Kristina Wagner first met the late Jacklyn Zeman nearly 40 years ago on General Hospital when she debuted as Felicia Cummings. Now, Wagner and the rest of the show’s cast are paying tribute to Bobbie Spencer, Zeman’s character, in two special episodes airing today and Thursday. Wagner spoke to Soap Hub about the emotional farewell and Zeman’s life and legacy.
Kristina Wagner: When Felicia Met Bobbie
Wagner joined GH in 1984 as Aztec princess Felicia Cummings. Her first big storyline involved location shooting in Mexico before the character settled down in Port Charles where Bobbie Spencer became one of her closest pals.
“This may sound like I’m making this up, but I remember when I met Jackie that I wanted to be like her,” Wagner says. “This woman whom I talked to in the makeup room and I’d see in the hallways has a very cheerful nature. She sort of plows through the day with a super, hyper positivity.
“I was going through all the newness of being in this tornado as the new girl on the show,” Wagner recollects. “Everything was new. To see Jackie do what she did with her attitude made me feel like I wanted to be like that. That’s something that I remember so clearly even though it was a long time ago.”
Goodbye, Barbara Jean
Wagner and Zeman were intertwined in many stories over the years, but nothing brought them together like the death of little BJ Jones (Brighton Hertford), Bobbie’s adopted daughter and namesake. Felicia’s little girl Maxie (then Robyn Richards) needed a heart transplant. When BJ was declared brain dead after a school bus accident, her heart was transplanted into Maxie.
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Upon learning from Lucy (Lynn Herring) that BJ was the donor, a distraught Felicia ran to see a grieving Bobbie. “That storyline was similar to what we did all week when we said goodbye to [Jackie and Bobbie],” Wagner says. “It was a week-long thing. You start out in the morning and go all day long and your emotions are so honed in. It wears you the hell out.
“I remember feeling headachy and tired and exhausted from [the BJ] storyline,” Wagner says. “Then, I didn’t have the tools to take care of myself. This time, I knew to stay hydrated. I remember in the [BJ storyline] having to sit down on the floor [at times] because my body was so tired from the emotions. The body doesn’t know that the emotions are fake.”
This time, as everyone gathers to say goodbye to Bobbie, the emotions are all too real. “I think the community of everybody [in the cast] crying together — even though it’s written for us — helped,” Wagner muses. She reached out to Zeman’s daughters Cassidy and Lacey Rose to let them know that the shows honoring her mother and her on-screen character were going to be shot.
“I told [Jackie’s daughters] that I thought they are going to be pleased with the shows,” Wagner says. “This may help them work through their grief as they see their mom being honored — the way Bobbie should be honored.
Kristina Wagner: Finding Joy
“When people die, we don’t want anyone to forget about them,” Wagner adds. “We want to continue to lift them up and let the world know.” What of Zeman’s will her friend take with her as she moves forward? “I think it’ll be exactly the message that she gave me when I met her the first time,” Wagner says. “I want to stay resilient. We’re here on this earth for a limited amount of time. We need to find as much joy in it as possible. We can find joy through adversity and our struggle. That’s a big lesson I learned through Jackie. I’m not saying be fake happy. Be authentic. Find the joy in life. It’s important for all aspects of survival.”
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