Kristian Alfonso, Alison Sweeney, More

When soap opera stars leave their roles, it can be as shocking as their shows’ plotlines.

Alison Sweeney surprised longtime Days of Our Lives fans in 2014 when she announced she’d be exiting the series after 21 years.

“I’ve been on Days of Our Lives since I was 16 years old, and I have never had more than a two-week vacation in that whole time,” the actress, who joined Days in 1993, said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show at the time. “I’m celebrating my 21st year, and I decided that it’s going to be my last year with the show.”

However, not all soap stars move on of their own accord. In 2019, Daniel Goddard revealed that he’d been ousted from The Young and the Restless.

“I am as shocked and gutted as you are,” Goddard, who played Cane Ashby on the daytime TV show, wrote via social media at the time.

Keep scrolling for more shocking soap opera exits through the years.