Maurice Benard Reunites With Former General Hospital Co-Star After 8 Years

On the latest episode of his podcast State of Mind, Maurice Benard reunited with a former General Hospital co-star for the first time in years.

Old Friends

Benard began the episode by revealing his guest was someone he hadn’t seen in a long time. “I haven’t seen this person in about 8 years-9 years,” he said. “He came on the soap, kind of made a splash,” he continued before revealing Sean Blakemore.

While Blakemore originally joined GH as Chase (not to be confused with Josh Swickard’s Chase) for a short stint in 2003, he later returned in 2011 as Shawn, the righthand man of The Balkan and later Sonny (Maurice Benard). The actor left the show in 2016, the same year he won a Daytime Emmy for Oustanding Supporting Actor, and most recently returned for one episode in 2022.

Diving Deep

The actors spent the 48-minute episode delving into Blakemore’s upbringing, which involved being raised by a single mother to seven kids, going to several different schools, and not sleeping in a bed until he was a teenager. But Blakemore revealed the way his struggles shaped his confidence.

“I had to learn confidence. You’re just not born with that innate gift to be confident. I had to learn,” he said. “I think I’m very fortunate to have been able to have a clarity to overcome each obstacle, and it was tough.”

READ THIS: Here’s what’s coming up on GH.

Benard ended the episode with a major compliment for his former co-star. “I told Sean that I don’t think anybody that I’ve had conversations with – quite a lot – had ever gotten in-depth about their childhood and what it’s like to live in poverty and have to survive every day of your life,” he said. “I’ve never heard it, but we should all be thankful that he talked about that because there’s probably a little boy right now somewhere, you know, living in the same way. And maybe his mother by chance will see this show and see Sean discussing this and that little boy will have some hope.”

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