Rebecca Herbst General Hospital
On August 1, 1997, Rebecca Herbst made her General Hospital debut, and fans were introduced to a young girl with attitude to spare smoking cigarettes on Audrey Hardy’s front porch one night. It wasn’t long before we learned this teen was Sarah Webber’s little sister and Jeff Webber’s other daughter we had never heard of before. And boy did this daughter, Elizabeth Webber, and the actress who still plays her today, make their marks on Port Charles.
Even in 2022, we are not 100% sure why Elizabeth’s parents were okay with not raising her through her high school years but were okay with Jeff’s stepmother, Audrey (Rachel Ames), raising both of his teen daughters through adulthood.
Elizabeth’s resentment towards her parents was apparent in her every move as Herbst came aboard, understanding the assignment. Take a rebellious teen, show us her vulnerability in subtle ways, and then break our hearts while also capturing them after Elizabeth’s hopes for a night of being with Lucky Spencer (Jonathan Jackson) at a high school dance were destroyed when she was raped in the park.
That night changed Elizabeth Webber forever while also beginning her years-long romance with Lucky. He found her that night, took care of her, and they fell in love. They later wed more than once, but ultimately couldn’t stay together as Lucky’s own emotional troubles became too much. Lucky might have also sparked Elizabeth’s habit of falling for troubled men.
Over the last quarter of a century, Elizabeth has loved and lost, but her three most constant loves remain her three sons, Cameron Webber (William Lipton), Jake Webber (Hudson West), and Aiden Spencer (Enzo De Angelis).
They each have different fathers, and Elizabeth has been single, trying to keep her little family thriving and happy for most of their lives, but soap opera troubles followed them anyway as Jake was once presumed dead for several years, and Aiden’s paternity had two contenders — Lucky and his half-brother, Nikolas Cassadine (then played by Tyler Christopher).
Elizabeth’s other notable loves have been Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), who fathered her middle son, Jake, and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst), who she never had any children with but did marry more than once. A more grown-up Elizabeth then had the most unexpected romance that also unexpectedly captured fans’ hearts.
Yes, at one time when he was played by James Franco, the character of Franco kidnapped a baby Aiden and also killed several people. By the time Franco was played by Roger Howarth, the brain tumor defense was brought into play, and Franco became a brand-new character who later became one of Elizabeth’s great loves in 2016.
Elizabeth, whose own parents abandoned her to her grandmother, finally formed the family she wanted with Franco and her boys, and few people understand why GH chose to kill Franco in 2021 and pair Elizabeth with Hamilton Finn (Michael Easton).
When 2022 began, Elizabeth seemed to have a story that would finally explain why she arrived in Port Charles all those years ago, but that same story has had too many stops and starts to count, and we hope it’s not over and we finally get to the bottom of Elizabeth’s childhood and how it formed her.
As the 25th anniversary of Herbst’s GH debut approached, the character seemed to disappear, being eliminated from a trial that involved her oldest son, Cameron, as a victim of revenge porn, but fans have not forgotten how much she has given this soap.
She is a mainstay in the same way characters like Laura Collins are, with both Herbst and Genie Francis practically growing up on the soap. Herbst even met her husband on the set of GH, marrying Michael Saucedo (ex-Juan Santiago) in 2001 and raising a family with him.
Soap Hub wishes a hearty congratulations to Herbst on her 25 years with GH and hope for many more to come, with Elizabeth’s full story finally being told.
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.
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