During Kirsten Storms’ latest hiatus from General Hospital (GH), fans weren’t given much information about what prompted her departure.

We were just assured she’d return, but now Storms has given us a look at what she’s been going through via an Instagram response to one of her fans.

“I try to keep my personal life private. However I recently mentioned on my Twitter that I suffer from SEVERE depression,” she admitted, adding:

“If you or someone you know has dealt with it then you know it can be a difficult time in life. I’m doing much better of late and look forward to returning to work soon.”

Last year, Storms took a highly publicized leave after her divorce from former co-star Brandon Barash (ex-Johnny). Skin issues caused by stress made wearing the heavy makeup soap stars wear too difficult, and adding more makeup to hide the issue didn’t help.

At the time, Maxie was involved in a front-burner story involving Nathan (Ryan Paevey) and Claudette (Bree Williamson), so GH briefly replaced her with Molly Burnett.

This time around, newlywed Maxie took a job in Portland near Spinelli and daughter, Georgie. Maxie found she likes it there, but with Spinelli paying a visit to Port Charles soon, we know Maxie can’t be too far behind.