GH’s Maurice Benard & B&B’s Diamond White Talk Mental Health on SOM

General Hospital’s Maurice Benard does an excellent job of spotlighting interesting people with stories that will move, heal, and tickle his audience on his video podcast, State Of Mind. This week was no different as he welcomed actress and singer Diamond White from The Bold and the Beautiful.

Maurice Benard: Excavating A Jewel

Benard (Sonny Corinthos) started off the episode by welcoming his young guest. “Today, I have someone that I am very excited about. She is somebody that I consider an artist. She’s done a lot. She’s done the X-Factor, Empire, The Bold and the Beautiful…just a lot of different great things, and I am just happy that she is here.”

The actress began to open up to the host about her upbringing. “I am from Detroit. Have you seen 8 Mile [the movie]? It’s like that. I lived in Southfield, so it was like, cross the street, and you were in Detroit. It wasn’t as tough as it could have been because my mom is a G [slang for gangster].” White explained, “When I was younger, my mother guided me. Kept me safe. A little bit too annoyingly.”

Her mother may have always been there for her, but her father was an absent. White (Paris Buckingham, B&B) explained how her grandfather stepped up. “I am the youngest of four. As far as I know. Because Daddy, where? [covers her eyes] Who? But his dad made the effort to be there for me.

“His dad stepped in, and it was like, hey, I am going to figure it out,” she added. The actress revealed how he still inspires her today. “When he passed away, I started seeing hummingbirds. So I got that tattooed on my chest area, my ribs, I guess. (shows with hand movement) I see them almost every day now. So, hey, Joe! Love you! You are great.”

Diamond White: Blasting Through To Find The Sparkle

Benard was able to glean how the young star first realized that she was bipolar. “I definitely know that I have had it my whole life because I have always been the sensitive, emotional kid who, when I got upset, would go into my room and literally make slime. Because my brother would be mean to me, and I would be like, ‘Let me put slime in his shoes.’ And so I did.”

He shared his story of being locked in a psych ward for two weeks. She nodded in understanding. “I have been to a psych ward twice. It is the same thing.” She spoke about how people make the wrong assumptions. “Everybody assumes that I am on something. I’m not. I am just weird.”

The duo spoke more about struggling with mental illness, combating anxiety, and the stress of performing and facing judgment. White covered her time on the X-Factor when Britney Spears (before Spears came out as bipolar) was her mentor and how she felt about ending up in 5th place.

Even though the young ingenue has been singing and acting since the age of 8, when she debuted in the Chicago-based production of The Color Purple, she wasn’t always sure of what she wanted to do. Nowadays, White enjoys acting, singing, and, most of all, poetry. “I think poetry is the one place where I don’t feel like I am f*ucked up. I can just get my thoughts down.”

Find out more about how Diamond White feels about her kissing scenes on The Bold and the Beautiful, love scenes with older men, the ‘mannequin’ incident, and selling out The Troubadour in Los Angeles. Fans will get an inside peek at how she made it through the Covid lockdown, faced all of her challenges, and made it to the other side to find love again. The host and his subject even managed a chuckle or two and even shared an impromptu Spanish lesson. Watch the whole episode here.

After the episode aired, White took to Twitter after viewers questioned her manner. She wrote, “This was an interview I did when I was prescribed a different medication for bipolar, and it was literally killing me from the inside out. It’s hard being open about mental health and seeing comments assuming I’m ‘on something.’ I was in a silly, goofy mood. Dassit.”

Benard responded, “You are a champion for saying this, Diamond. I completely understand. I am very proud of this interview💎.”

Follow Diamond White on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Subscribe to State of Mind on YouTube for all the episodes, and follow the show on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Maurice Benard on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Port Charles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on GH spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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