On the latest episode of Maurice Benard’s (Sonny Corinthos) You Tube series, State of Mind, the General Hospital star welcomes Cameron Mathison (Drew Cain, GH) for a very touching and powerful episode.
While Mathison’s Drew Cain has become the man you absolutely love to hate currently on GH, as the congressman has become quite duplicitous and despicable in his actions, in real-life Cameron has gone through enough trauma in a short amount of time that would break a lesser man. All of it culminated earlier this year, when Cameron lost his home in the Eaton Fire that took the residences of many in the Altadena, California area as well as in the Pacific Palisades region with the Palisades fire.
Cameron, who is always juggling multiple projects and in-demand, including his on-going role on the ABC daytime drama, shared all of the moments that culminated in a very challenging and sorrowful few years leading up and through the destruction of his beloved home.As Mathison has previously spoke on his own battle with cancer, he also recalled, “My mom had cancer and she passed away, and then Covid happened, and then somebody very, very close to me, and one of the most important people in my life went through a life-threatening drug scare and addiction and that was incredibly hard and scary. Then, I lost my job at Home and Family when that got canceled, and then after that my wife (Vanessa) of 22-years and I … things just really started falling apart in a very challenging and hurtful way. …. and then eventually separation and going through a divorce. Then, my dog got cancer and became paralyzed and eventually passed away. Then, my kids moved out for college and then I pulled up on January 8th (2025) to our house in Altadena and it was burning to the ground.”Becoming extremely open and emotional, Cameron held back tears when he explained, “In that moment, I had lost my marriage, I had lost my dog and I had lost my house my possessions, everything from my childhood, and I had lost my mom. As you know, I am a very positive and resilient guy … this has been really hard. It’s an interesting and hard to explain kind of loss. It’s very bizarre to explain to people that haven’t been through it. That was sort of the foundation of my life when everything was falling apart around me. I loved that house.”
In shock over seeing the decimation of his home, Cameron added, “As my life was slipping away in many ways, it was like this foundation for me. It really was and I didn’t realize it. Then as I pulled up (in my car), now that’s gone too, and not only that, everything I own was gone. It felt like my reality what I know to be true, wasn’t matching reality. There was a huge disconnect there. I was gasping in shock. In the moment, I lost 2 million dollars and that’s a lot of money for me and my family. There’s the sentimental things … things that my mom gave me. Vanessa had a box of all her dad’s stuff (he had passed away), things that you can’t replace. Tons of things you can’t replace.
While Mathison is fully aware of all of the people who lost their homes, who only had partial insurance or non at all, who are in a worse financial condition then he is, he offered three main practices to get through the difficult and devastating times in life, “gratitude, acceptance and compassion.”
