Maurice Benard, star of General Hospital, mental health advocate, and host of the videocast State of Mind, recently sat down with former co-star Jason Thompson – who played Patrick Drake on GH and is now Billy Abbott on The Young and the Restless – for “a real talk between two guys who have known each other for a long time.”
Maurice Benard And Jason Thompson Talk The Talk
Jason Thompson has been blessed in a multitude of ways, the least of which is that he does not suffer from mental illness. He admits that he’s “always tried to put myself in a situation of having empathy for somebody else’s world and place,” but he also cops to still being unable to fully understand the struggles of a person who does suffer.
Among the many topics broached during the half-hour back-and-forth – which features Thompson briefly taking over hosting duties, much to Maurice Benard’s delight – were the troubles wrought by the pandemic (and its unintended blessings), and the feasibility of schools introducing classes on mental health.
On the latter subject, Jason Thompson states that “the public school system could definitely use some help…I think that’s a very valuable class.”
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Jason Thompson also shares with Maurice Benard one of his philosophies: Life’s a journey with no final destination; it’s a sentiment with which Benard agrees.
As the interview came to a close, Thompson was asked about his acting process, and what it is that he taps into. “Loss, pain, vulnerability, the idea of it. Then I try to find my personal thing that can equate to the feeling that character might be going through…I have very vivid memories and moments in my life that I can access.”
The final topic brought up before the video faded to black? The men’s mutual loss of a dear friend, Donna Messina. Of special note, Miss Messina’s first name was imparted onto Sonny Corinthos and Carly Corinthos’s baby girl.
Be sure to check out the full interview, which you can access by clicking here. You can also watch a preview below.
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