Kimberly McCullough Lets Loose About the General Hospital
Co-Star Who Even Maurice Benard Admits ‘Could Hurt Feelings’ and the ‘Traumatic, Awful’ Period That Coincided With Her Greatest Performances
In the latest edition of her former castmate’s State of Mind vlog, the Emmy winner got a few things off her chest.
Maybe you know. But if you don’t, Kimberly McCullough was already an up-and-comer by the time she was cast on General Hospital at the tender age of 7. Immediately, she found herself working with some of daytime’s heavy hitters. “I liked being around other creative people,” she told Maurice Benard during the latest edition of his State of Mind vlog. “I liked being around adults. I seemed to have this talent that other people rewarded me for. There was a lot of discipline involved and a lot of sacrifice, but I really enjoyed it.”
Fame’s Unfortunate Underbelly
While that may have been the case, there were also a few not-so-pleasant consequences: “I was doing too much. I had a lot of responsibility, and I was having a lot of fun, but I’ll just go, go, go,” she recalled. “I’m like the Energizer Bunny.”
As such, by the time she’d turned 12, she’d developed an ulcer.
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Eventually, McCullough’s mom went to the soap’s then-producer and said that her daughter needed to attend school like any other kid her age. “They decided from that point on that I would go to regular school during the day, then everybody would rehearse without me. And then I would show up,” she explained, “and we would tape the scenes.”
This did not go unnoticed by some of her co-stars… including Steve Burton (Jason). “When I was a teenager, I remember Steve like yelling down the hall, ‘Thanks for joining us, McCullough!’ after I’d been through seven classes at school and driven an hour to Hollywood.”
Even Sonny’s portrayer had to admit, yeah, “Steve was kind of a jerk early on. He’s not that now, but he could hurt people’s feelings.
“I mean, we both kinda were,” he added, “but… he didn’t know when to stop. I kinda did.”
