General Hospital Spoilers: Maurice Benard and Another World Alum Alicia Coppola Talk Trauma and Faith

General Hospital (GH) spoilers tease that Maurice Benard’s video podcast, State Of Mind, is a must-see for fans of the ABC soap and actor.

He often talks to soap stars and Another World alum Alicia Coppola (Lorna Devon) was his latest guest.

As is often the case, Benard and his guests speak their truth and this time you need to hear what Coppola said about how she overcame the traumas in her life.

General Hospital spoilers: Alicia Coppola On State of Mind

Benard worked with Coppola’s husband Anthony Michael Jones (Father Coates) on GH. According to Coppola, her father’s cancer diagnosis when she was 12 ended up shaping her life for a long time to come.

She told Benard “I have always been very anxious and prone to, what I call, my episodes, where I would have fits where I would spiral.

When I was actually in college, and I only know now when I look back on it, my whole life felt out of control because my father was dying but not dead yet. He was constantly in the active stage of dying.”

General Hospital spoilers: Alicia Coppola Talks to Maurice Benard

She explained that she lived in a state of anxiety and would “count my steps to get to my class, and if I was a step off, I would go back to my apartment.”

She told Benard that her anxiety came to dictate her life and that if someone saw her in a panic attack she would never see them again after that.

She added “If I would have a panic attack after I ate or drank something, I would never eat that food or drink that drink again. If I went out to a restaurant, I had to sit watching the kitchen.”

This is how the former soap star described her severe anxiety, including agoraphobia for about a year: “My sophomore-going-into-my-junior year, I wouldn’t leave my apartment … I lived on East 10th Street between Broadway and University, and I would only go to places that were ‘safe’ places. And only eat ‘safe’ foods. And only be with ‘safe’ people.’”

GH spoilers: Maurice Benard Talks to Another World Alum

Coppola told Benard that she has “been in therapy for pretty much my entire life. I get over certain things, and then something else happens in my life that will re-traumatize me.”

She had a life changing realization during her audition for Another World’s Lorna and said that getting the role three months after her dad died “made me believe in God.

I think my father knew that I needed an outlet because if I didn’t have that outlet, I wouldn’t have existed.”

Diehard soap fans will definitely want to catch the podcast as Coppola also talks about daytime legends Linda Dano (ex-Felicia), Victoria Wyndham (ex-Rachel), and Charles Keating (ex-Carl).

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