Trevor St. John and Maurice Benard discuss being vulnerable on State Of Mind.
General Hospital’s Maurice Benard invited the press-shy actor Trevor St. John, who portrays Tucker McCall on The Young and the Restless, to a sit-down on his video podcast, State Of Mind. St. John surprised himself and Benard by saying yes.
The One Life To Live alum got real immediately. “To be honest with you, I am a little frightened,” St. John shared. “I wanted to be honest with you here because what you are doing here is to propagate the idea that it is okay to be vulnerable. And I really have a fear of public speaking. So, I am a little frightened.”
Benard (Sonny Corinthos, GH) sensed a story behind the fear and began by delving into St. John’s latest directing project, A Good Enough Day, which he wrote with two of his cousins, Brett Clothier-Sharman and Graham Sharman, for Spokane’s Hamilton Studio, which just happens to be co-owned by his mother, Lorna St. John.
The film was produced last year and follows a single day in the life of a terminally ill father, Tyler (played by St. John), who is dealing with the death of his son and trying to face the trauma that left him emotionally unavailable to his loved ones while tying up the loose ends of his life. The content reminded the actor of a loss he suffered long ago and was able to integrate into his character…the loss of his older sister, Laura, when he was just 15.
“I had been through some of this,” the Daytime Emmy-nominated actor explained. “I lost my sister when I was 15…in a car accident. She was my dearest friend. You talk about Paula [Benard’s wife] being your guardian angel, so Laura is her name, and she really was for me. I was destroyed by it, really. You grieve that. You don’t really stop grieving. You don’t get over it. You just integrate it into who you are.
“She was in college, you know when you are invincible,” he continued, disclosing the details of the accident. “She was in a sports car going too fast, hit some gravel, and flipped it. So, it is personal in that sense. Obviously, not those circumstances, but dealing with grief and how you deal with that. Especially with how you deal with those still living. That is what the story is really about, what he lost, that’s the context.
“So, the subject matter for this film, is someone, the character I play, just dealing with incredible grief,” he added, revealing how it stayed with him. “I am sure you can imagine for a few seconds what it would be like to lose one of your children, and I witnessed my mother in real time. I was there when she found out. And that kind of agony is otherworldly.”
The duo spoke of his recent distribution deal that will open the film to a wider audience and shared more details of what the audience can expect, including a cameo via phone from OLTL co-star and friend, Sherri Saum. The actor spoke about auditioning and taking over the role of Todd Manning on the ABC soap, the friends he made there, such as Michael Easton, Dan Gauthier, Kamar de los Reyes, and Kristen Alderson, and how the experience forever changed him.
St. John opened up about growing up in a rural area of Spokane, Washington, experiencing the four seasons, playing outdoors a lot, his love of Jazz, and winning a scholarship as a Jazz musician, and how it inadvertently led to his acting career. Y&R fans will love what he had to say about taking over the role of Tucker McCall and what life is like on the set of the CBS show.
A special note: You may want to take notes because both men came up with some memorable quotes that will help many get through tough times. It was a special episode you don’t want to miss. Catch the full episode here.
Fans can follow Trevor St. John on X (formerly known as Twitter). To follow State Of Mind and subscribe, go to YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Fans can now purchase inspirational merchandise for Benard’s State Of Mind. Check it out.
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