Inside General Hospital Star Steve Burton's Messy Divorce From Sheree Gustin
The eyebrow-raising news that soap star Steve Burton was getting divorced from his wife Sheree Gustin in May 2022 came as a shock to his fans, as the couple appeared to be happily married. Burton played mafia enforcer extraordinaire Jason Morgan on "General Hospital" and moved over to "Days of Our Lives" to play Harris Michaels when he was unceremoniously fired from "GH" for not complying with the show's COVID-19 vaccine mandate in 2021.
Page Six reported on a now-expired Instagram story posted by Burton in which he announced the news of his split from Gustin. "I wanted to clear something up. Sheree and I are separated. She recently announced that she's expecting her 4th child. The child is not mine," the actor shared. He asked for privacy and confidently wrote further that he and Sheree were amicably co-parenting their three children.
The couple was married for 23 years before their split when Burton filed for divorce on July 7, 2022. On December 28, 2023, it was reported that their divorce had been finalized, with both parties agreeing to certain terms as they did not have a prenuptial agreement in place.
The couple have worked to keep their children's lives as normal as possible
According to People, Steve Burton will retroactively pay ex-wife Sheree Gustin $50,000, and moving forward will pay $12,500 a month for two of their children, Brooklyn and Jack, who are minors. That ends in April 2024, after which his monthly child support payments will decrease to $10,000. Their oldest child is Makena, who is 20 years old, while Jack is 17 and Brooklyn is 9. The couple also now shares physical and legal custody of the two younger children, with a further agreement that there would be no spousal support option moving forward.
On May 9, 2022, an inside source told People that Burton and Gustin had "been in the coasting stage for a while," before their separation, adding, "After a long marriage, it's not that unusual." The source remarked that it was atypical for Burton to share something as deeply personal as their split, "but the marriage has been just coexisting for a while."
The source also alleged that Burton felt his freedoms had been infringed upon when he was fired, and the loss of his job "caused chaos in his life." However, the unnamed person also stated that the two made every effort to shield the children from the circumstances and maintain a level of normalcy for them.
Gustin is pregnant again with her fifth baby
As if the divorce of Steve Burton and Sheree Gustin didn't already sound like a storyline from a soap opera, she shockingly posted a selfie on Instagram on October 28, 2023, clearly showing off a new baby bump with Baby No. 5. She captioned it, "Current status...unexpectedly expecting my 5th baby making that 4 girls and 1 boy." She expressed her surprise at being pregnant in her forties but felt it was meant to be.
Regarding the tumultuous time during her divorce, she remarked, "These past 2+ years have been quite an experience and I've learned so much about myself. I realized that I'm much stronger than I ever could have imagined and that change is a must for growth." Several fans congratulated her and Burton. When they were corrected that he is not the father, they claimed not to know about the divorce. Whether those replies were intentionally jabbing at Sheree is unknown.
Burton is also forging ahead in his life, enjoying his time playing Harris Michaels on "Days of Our Lives," and his podcast with Bradford Anderson, "That's Awesome!" has also undergone a transformation, having been rechristened "The Daily Drama Podcast." The two are no longer confined to discussing "General Hospital," but all of the existing soaps. So the real-life drama of Burton's divorce doesn't seem to be stopping him from further pursuing his life goals.