Justin Hartley confirms ‘The Young and the Restless’ exit

In some ways, you could certainly see this was an announcement that everyone could see coming, given the apparent death of the Adam character coupled with Justin Hartley’s presence over on the upcoming NBC series “This Is Us.” Yet, the actor still confirmed this week that he is exiting “The Young and the Restless” after a lengthy stretch of episodes with a new note on his Facebook page.

In this note, he did his part to help explain what the show has meant to him, and how appreciative he is to play the part over the past couple of years:

“After many weeks of having to keep quiet in order not to spoil storylines for all of you, the time has finally come that I’m able to write you this letter. Although I am saying goodbye to Y&R, this is not a goodbye letter. I felt it was more important to write a thank you note. Each and every one of you helped make my time on the show enjoyable. I always loved hearing about how excited all of you were for certain characters, how disgusted you were with others, at times even mine, or how we were able to help you escape from a hectic day. You are some of the most loyal and dedicated fans I’ve ever encountered. You are truly the heart of the show. It simply does not work without you. I wanted to thank you for that. Thank you for tuning in; thank you for letting me entertain you; thanks for entertaining me, and thank you for caring.”

Hartley certainly has remained busy. In addition to doing this soap, he has appeared on some other shows including “Mistresses” and “Revenge.” He also played Oliver Queen years ago on “Smallville” prior to “Arrow” being born with Stephen Amell.

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