As Maurice Benard, Sonny Corinthos from General Hospital, scales back his free-to-watch State of Mind podcast on YouTube, he’s been reposting old interviews. This week, he reshared one that he did with Alison Sweeney back in 2021. Was it worth a rewatch? Read on to find out.
The Old Interview
Quite often, the older interviews are worth rewatching. For example, Maurice also reposted an interview with Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) and Lisa LoCicero (Olivia Falconeri). As it dived deep into family relationships, and Maurice got emotional about his bipolar disorder, the interview definitely got a lot of comments four years after the original airing.
This week’s choice to repost Alison Sweeney, also seemed to go down well with new viewers and repeat watchers. In it, the former Days of Our Lives star told the real-life Sonny Corinthos about her eating disorder. Did you know that it all started when a cruel casting director told her agent to take her away. And, they said to “send her back when she is 20 pounds lighter” So, Alison ended up on a yo-yo diet of “fat-free cookies.”
The Biggest Loser & More
If you don’t know, she once hosted The Biggest Loser, and it became evident that she turned her life around. In fact, these days, she advocates for healthy living. She’s got a huge downer on emotional eating that often comes from crazy diets. But as so often happens, the conversation was steered in the direction of other mental health issues.
Talking about her younger life, Alison told the GH star:
My mother’s family were very Irish. We had a lot of alcoholism on that side of the family and we grew up really aware of that as part of our heritage and part of our genetics. I mean, even before people were really talking about it, my mother was making sure we all kind of knew that that was part of us, our family. And as a result, there was related issues, you know, suicide from alcohol related [issues] in extended family.
Maurice Gave Up Alcohol
Did you know that Maurice Benard used to drink? But he related a story about how his daughter got married. And it was the first time he attended a party without drinking alcohol. Notably, he said that it made him very “dark” and that stressed his wife, Paula.
The duo covered ADHD and medications, as well as life in Hollywood. Certainly, life isn’t always easy for those who find success in the acting world.
Reactions In The Comments
It seems that GH fans can’t get enough of Maurice’s mental health podcast. Even though it was a rewatch, many positive comments arrived. One viewer said, “Finally getting to watch this, it’s Monday afternoon here in Australia, thank you for reposting this Maurice. The way Sami would go off reminds me of Carly on GH.”
Here are a few more responses from the discussion area:
- Alison, I applaud you for. persevering and not allowing the critics to win! Maurice, I applaud you for taking meds. for your bi-polar and being humble to ask for help. Both of you are BRAVE!!!
- Wow! Love Allison. I’ve neve watched ‘Days of our lives’. But I look forward to watching her on Hallmark.. She is great.
- Maurice thanks for having Alison on your show. She is one of my favorite actresses from Days of Our Lives and she is a brilliant actress. I love this show that brings awareness on important topics…
What are your thoughts? Are you rewatching the old interviews with Maurice Benard? Are they worth a revisit? Let us know in the comments below, and come back here often for all your General Hospital cast news and updates.