General Hospital’s Michelle Stafford Talks Ageism for Women on Daytime

Not only has “General Hospital” star Michelle Stafford built a long daytime career in an industry that shuns women “of a certain age,” she is also breaking barriers by speaking out on ageism in the soap world as well.

Stafford remarked in an interview with TV Insider that your body of work should be what pushes your forward in your career, not if you are deemed to mature to play certain roles.

“I hate that women should have to talk about age. To me, it’s a nonissue,” said Stafford in the interview.

“Our female audience doesn’t want to see women being victims. They don’t want to watch women fall apart. You can only feed people that crap for so long. It’s such a tough world right now. We want to watch survivors,” she remarked.

Stafford also revealed in the interview that she dislikes the pressure put on women to look a certain way and how many soap actresses are forced to change their looks to fit in, instead of stand out in the business.

“Nobody notices the good work. They only notice the bad work. Jeez, if this was an interview with a bunch of men, would the subject of plastic surgery even be brought up?” she remarked.

The actress also stated how she dislikes the way some more mature actresses are be slammed on social media for their age, instead of fans using the medium as a tool to come together to support their favorites.

“I have been attacked for being an “old cow” by fans that prefer a certain actor, and that actor had the power to say, ‘Stop it’ but chose not to and that only inflamed it. Some actors are literally like, ‘If people say Michelle Stafford overacts, that’ll mean the fans will love me more!’ What kind of thinking is that? For you to feel good, someone else has to fail?” said Stafford.

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