Eden McCoy, who portrays Josslyn Jacks on General Hospital, is no stranger to portraying grief. From the loss of her first love, Oscar Nero, to the recent tragic death of Dex Heller, Josslyn has faced considerable heartbreak. However, the recent back-to-back tragedies of Dex’s death and her brother Michael’s near-fatal accident have plunged Josslyn into an unprecedented period of darkness, mirroring McCoy’s own personal struggles.
Back-to-Back Tragedies
McCoy took some time to speak to Soap Opera Digest and emphasizes the sheer weight of the losses Josslyn is enduring. “The tragedies are back-to-back for Josslyn,” she explains. “The news about Michael comes at a very devastating time for her. She is already reeling from Dex’s death, and now dealing with the potential loss of Michael just adds to the frustration, adds to her anger, adds to her feeling of, like, ‘What the hell is happening?!'” While Josslyn grieved for Dex alone, the potential loss of Michael brings her closer to her family.
McCoy notes the importance of sharing this pain with her on-screen family: “For Josslyn to be with her family through this is really important… The potential loss of Michael is much more about community; I think there’s a tiny bit of her that’s like, ‘Okay, well, at least I’m not alone.'”
A Cathartic and Taxing Experience
The emotional demands of portraying such intense grief were significant for McCoy. “It was a very, very dark few weeks,” she admits. “It was horrendous to film; I did not have a blast filming all of this.”
Compounding the on-screen grief was the fact that filming coincided with the one-year anniversary of her mother’s passing. “So I was already a mess personally, and I was getting called in to work to grieve. I was like, ‘I can’t escape it on either side of my life!’” Despite the difficulty, McCoy found a degree of catharsis in the work. “It was a cathartic experience,” she acknowledges. “And, selfishly, as an actor, I was kind of like, ‘Well, I feel horrible already, so let’s just kind of get all of this out!’”
Profound Transformation
McCoy reflects on how her mother’s death has fundamentally changed her as both an actor and a person. “I’m just a different human being,” she states. “The way I live my life now, what matters to me, my personality, my fears, my lack of fear — all of that has just been turned around on its head.” She describes being “more present and grounded in the day-to-day,” which has enriched her acting. “As an actor, my experiences [to draw from] are just more rich, they’re much more weighted; as a human being, I now know what it’s like to have your life be something one minute, and then have an entirely different life and reality the next.” This experience has given her a deeper understanding of the emotions Josslyn is navigating.
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