General Hospital (GH) fans know and love Maurice Benard as the crime boss, Sonny Corinthos. However, in real life, the ABC daytime soap actor lives a much more vulnerable reality. Sometimes, he finds it very difficult. Read on for more details.
A Preview With A Message
This weekend, Benard shared a preview for an upcoming episode of his podcast, State of Mind. In his Instagram post, he admitted that the journey isn’t always easy.
While he remains very proud of the mental health platform, it doesn’t always sit easy with him. He confessed, “I will not lie to you, sometimes it starts getting difficult.”
The ‘Why’ & The Struggle
Obviously, digging deep into serious mental health issues every weekend might be exhausting, and yet the real-life Sonny Corinthos sticks with it. So, he reminded his GH fans why he does that.
In the rest of his caption, Maurice Benard told his ABC followers about the things in his life that kick-started the project in the first place.
Notably, it wasn’t about needing the visibility of being an influencer on YouTube. After all, he already had a good following from his time on General Hospital.
Rather, it’s more about providing a place where people could watch and realize they aren’t alone in experiencing what he goes through.
“If they can do it, I can do it,” he noted, suggesting that seeing others overcome struggles makes the impossible seem not so hard to aspire to.
How It All Started
Maurice Benard launched State of Mind during the 2020 lockdowns. Remember, loads of people hated the isolation of that, and mental health issues seemed way more serious. Coupled with the anxiety about 24/7 scary news coverage, it’s not unexpected that it brought mental health issues into the fore.
Initially, Maurice started out informally chatting about it on Instagram. But, it escalated into rather a hot topic. So, over time, it became a quality podcast on YouTube and other channels.
A Well-Regarded Channel
From there, it seemingly became a well-regarded platform for him as a mental health advocate. Furthermore, he and his guests often take deep dives into the “silent” struggles that so many folks face on a daily basis.
Notably, it would be wrong in thinking that the State of Mind podcast simply helps Maurice Benard pass the time, sort of like a hobby. That’s because decades ago, when openness about mental health wasn’t so frequent, he went public with his bipolar disorder diagnosis.
In fact, he took his real-life world into the General Hospital daytime soap. Since then, he brought in many TV stars, celebrities, co-stars, and athletes. In that way, he superseded a storyline written around mental health in a soap opera into a tangible effort that reached a lot of people each week.
Suffering For Others?
This weekend’s reminder also relates to other recent mentions about Benard’s own experiences with mental health problems. In some previous discussions, he talked about how his advocacy comes from a place of deep personal history.
In fact, during his birthday podcast this year, he talked about how he “suffers” so he can help others from suffering the same way.
Talk about being an “open book!” Actually, it seems admirable that Maurice takes apart the stigma that so often surrounded mental health in the past.
The only puzzling aspect is that he does it alone on his podcast. Why hasn’t some major outlet picked him up to piggyback a program? For example, the way NewsNation hooked up with Ashleigh Banfield’s podcast, Drop Dead Serious.
Viewers React
As usual, General Hospital fans responded in the comments section because they certainly seem to appreciate his honesty about a difficult subject.
One ABC fan said, “Thank you for using your platform for these important issues!! Love you on general hospital. Long time fan over 25 years!!!!”
Here are a few more responses from the discussion:
- These topics are so important and the bravery it takes to come on your show to speak about it…
- Your podcast is breaking down barriers !!!!!!!!!!
- Thank heavens people are opening up about all these stigmas. Thank God.
What are your thoughts on Maurice remaining dedicated to mental health even though sometimes, it isn’t so easy? Let us know in the comments below, and come back here for all your General Hospital cast news and updates.