Soap Star Maurice Benard on His Anxiety: ‘I Didn’t Know if I’d Ever Act Again’ (EXCLUSIVE)
The ‘General Hospital’ star shares how he survived a real-life health scare while playing one onscreen
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, General Hospital star Maurice Benard—who shares his bipolar diagnosis with his soap opera character Sonny Corinthos—gets candid with Woman’s World about why he recently feared he’d never act again and how his costars helped get him through it.
The Daytime Emmy-winner, best-selling author, and State of Mind podcast host who got his start on All My Children also reflects on how General Hospital viewers reacted to Sonny’s latest health scare and brush with death.
Plus, after three decades in Port Charles, Benard dishes what it’s like to finally get to work with icon Genie Francis. Could there be a romance with Laura Spencer Collins in the cards for Sonny?
Maurice Benard gets candid about ‘GH’ retirement rumors & Sonny’s mental health
After Sonny survived a mental health crisis last year, his heart started giving him trouble—and fans began worrying Maurice Benard was leaving General Hospital for real this time.
“I’ve been here for 32 years, and Sonny’s almost died I don’t know how many times—a lot!” Benard says with a laugh. “Well, I have never seen so many people think I’m going to retire! Even people I know came up and said, ‘Are you leaving the show?’ I like to compliment myself and think that I played the heart attack really well.”
All joking aside, there was a point when Benard worried he might actually be on his way out.
Back when Valentine and Ava messed with Sonny’s psychiatric meds, the mob boss turned dark and ultimately, ended up on a ledge last August—and it turns out, Benard came pretty close to the edge himself while shooting the storyline.
“I called in sick for two weeks—and I’ve never called in sick,” Benard shares. “I was in a really rough period where I didn’t sleep at all and had enormous anxiety. It was physical, as well as emotional. I was in bad shape. I didn’t know if I’d ever act again.”
The ‘GH’ star reveals which costars talked him off an anxiety ledge
Like his character, Benard needed to take the brave step of asking for help and with his wife Paula traveling, he turned to his General Hospital family for support.
“The people who got me through were Steve Burton and Jonathan Jackson,” he says of Jason and Lucky’s portrayers. “It would have been very difficult without them. And I’m so grateful to (executive producer) Frank Valentini, who was just so generous and incredible about it.
“It was scary, and my first day back to work was Sonny on a ledge, wanting to kill himself,” Benard continues, referencing the scene shared below. “Thankfully, Bryan Craig was with me, because he brought Morgan back. I said, ‘I know I’ve helped you a lot, but now I can’t get through this without you, man!’ He was just great, and the beautiful thing about General Hospital is, I think there’s many actors here who would be.”
The soap vet talks mental health awareness & advocacy
Benard has been speaking openly about his bipolar disorder and anxiety since appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004 and has also gotten to play some of what he goes through onscreen since Sonny was diagnosed as bipolar in 2006.
In his 2020 memoir, Nothing General About It: How Love (and Lithium) Saved Me On and Off General Hospital, Benard shares the long story of his mental health journey–and it was while we were all feeling the toll of the COVID pandemic lockdowns that he truly began to feel like he was making a difference by sharing his story.
“The pandemic was the closest I’ve been to not being here,” admits Benard, who awoke one night and decided to share his anxiety with his Instagram followers.
The mental health advocate wasn’t convinced there’d be an audience, but a friend pushed him to keep sharing and his Sunday State of Mind social media videos quickly took on a life of their own.
“I would do an eight-minute rant about mental health on Instagram stories, which nobody does,” he recounts. “It was ridiculous. I started getting 10,000 people, then 20,000, and since then, I haven’t stopped. I joined YouTube and now, every Sunday, I put out a State of Mind. I’ve done over 450 interviews!”
Benard talks on his ‘State of Mind’ podcast
Benard interviews soap opera stars from every network and era, as well as his family, athletes, and other recognizables. With his State of Mind conversations delving into mental health, acting, and more, they’ve allowed him to get to know costars like the late Leslie Charleson and Jacklyn Zeman, who played Monica and Bobbie, personally.
“I’d never really talked to them until I did State of Mind,” explains Benard, who also boasts one of the final interviews done with Tyler Christopher. “Some actors, I never even shook their hands, but after we do State of Mind, I’m hugging them. They become almost my close friend.”
With The Young and the Restless star Lauralee Bell set to dish her iconic family and her own history in daytime on this Sunday’s episode, the most recent podcast features Cameron Mathison—who also got candid with Woman’s World about the string of personal hits he’s taken.
“Cameron and I just go off, man, for an hour,” says Benard, who made news by speaking out against the cancellations of All My Children and One Life to Live during that interview.
“One thing about State of Mind that I love is it’s always a good vibe,” he adds. “It’s always cool. And then, on another level, when people watch it, they feel like they’re not alone. If State of Mind is changing lives and even saving lives, at times, it’s a beautiful thing.”
On finally getting to work with Genie Francis: ‘There’s a lot of love’
Benard hasn’t yet lured icon Genie Francis to his podcast, but he’s thrilled that after all these decades in Port Charles, Sonny has bonded with her character, Laura.
“I didn’t work with her before,” he says. “It was basically, ‘Hi Laura… is Luke here?’ I don’t know why they kept us apart, but now, we’re doing a lot, and man, something happens when I’m in there with her.
“One time we did this scene on a couch, and I told her after we finished that there was a moment that I kind of wanted to make out—not in an unclassy way, but in a way where it felt like I needed so much comfort,” he continues. “I’m not saying they should put us together or anything, but I just respect Genie a hell of a lot, and in the scenes, there’s a lot of love. It’s just very sweet, man.”
Maurice Benard considers Sidwell’s offer to Sonny
For the record, Benard is not counting out a romance between Sonny and Laura—although he does know it would take some delicate storytelling to get them there! He’s also okay with the fact that this may just be the longest General Hospital’s dimpled don has gone without a love story.
“What is funny is, when I was younger, I’d have had a problem with that,” Benard admits to Woman’s World. “Not that I’d mind a romance… I think Sonny with the girls is always cool, but I feel like The Godfather, right now. Marlon Brando didn’t have a woman!”
While Nina seems to be forgotten, Carly, Alexis, Ava and their kids have kept Sonny plenty busy.l
Now that he’s survived surgery and another assassination attempt, it’s time to focus on keeping them all safe—and next week on General Hospital, Carlo Rota’s Sidwell is going to make Sonny an offer he should probably refuse.
“I love Carlo,” Benard raves. “He’s very talented, and we connect. But Sonny doesn’t like him! Look, you can hate Sonny, all you want. He’s got a big ego; I’ll give you that. But he’s pretty truthful. Sidwell’s just slimy. This guy always says the right things at the right time, and I love it. Let’s go!”
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