Well, you’ve been busy on both shows! “It’s been really great. I haven’t started [back up] on DAYS OF OUR LIVES yet, I start next week, but I’ve been rocking and rolling over here in Port Charles for about five weeks. They’ve given me a lot of material and it’s been really fun.”
Justin’s son Sonny recently moved away. What was it like saying “good-bye for now” to Freddie Smith? “You know, it’s been such a privilege and an honor, honestly, to work with Freddie. I just have such respect for him as an actor and as a person, and we’ve worked together for so many years and our relationship has really evolved into a father-and-son relationship. I just adore him. So to say good-bye to him was totally just genuine and truthful and I’m glad my character expressed it. But I just feel like I’m going to see him again. I hope it happens, because those two characters, Will and Sonny, are really important to the show. I know how soaps work, I know how people come and go, and hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later.”
What has it been like to be working closely again as Justin with Judi Evans, albeit as Bonnie, not Adrienne? “Working with Judi is just amazing and I just adore her. I am so lucky that I work with people who are very talented and I love playing with them as actors but I also enjoy hanging out with them as people and she’s one of them. She is so funny, and what I like about the fact that she’s playing Bonnie is that Judi is more Bonnie than Adrienne, or at least, what I see in Judi is really more Bonnie than Adrienne. I think she enjoys playing Bonnie, too. We have a long ways to go but I think it’ll be fun to see how [the Bonnie/Justin relationship] unfolds.”
In terms of GH, congrats on another great Nurses’ Ball performance. “Aw, thank you. I was happy with how that turned out. I think it was nice because it was the first time it was kind of like a musical in the sense that the song really helped tell the story of the two characters and where they’re at right now. It wasn’t just a song out of nowhere; it was actually about something, for someone, and I thought that was pretty cool. And it was an original song for GENERAL HOSPITAL, which is also cool, and I thought they edited it so beautifully.”
It’s been great to see Ned and Olivia get so much focus. “Yeah, it’s fantastic! Both Lisa [LoCicero, Olivia] and I are thrilled. I mean, I think this is the first time in our relationship [that there has been such a big obstacle].” What are your thoughts about Valentin taking over ELQ on Ned’s watch? “I love it! Good stuff! I think that’s probably the biggest thing [weighing on Ned] and they’ve done a really good job in allowing me to continue to sing that song of regret and self-loathing that on my watch, I basically lost control of ELQ. I think that’s the beginning of his crisis, honestly. And he is in a crisis. And I was encouraging that! We’ve never really seen Ned in a crisis and I think it’s wonderful. I think the audience is going to love what’s coming up, too.”
