General Hospital's Chad Duell Sets The Record Straight On Relationship With Courtney Hope

"General Hospital" star Chad Duell and "The Young and the Restless" star Courtney Hope shocked daytime television fans when they announced in December 2021 that they were splitting up after only two months of marriage and more than five years together. 

When they first got engaged in February 2021, Duel told People that he couldn't wait to call Hope his wife. "'I'm excited for a lot: our future kids, new adventures, a new home and having my best friend to grow old with. It's a blast to be getting to spend forever with my best friend," he said. The good-looking soap couple tied the knot on October 23, 2021, just to pull the plug on their relationship altogether in December.

Now, more details are coming out of the woodwork about the couple's marriage — straight from Duell himself — and it turns out that their relationship status was actually more complicated than one would think. And while it sounds like it, this wasn't written up by a soap writer for an upcoming storyline, either.

Chad Duell set the record straight about what happened between him and his now-estranged partner Courtney Hope during an episode of Maurice Benard's YouTube series "State of Mind." (Bernard plays Sonny Corinthos on "General Hospital," the father of Duell's character, Michael Corinthos.) 

Explaining that he will always love Hope and that he still talks to her, Duell explained the situation between them to Bernard. "Out of respect to her, I'm not going to delve too much into all thus stuff. All I'd say is she's an amazing person, she's an amazing woman, she's an amazing dog mom," he said (via Soap Opera Digest). "It's a complicated situation and it's not what anybody thinks. I'm not going to get into detail, but it's not what people think," Duell said, adding that nothing "terrible" happened. 

Shockingly, Duell also revealed weren't he and Hope weren't technically married to begin with. "We didn't actually sign anything; we weren't really, like, married, really," he divulged. Fans were certainly surprised to hear that; one person tweeted, "I'm starting to conspiracy theorize," while another shared, "I mean, it's not my business but Chad and Courtney's huge Halloween wedding wasn't official because they didn't sign anything? That's... interesting."

Ultimately, the actor said their split "was amicable ... and we always want the best for each other." Amicable as it may be, there certainly seems like enough drama with their marital status for daytime TV.