Appearing on the Monday, April 20 episode of “The Talk,” actor and now author Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos, “General Hospital”) discussed his new book, “Nothing General About It: How Love (and Lithium) Saved Me On and Off General Hospital,” life at home following his show’s production shutdown due to COVID-19, bipolar disorder and much more.
In a clip released by the talk show, Benard says, “It’s very tough for me. My family is happy… but, for me, I’m so used to doing the same thing for 27 years. I’ve got to be honest, [I] feel trapped, and I’ve got a big home. It doesn’t matter how big the home is, I feel a little bit trapped,” says Benard, talking about how he’s been holding up at home since “GH” shutdown production last month.
When asked by Eve about his decision to quit the soap two weeks after landing the part due to suffering a breakdown, as mentioned in his book, Benard says, “I started the show and I hadn’t taken my lithium for two years. So, I started acting strange. One time I went into a Blockbuster and I thought I saw Jesus, and I went back to my wife who was at McDonald’s and I said, ‘Honey, honey…I saw Jesus at Blockbuster.’ I said, ‘You got to go come see him, you got to come to see him’ and we go in there and there’s a guy with long hair and a beard… He looked like Jesus, but obviously wasn’t Jesus, and so that was the beginning of a rough, rough time.”
Responding to a question by Marie Osmond about his decision to inform the show’s producers of his medical condition, Benard said, “I quit the show after I had the breakdown. It was two to three weeks into the show and I quit the show because I didn’t want to act anymore. I was having this breakdown and I threatened to kill my wife. But the producers stood by me the whole time. I remember when I went back to work, I will never forget what she said – ‘You will do it word by word if we have to. Just get upstairs. We will hold your hand,’ and because of that, it saved me.”
For more on what Benard had to say about his new book and the show’s decision to incorporate his personal struggles into a storyline for his iconic character, watch the full segment from “The Talk” below.