From the fans to the cast and crew and more, everyone is still reeling from the death of Days of Our Lives actor Drake Hogestyn. His character, John Black, was an inspiring hero who had saved the day over and over again. John and Marlena had a daughter named Belle, whom Kirsten Storms portrayed from 1999 to 2004, and the actress recently spoke out about her relationship with her former on-screen Dad.
It’s Still Surreal
Storms, who has been playing General Hospital’s Maxie Jones since 2005, opened up to TV Insider about her relationship with Hogestyn. She stated that she had once dated Ben Hogestyn, son of the DAYS legend, who briefly appeared on GH, “and I got to spend a lot of time with Drake and his family.”
Her reaction to Hogestyn’s death is still surreal to her as she explained, “I think because I hadn’t seen him in a while, I feel like it’s not real that he’s gone.” She explained that he was never in a bad mood and always brought his A-game to every scene. “He was just my favorite person there and a legend.”
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A Great Learning Experience
The actress further explained what it was like when she left DAYS. “When I left DAYS [in 2004], I had a lot of sad feelings about it, just because I had grown a family there.” She stated that everyone on the show was wonderful. And at that point in her career, playing Belle was the longest stretch of time she’d ever spent on a show.
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Considering John and Marlena (Deidre Hall), Belle’s parents, are a major soap opera supercouple, Storms gave it her all. She felt it intimidating at first, but Hall was there for her, and she stated that she wanted to prove she could take on the challenge and found it to be a great moment of growth when she was only 14 years old.
Ultimately, she still laments Hogestyn’s death. “I was really upset when I heard he had passed. But again, I don’t feel like that’s even set in for me, really.”
