‘Letter’ Have It: Why General Hospital’s Maurice Benard Is Urging Fans to Write to Vanessa Marcil

Credit: ABC, Hallmark Channel/Courtesy of the Everett Collection

You and he want the same thing, he reckons. But there’s a very good reason why it may be so hard to get it.

Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of encouragement. So Maurice Benard theorized on April 24 when he spoke with his followers about why longtime General Hospital leading lady Vanessa Marcil had yet to appear as a guest on his mental-health vlog State of Mind.

“I love Vanessa a lot,” he said. “I truly think — and I think you guys should write to her, too — that she’s scared.”

Of what? Of talking with her friend and former castmate? Actually, it’s not so hard to believe, considering how candid guests have tended to be on State of Mind. In recent installments alone, Chad Duell (Michael) has opened up about his split from Young & Restless’ Courtney Hope (Sally), Kirsten Storms (Maxie) has laid bare her mental-health journey, and Tyler Christopher (ex-Nikolas) has held nothing back as he discussed the drinking problem that had so adversely affected his career.

So OK, we might be intimidated to go on, too.

More: Backstage stories from General Hospital’s golden age

“That’s where I’m at right now with Vanessa,” Benard said. “I love Vanessa, she loves me… I think she’s scared [to be a guest], and I understand if she’s scared.”

There is, after all, no predicting where the conversation might take Sonny and Brenda’s portrayers. “Maybe we could talk about something that she doesn’t want to talk about,” he offered. It could be cathartic, yes. But it could also be awkward or painful.

Revisit highlights of Marcil’s General Hospital run as Brenda in the below photo gallery.

Video: YouTube/State of Mind

GENERAL HOSPITAL, Steve Burton, Vanessa Marcil, Sean Kanan, Antonio Sabato, Cari Shayne, Kimberly McCullough, (1993), 1963-, © ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection

1/13

In 1992, the daughter of womanizing businessman Harlan Barrett and the “late” Veronica Wilding showed up on the doorstep of older sister Julia, who forced her to enroll in high school if she ever wanted to see a penny of her trust fund. Feisty Brenda complied, but her idea of the three Rs wasn’t reading, writing and arithmetic, it was romance (with musclebound Jagger Cates), rivalry (with his true love, Karen Wexler) and real friendship (with sweet Robin Scorpio).

GENERAL HOSPITAL, from left: Vanessa Marcil, Maurice Benard, 1994, 1963- . ph: Craig Sjodin /© ABC /Courtesy Everett Collection

gh brenda sonny benard marcil 1995 abc ec

3/13

Everyone who cared about Brenda told her over and over (and over) again that Sonny was bad news. She just couldn’t bring herself to believe it; by then, as you can see, the couple even dressed alike! So she decided to prove her loved ones wrong by wearing a wire on her boyfriend. It… um… Wow. It did not go well. Instead of getting to say to her friends, “I told ya so,” Brenda found herself on the receiving end of Sonny’s wrath and, as an added bonus, learning his least favorite word (betrayal). He was still as drawn to her as a moth to a flame, of course. But by the time he was willing to admit it, new wife Lily Rivera was pregnant.

gh jax brenda GENERAL HOSPITAL, from left: Vanessa Marcil, Ingo Rademacher, (1990s), 1963- , /©ABC /Courtesy Everett Collection

4/13

Knowing the importance of family to Sonny, Brenda attempted to give up on the idea of living happily ever after with the godfather-slash-father-to-be by eating a pint of Häagen-Dazs and watching chick flicks throwing caution to the wind and tying the knot with rich Australian Jasper Jacks… just as a car bomb was removing from the picture both the don’s wife and unborn child. D’oh! In the aftermath, the widower made it his mission to win back Brenda. And when he failed with normal means — i.e., working the dimples and pointing out that Jax’s actual name was Jasper — he resorted to desperate measures.

GENERAL HOSPITAL, brenda jax wedding jim ober abc ec from left: Leslie Horan, Maurice Benard, Vanessa Marcil, Ingo Rademacher, 2000s, 1963- . ph: Jim Ober / ©ABC /Courtesy Everett Collection

gh brenda vanessa marcil 1998 craig sjodin abc ec

7/13

Eventually, Sonny wore down Brenda, to the point that she put Jax in rear-view and agreed to become made man and wife. But on the day that they were to exchange vows, Sonny realized — “Hey, wait a minute… ” — just how dangerous it was being a (cough) coffee importer. Brooding more than usual, he left his fiancée at the altar and sent his flunky — the bride’s old Port Charles High classmate, Jason Quartermaine Morgan — to deliver a message: It was a great ride.

GENERAL HOSPITAL, brenda jax Vanessa Marcil, Ingo Rademacher, (1993), 1963- , ph: Randy Holmes/©ABC /Courtesy Everett Collection

9/13

After being rescued from what could have been her watery grave by arms dealer Luis Alcazar, Brenda was forced to act as a kind of svelte human shield between her possessive “keeper” and her exes, Sonny and Jax. Mind you, she really, truly didn’t want either of them back. Or at least she didn’t want to want either of them back. Or at least… ya know what? Brenda was probably right after all; the only thing she could possibly do to keep from busting up Sonny’s marriage to Carly or Jax’s relationship with Skye Quartermaine was to get hitched to Jason. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

brenda sonny gh Maurice Benard, Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo"General Hospital" SetThe Prospect StudiosABC StudiosLos Angeles10/22/10©Howard Wise/jpistudios.com310-657-9661Episode # 12190U.S.Airdate 11/23/10

10/13

You remember what happened next, right? Alcazar met his maker (courtesy of closet femme fatale Alexis Davis), Brenda and Jason were accused (and acquitted) of the crime, and she shared a passionate kiss with Sonny as an unorthodox method of preparing to remarry Jax (who, upon learning of the lip-lock, took a hard pass on the “I redo”). The mercurial supermodel wouldn’t return to Port Charles again until 2010, with a menacing Balkan in hot pursuit and Sonny as hot for her as ever.

11/13

No sooner had Sonny and Brenda finally tied the knot in 2011 than the Balkan put his own spin on clink-boom. This bride made out a whole lot better than predecessor Lily had, but the newly-minted Mrs. Corinthos was soon faced with a terrible dilemma: Since she’d just been reunited with her “late” son, Alec, did she really want to be married to the Mob? Sonny answered that question for her when he shrugged off bullets flying in their direction — “They missed, didn’t they?” — and framed Jax in order to tank his custody case against Carly.

gh michael brenda Chad Duell, Vanessa Marcil "General Hospital" SetThe Prospect StudiosABC StudiosLos Angeles03/15/11©sean smith/jpistudios.com310-657-9661Episode # 12286U.S.Airdate 04/18/11

12/13

Brenda’s 2013 visit to Port Charles to honor “late” pal Robin at the Nurses Ball was a short one, but she sure packed a lot into it: She not only revealed that she’d gotten engaged to Jax again (must have been his year), she sacrificed their second chance to ask for another one from Sonny (who confoundingly still posed as much of a threat as ever to her and Alec’s health) and faked a one-night stand with Carly’s son, Michael. You know, just to make her see redder than usual.

GENERAL HOSPITAL - ABC's "General Hospital" stars Chad Duell as Michael Corinthos, Maurice Benard as Sonny Corinthos, Laura Wright as Carly Corinthos, and Eden McCoy as Josslyn Jacks. (ABC/Craig Sjodin)

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‘Letter’ Have It: Why General Hospital’s Maurice Benard Is Urging Fans to Write to Vanessa Marcil

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<p>Of <em>course</em> what the bride <em>really</em> did was take out her own kind of “hit” on the mafioso, in the process damn near knocking the dimples clear off of his smug face.</p>

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