas." He was so ill that time around that a doctor had to monitor his condition using an ultrasound machine. "I had a bleeding ulcer for like two-thirds of that film, so all I was hoping was I didn't look super-green on screen," Paevey had told MediaVillage.org. Because he was feeling so queasy, it probably wasn't easy to film the romantic scenes that called for him to catch co-star Erin Cahill and spin her around — or to eat pizza.

In 2015, Ryan Paevey crashed his motorcycle and severely injured his wrist. "I'll probably have some degree of problems forever, just based on the kind of break that it was ... The doc's words were 'shattered,'" he told Soap Central. He also revealed that he had to go back to work filming "General Hospital" before his hand had healed enough to be fully functional.

When he appeared on "The Grass is Greener with Paul Greene" podcast in 2021, Paevey said the injury cost him what would have been his first Hallmark role. However, he was lucky his accident didn't also cost him something more important — he added that he came close to losing his hand. Revisiting the day of the crash, Paevey said it happened while he was camping in the mountains with some friends. He also admitted that he hadn't been driving safely when he lost control of his bike and landed awkwardly on the extremity. "When I got up off the ground, my hand was kind of facing the wrong way," he said.

Paevey told Soap Central he made the stomach-churning decision to twist his wrist himself to get his hand back in the right position. He then had to endure an agonizing two-hour drive to the hospital. While he eventually regained full use of his hand, he told Greene that he was left with a visible gap between the tendons in his wrist.

Ryan Paevey is an avid motorcycle enthusiast who even affectionately christened the motorcycle he crashed with the name Lilith. So, his heart must have sunk to his stomach the moment he realized that one of his beloved bikes had been stolen.

On "The Grass is Greener," Paevey told Paul Greene that he had ordered a custom-made Triumph Bonneville Bobber from London. It was extremely difficult for the actor to get his hands on the machine, and he was about to celebrate finally having it in his possession with a birthday joyride when he couldn't find it where he had left it. It later turned up in a tow yard, but it was no longer the same bike. Paevey theorized that it had been swiped by thieves who had no clue how to strip it of valuable parts. "They kind of just butchered it. ... it just looks like they kind of exploded it," he shared. At the time of his interview with Greene, Paevey was still trying to get it fully repaired.

That wasn't the only time Paevey had been robbed. While he was staying in Vancouver, someone stole a watch from his hotel room. The timepiece was meaningful to him because he had purchased it to celebrate a high point in his career. "I'm bummed about it," he said. But the worst was yet to come. In a 2024 statement to Heavy, he wrote, "I've had bank accounts hacked, money embezzled, investments stolen."

When Hallmark wasn't paying him to sweep its heroines off their feet, Ryan Paevey busied himself with a second job: creating jewelry. It's a career befitting a man who spends a lot of time in the Hallmark-verse, where crafty small-business owners are celebrated. But out in the real world, Paevey found that all of life's woes can't be cured with gingerbread cookies and a cup of hot apple cider.

In a 2021 interview with Soap Hub, Paevey shared the sad reason he started turning gemstones and sterling silver into wearable masterpieces. "Truthfully, it was a way to cope with depression [that I've felt] from the feelings of not being in control that the industry can give you," he said. Eventually, he found himself making so much jewelry that he decided to launch a business to sell his work. On his Fortunate Wanderer website, fans can purchase handmade pendants, rings, and cuffs.

Paevey described his mental health struggles by saying, "At times, I've felt like a ship set adrift." Perhaps this is why some of his jewelry features a nautical theme. In a 2021 Instagram post, the actor revealed that being active and spending time with his friends also helps his mood when he's feeling down in the dumps. "It's okay to feel not okay, so find those things and those people that help keep the dark at bay," he wrote.

On "The Grass is Greener," Ryan Paevey admitted that it's been more difficult for him to find acting work than fans might think. "My booking rate is abysmal," he said. In April 2024, he even indicated that his long and productive relationship with Hallmark was possibly ending in a series of since-deleted tweets. After disappointing fans by revealing that Hallmark hadn't reached out to him with any new project offers, he wrote, "The last 8 months of life in this industry have left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth, and I need some time away from a world so full of fake friends and empty promises," (via CinemaBlend).

Paevey didn't express interest in joining the list of actors who have left Hallmark Channel for Great American Family. Instead, he added that he was still open to working with his former employer, despite his bleak view of the entertainment industry.

Paevey updated fans on how he was feeling in a June 2024 statement to Heavy. In it, he announced that his acting career was over for the foreseeable future. "The industry hasn't felt like the place for me in quite some time now, and my mental health has suffered from it. It's taken me to a bit of a dark place," he shared. On top of this, he had learned his mother had lung cancer, which further shifted his priorities. "I left Los Angeles to be closer to her," he added.