General Hospital

Before They Were Soap Stars: GH’s Sydney Mikayla Flips Out

Published by

Alina Adams

3 years ago

General Hospital star Sydney Mikayla as Gabby Douglas

It’s been a long time since General Hospital viewers were as head over heels for a new character as they are for Trina Robinson, played by Sydney Mikayla since 2019. They are loving her friendship with Eden McCoy’s Josslyn Jacks, and especially her burgeoning romance with Spencer Cassadine, played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez.

Sydney Mikayla: Back In the Day

But before she had Port Charles fans turning handsprings, Mikayla was doing some fancy footwork herself, playing a young Gabby Douglas in 2014’s The Gabby Douglas Story.

Imani Hakim played the Olympian, but Mikayla assumed the role of little Gabby, the one who was so busy bouncing off her mother’s (Regina King) furniture and walls that she had no choice but to put her in classes, if only so she’d learn how not to hurt herself.

Giving Up the Ghost

It was Mikayla’s Gabby who showed so much promise that her mother and siblings were willing to make whatever sacrifices they had to in order to help Gabby achieve her dreams – which even included going on welfare when they couldn’t afford both living expenses and gymnastics lessons.

Role Model

Without Gabby Douglas, there likely would not have been a Simone Biles. Douglas is a role model, but The Gabby Douglas Story shows that before she was a role model, Gabby was a regular kid. Talented, sure, but also prone to being bratty. She was a real person, not just an idol to be emulated.

Mikayla walks a fine line between being a prodigy and being a real kid. Kind of like Trina needs to do on General Hospital, as she tries to balance the wealth and glamour she sees in the Cassadine castle and the Corinthos home with the more down-to-earth values her mother, Portia Robinson (Brook Kerr) tries to instill in her. Watch the trailer for The Gabby Douglas Story here.

General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Port Charles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on GH spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.