Before he became a fan favorite as Michael Corinthos on General Hospital, Rory Gibson faced a chapter in his life that very few knew about—and it nearly ended his acting career altogether
From 2021 to 2023, Gibson portrayed Noah Newman on The Young and the Restless. But his time there took an unexpected turn when his contract shifted to recurring, and eventually, the calls stopped coming. At first, Gibson stayed optimistic, booking a small role in Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire and repeatedly testing for major projects. Then the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike brought everything to a standstill.
Speaking to Maurice Benard on the State of Mind YouTube series, Gibson revealed a truth he had never shared publicly: during that time, he and his fiancée, model Alicia Ruela, became homeless.
“Things got real, real bumpy for a while because we hit the strikes,” he recalled. “I’ve never shared this publicly, but me and my fiancée were essentially homeless. We couldn’t afford rent and ended up couch-surfing for almost a year.”
The struggles didn’t end there. With acting jobs gone and modeling opportunities for Ruela also drying up, the couple found themselves with no steady income and no permanent home.
By 2024, Gibson took a step back from the entertainment industry and returned to work as a trainer at Barry’s Bootcamp gym—a job he had held before his acting career took off. “It was like I was resetting in a strange way,” he said. “I started working there again, and slowly, the industry began to pick up. Life got kind of comfortable again.”
Looking back, Gibson believes the hardship was part of a larger plan. “If I hadn’t essentially been let go from Y&R, if I hadn’t had to couch surf for a year, and if I wasn’t broke, maybe what awaited me wouldn’t have come,” he reflected.
The experience also reshaped how he views fulfillment in his career. While he remains grateful to The Young and the Restless for giving him his first big break, he admits he wasn’t feeling creatively satisfied. “Everyone there is lovely, and I appreciate them beyond belief. But it wasn’t the most ideal situation for me. Whereas now at General Hospital, I feel extremely fulfilled.”
The journey from losing nearly everything to landing a central role on a major soap is one Gibson doesn’t take for granted. It’s a testament to resilience, adaptability, and holding on to a dream even when it seems completely out of reach.
For fans, Gibson’s openness is a reminder that behind the glitz of television, actors face real-life struggles—sometimes more difficult than any storyline they portray. And for Gibson, those struggles became the stepping stones to the role, and the life, he’s living today.