GH Stars Maurice Benard And Laura Wright Discuss Loss And Renewal

GH fans are screaming for a Sonny and Carly reunion but it is not quite happening…yet. But Maurice Benard soothed the growing roar with a visit from his grieving on-screen “widow” and off-screen friend, Laura Wright, on his State of Mind YouTube video podcast.

Laura Wright Celebrates 30 Years On Daytime Television

Before taking over the pivotal role of Carly Corinthos on General Hospital, Laura Wright had a comfortable footing on daytime television and a solid base to prove it. Making her debut as Ally Rescott on Loving in 1991, she went on to play the character on The City as well as visits to All My Children. Later, she originated the role of Cassie Layne, the younger sister of the legendary Reva Shayne on Guiding Light.

In 2005, Wright parted ways with Guiding Light, leaving the show and New York behind to take over the role of Carly Corinthos on General Hospital. No easy task, since she was following in the footsteps of fan-favorites, Sarah Joy Brown and Tamara Braun. She rose to the occasion and won over fans and cast alike.

Maurice (Sonny Corinthos, GH) gave Laura a warm welcome. “She just kicks ass in soap operas. She’s the queen. She has been in this fricking business for 30 years.” The two quickly tackled the subject of Sonny, “Mike,” and Carly’s future…without giving too much away. Yet tease they most certainly did!

Wright talked about how she addresses the on-screen separation. “I just tell a storyline as if I know what’s coming. I know what is coming, and really at this point we haven’t even seen a script, but we know what’s coming, and it is kind of soon,” she teased. “It is going to have to be incredible. The next level is going to blow your mind. But we have to get there.”

Benard agreed, adding, “We are going to have great stuff when we come back. Just incredible.” The colleagues discussed “the other woman” [Nina, played by Cynthia Watros] and the fans’ distaste for the power couple’s separation.

“Cynthia Watros is just one of the nicest people on daytime. I love her,” Wright exclaimed. “Being a fan of daytime, and watching the storyline, you want to fall in love with both sides.”

The actors shared the benefits and the obstacles of playing two characters and having intense storylines. “It’s a trip. There was a day that I played both Sonny and Mike,” Benard chimed in. “And I don’t like Sonny! I don’t like his energy. I don’t like his darkness.”

Wright agreed. “What we do is really intense and our bodies don’t know we are faking, so when you own Sonny’s intensity and darkness, you really own it, and you live and breathe it. Having a storyline that is a break from Sonny for six or seven months is a gift to you.”

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She summed it up beautifully with, “We don’t tell one show a week and then have a long hiatus. We don’t do a movie in three to six months and then have a month off in the Mediterranean on a yacht to recover. We tell it all year round.”

The Darkness Of Divorce And Grieving

In 2016, the upbeat actress divorced her husband of more than 20 years. Benard got right to the point, knowing it was a subject that many would resonate with. “Let’s talk about the divorce.”

“I was a very different person. I wore my feelings. It was about me, my emotions, what I wanted, ‘how could you do this to me?’” Wright shared, opening up. “I was very much in a victim state of mind. [Smiles at Maurice.] I had to learn to let that go and realize that didn’t serve me or them [her kids] and it was going to keep me on the hamster wheel of pain. And to say, I am not a victim. Every choice I have ever made has brought me to this moment. Take responsibility for where you stand and then let’s move forward.”

She laid out how it played out. “When he asked me to marry him in 1995, I couldn’t believe that somebody would want to marry me. The low self-esteem I had…I was only taught to be pretty and that was it. What do I want? What is a dream I had? Those were never questions that mattered. What do I like? I don’t know. You tell me. You tell me what to like because I don’t know.

“When it all started to crumble,” she continued, “it was like watching a 5-year-old child lose her mind. A severe temper tantrum but as an adult woman. So I had to die, that version of me had to die, for me to be reborn as who I am now.” Wright described her healing process, “And then when I finally let go, stopped running from the pain, and witnessed what was happening and accepted it…then it all started falling into place.”

Healing And Beyond

The iconic actress shared her vulnerability, discussing her feelings of self-loathing and shame during her divorce and coming out of it. “I have never been as happy and as authentic, like this,” she said, describing how meditation helped her through it. “The only way out is through, and the only way through is in. You have got to get quiet.”

Rabid Sonny and Carly fans can glean more tidbits for the future of the epic daytime pair, learn more about Wright’s spiritual awakening, the loss of her parents just two months apart after a 56 six-year marriage, and how it turned out to be a healing experience, how authors Glennon Doyle and Tony Robbins broke her heart wide open, and much more in this authentic sit-down between two co-stars and friends.

Anyone grieving any kind of loss is sure to find a morsel of knowledge that could be of help in this one-of-kind interview. You can check out the full interview by clicking here. You can also watch a preview below.

Follow Laura Wright on Twitter @lldubs, and Instagram @welcometolaurasworld. 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.