Sonny Corinthos is not going anywhere.
In PEOPLE’s exclusive clip from the Tuesday, Oct. 28 episode of Richard Taite’s We’re Out of Time podcast, General Hospital star Maurice Benard weighs in on the speculation about his future on the soap opera, which he’s been a part of for over 30 years.
When asked if he’s leaving the show, Benard, 62, shut down the rumors: “No, I’m not leaving.”
“There have always been a lot of people [saying that]. I think they’re saying I’m dying, too, like I have cancer or something,” he said.
The actor, who has been playing Sonny Corinthos since 1993 on General Hospital, has a “year left” in his contract, which secures his place on the soap for at least that long, but he has no real plans to leave the show anytime soon.
“Look, I’m going to retire, but I don’t think it’s going to be before I’m 65,” he admitted.
Benard doesn’t seem to be bothered by the speculation, as he said, “Let people say what they say,” but he knows he’s not going to stay forever, because the show is “mentally taxing.”
When he does take his final bow as the Port Charles mobster, Benard knows he’ll have to keep himself busy in other ways, as he and the podcast host agreed they “don’t do well without structure.”
“When I leave, I’ll have [my podcast], State of Mind, maybe [I’ll] do that more,” he said. “Financially, I’m pretty good, but you’re right — I already know what happens to my mind when I’m living in it alone.
Comments Benard made over the summer fueled rumors that he might be considering leaving the series.
He was asked on the podcast Soapy if he would still be playing Sonny in his 80s, like other soap opera stars have done, and he admitted, “I don’t know, in all honesty, if I can last that long.”
Benard, who is among the longest-running cast members on the soap, made sure to clarify that it’s “not because I don’t want to.”
“People are going to get mad at me for saying this, but I’m always just going to be honest,” he said. “I don’t think, mentally, I can keep going that long, and I don’t know if I could act on GH if I’m not at least at 90 percent. That’s the truth.”
