The honeymoon ended rather abruptly when Marcil discovered Feldman's drug problem. "That's basically when the relationship took a different turn," she comments. "Corey went into a hospital, and I started going in and supporting him, trying to help him through it." On the flip side, though, Marcil says that some good did come from the situation. "I started working with substance abusers," she explains. "Now I volunteer at children's hospitals and work with kids suffering from AIDS and cancer, and teen-age sober houses and teens with drug problems." Separated for more than a year, Marcil maintains that she and Feldman are "still very close friends."

With this situation now in the past, Marcil is focusing on the present and the future. Unlike her character, the actress possesses a laid-back attitude about her appearance: She prefers the comfort of cotton to cashmere. Moreover, Marcil is a self-proclaimed tomboy. "I'm not the girlie type -- I live in baggy Levi's, I don't like to dress up and I hate to wear makeup and hairdos," she says with a guffaw, remarking that her comment sounds funny coming from an actress. "I scream all day long at (GH) because they put so much makeup on me. I am just not into that. I can't stand the kind of girls that are always primping in the mirror. I took one of my girlfriends snowboarding, and she was fixing her makeup on the chairlift! I was like, 'What are you doing? You need makeup to go snowboarding?'"

Marcil has the highest regard for cast mates Cari Shayne (Karen), Steve Burton (Jason) and Antonio Sabato (Jagger). Offscreen, the four have developed a close friendship and often can be found surfing together.

With the difficulties of adolescence behind her and a blossoming acting career (she recently appeared opposite Sally Kirkland and Dwight Yoakam in the play Southern Rapture), Marcil has arrived at a simple philosophy: "No matter what, I always believe that I am the best and can do whatever I set my mind to," she says. "It isn't about who else is happy with me, but how I feel about myself. I wouldn't change one thing about my life. All the bad things that I have gone through have helped me grow as a person and made me who I am today -- and I am so happy with myself. And like they say, if you are happy with yourself, you are always successful."

And successful she is. But really, Vanessa, what is it like kissing Antonio?

This interview originally appeared in the July 6, 1993
issue of Soap Opera Weekly