Emmy-winning General Hospital star Maurice Benard feared he would never act again after his recent mental health issues.
Maurice Benard, who plays Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital, is an outspoken mental health advocate with a podcast, State of Mind, devoted to mental health issues. Like his GH character, Benard suffers from bipolar disorder. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, he sat down with Women’s Worldmagazine and opened up about his recent struggles with anxiety.
Last year, on the show, Sonny’s bipolar medications were messed with by Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) and Ava (Maura West), which led to a very dark time for the character of Sonny. Sadly, life imitated art, and Benard also found himself on the edge in his real life.
“I called in sick for two weeks—and I’ve never called in sick,” Benard told Women’s World. “I was in a really rough period where I didn’t sleep at all and had enormous anxiety. It was physical, as well as emotional. I was in bad shape. I didn’t know if I’d ever act again.”
Unfortunately for Maurice, his biggest support system, his wife of almost 35 years, Paula, was traveling in Europe with their son when he had his mental health crisis and wasn’t home to help him through it.
Fortunately, he had long-term co-stars and friends, Steve Burton, who plays Jason Morgan, and Jonathan Jackson, who plays Lucky Spencer, to turn to in his time of need. He credits them with getting him through it and says, “It would have been very difficult without them. And I’m so grateful to (GH Executive Producer) Frank Valentini, who was just so generous and incredible about it.”
His first day back at work brought additional struggles due to the dark subject matter. “It was scary, and my first day back to work was Sonny on a ledge, wanting to kill himself,” he said. “Thankfully, Bryan Craig was with me, because he brought Morgan back. I said, ‘I know I’ve helped you a lot, but now I can’t get through this without you, man!’ He was just great, and the beautiful thing about General Hospital is, I think there’s many actors here who would be.”
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC, and you can catch up anytime on Hulu. Benard’s podcast, State of Mind, is available on YouTube with new episodes uploaded every Sunday.
