How ‘General Hospital’ Icon Genie Francis and ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Star Jonathan Frakes Found Lasting Love
The soap star and the sci-fi star have been married for 37 years—and they're happier than ever!
Genie Francis has been one of the biggest soap opera stars for nearly five decades. The actress, who began her legendary run as General Hospital’s Laura in 1977, at just 14 years old, has been a Port Charles resident for the majority of her life, and when her character married Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) in 1981, they became known as the first supercouple of daytime TV, and their wedding episode remains the most watched in soap opera history.
While Luke and Laura ultimately divorced, they still loom large in General Hospital lore, and Francis, now 63, remains a vital part of the show, having appeared in nearly 2,000 episodes. Offscreen, the actress, who has also been in the cast of soaps like All My Children and The Young and the Restless, is in a supercouple of a very different kind, as she’s been married to Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander William Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its spinoffs, since 1988. Read on to learn all about the soap star/Star Trek crossover couple and see the sweet things they’ve said about one another over the years.
Genie Francis and Jonathan Frakes’ meet-cute: ‘Somehow, she took a chance on me’
Following the pop culture phenomenon of Luke and Laura’s wedding, Genie Francis took on a starring role in the prime time soap opera Bare Essence in 1982. While the show was short-lived, it proved pivotal in Francis’ personal life, as Jonathan Frakes was one of her costars. Francis and Frakes didn’t get together while making Bare Essence, as Frakes, who is 10 years her senior, thought she was too young, but they reunited when they costarred in the 1985 Civil War miniseries North and South.
Francis and Frakes started dating in 1985, and tied the knot in 1988. Looking back on their early days together, Frakes told People in 2023, “We were on location in Charleston and Natchez, and we fell in love—and now, somehow, she wasn’t too young for me. So we have been together ever since our first date on North and South when we took a break for Memorial Day and went to New Orleans 38 years ago.” At the time, Francis was the bigger star in the relationship, and he joked, “Somehow, she took a chance on me, because I was like, number 37 on the call sheet on North and South and she was up there with Patrick Swayze and Lesley-Anne Down. So why she would go out with me is a mystery!”
On the set of North and South, both Francis and Frakes separately confided their crushes on one another to their costar, Kirstie Alley, and the Cheers actress encouraged them to get together. Remembering their early days years later, Francis wistfully recalled, “I saw Jonathan again, and I just fell in love. It was almost like we’d never seen each other before. It was very strange . . . I remember the first moment I put my hand in his, and I knew that I was gonna stay there.”
Why Genie Francis and Jonathan Frakes’ marriage is ‘better than ever’
Genie Francis and Jonathan Frakes have been happily married for 37 years, and have two children, James, now a fisherman and conservationist, and Eliza, now a playwright. The couple has navigated their share of challenges over the years, as Francis battled addiction in the ’80s, but Frakes supported her through thick and thin, and their relationship remains admirably down to earth.
When asked about her secret to a lasting marriage in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Francis said, “The only thing I can tell you is what my grandmother told me: ‘To stay married a long time, you have to be willing to have a couple of really bad years. And you may have to have them more than once.’ In other words, you find ways to work through what’s going on between you and your partner. Because that’s what marriage is: an agreement to work through it.” Clearly, this advice has worked for the couple, and in a recent joint interview conducted by General Hospital mainstay Maurice Benard, they both said that their marriage is “better than ever.”
In their interview, Francis also got candid about how Frakes has helped her manage her anxiety and depression, saying, “We take care of each other,” and observing that “the kindest, most loving thing ever” is the way in which he prioritizes staying by her side when she’s feeling down. As Frakes put it, “We have one brain,” and they’re always there for each other—even if Frakes is outgoing and social, while Francis is more withdrawn.
Over 40 years after they first crossed paths, the stars of General Hospital and Star Trek: The Next Generation—two shows with deeply devoted followings—endure as a true power couple. Francis has made sure to never take their romance for granted, and she’s developed an appreciation for the simple joys in life. As she said in a TV interview, “I’ve gone through a lot of struggles in my life, but my family and my husband—that’s what it’s about for me now . . . That’s the dream, and I got it.” Judging by all the lovely things Francis and Frakes have shared about their relationship, the dream is destined to continue.
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