Here’s How Eden McCoy’s General Hospital Grief Mirrors Her Real Life Feelings

Life has been tough for many General Hospital characters lately. First, Sam died of an apparent overdose of digitalis. Then Dex died from the same thing after being treated for a non-fatal stabbing. Now, Michael’s future is in question as he attempts to recover from severe burns caused by a bomb in Sonny’s penthouse. Josslyn and Sam weren’t super close. But Michael is her brother. Dex was her boyfriend, and the one-two gut punch she just received has caused a lot of grief. Her real-world alter ego, Eden McCoy, spoke about similarities between Joss’ grief and her own.

The Story Looked Her Right in the Eye

McCoy took some time to talk to Soap Opera Digest about shooting the scenes, which took an emotional toll on her. Her real-life mother Natasha passed away in November 2023, and McCoy had used her job as a way to immerse herself in something that didn’t remind her of her pain. “But this [storyline turn] was kind of just looking me right in the eye.” Considering they were shooting around the anniversary of her Mom’s death, her real feelings became raw.

READ THIS: Are Sam and Dex truly dead? Find out here.

“There were so many weird coincidences and back-to-back moments between my life and Josslyn’s life at the same time that I found extremely anxiety-ridden and overwhelming,” she explained, adding that it was “also really beautiful.” The actress used her own grief to inform her performance as Josslyn, especially having to go from Dex’s (Evan Hofer) death to Michael’s (Chad Duell) harrowing situation.

READ THIS: Take a look at what’s coming up on GH.

She Couldn’t Escape the Grief

McCoy also noted that she would go home after work, only to have to come back to the studio the next day and play Joss’ grief all over again. She further explained that her job is to be able to play emotions believably. And she ultimately resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to use the grief of losing her mother to help her portray Josslyn’s sadness.

“So I was already a mess personally, and I was getting called in to work to grieve. I was like, ‘I can’t escape it on either side of my life!’ ” McCoy summed up shooting as being “a very, very dark few weeks. It was horrendous to film; I did not have a blast filming all of this.” However, McCoy is a real trooper. And from her amazing performances lately, viewers can’t tell where she begins and Josslyn ends.