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GH’s Avery Pohl Weighs-In On If Esme is Redeemable: “Without Amnesia I Don’t Think So … She’s Done Terrible Things to People”

By Michael Fairman

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Photo: ABC

Currently on General Hospital, an amnesiac Esme (Avery Pohl) has been kidnapped by her mentally ill parents, Heather Webber (Alley Mills) and Ryan Chamberlin (Jon Lindstrom).  Not good!  Now, while at the beginning of this angle of the storyline, viewers thought Esme was faking her memory loss, it seems it’s very real for her.

On the latest episode of the That’s Awesome podcast with Bradford Anderson and Steve Burton (and in the You Tube channel video version, see below), Pohl is the special guest, where she talks about her time as the evil Esme who just might have a turnabout of character with a baby on the way.

When discussing with Anderson if Esme is even redeemable, Pohl went on to say, “Without amnesia, I don’t think so. How do you come back from any of this? She’s done terrible things to people, and if you met a person like this in real life, you would be like, ‘I don’t want to be in a 100 feet of you.'”

Avery went on to share: “Handing her this baby and handing her this amnesia storyline, I think is a way to try and get there, or at least, get her to have a little more of conscious.”

Photo: ABC

In addition to her thoughts on Esme’s current situation, Avery talks on landing the part of the troublemaker, where she shares what went from a very short term deal and wound up with a 3-year contract.

Check out Avery chat’s with Steve and Bradford below.

Now, let us know, do you hope Esme is redeemed? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

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Esme, with amnesia, is a completely different character and I have been enjoying her. However, the moment her memory returns, it’ll be bye-bye Esme!

Laura will take her in with baby

It’s inevitable. The kid was already Laura’s grandchild. Now Kevin knows that Esme is his niece, so of course she’s going to live with them. I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in my back yard that Esme’s going to face any further legal consequences as long as Uncle Kevin – in his professional capacity – believes her amnesia is real & permanent.

Not sure how that’s the case though. She developed amnesia after taking a swim in some icy cold water. It wasn’t a case of physical brain trauma, like what happened to Jason. So while her amnesia does appear to be real, it also seems like it’s something her brain created as a “defense mechanism”.

Before all of this amnesia & her being held prisoner in the tower happened, I had speculated if Esme was the Hooker, but had no conscious knowledge of committing the murders, because she had some form of DID and her “alter” did the Hookings. If that were the case, I believe Ryan was well aware of this fact, and used it for his own purposes, turning his own kid into a weapon, without her even knowing she was doing it. And I still don’t see Heather as being the only Hooker, so what if she also knew that Esme was the (original) killer, and while Esme was presumed to be either dead or missing, became the Hooker herself, to get her kid off the hook (pardon the pun)

Of course, if Esme has two or three other passengers occupying her brain, it’s only a matter of time before her old self returns. Her crazy parents probably won’t be a factor then. Heather will be locked up, and Ryan will either be in prison or in Hell (depending on whether Ava actually pulled the trigger or not), but that’s going to be a lot for Laura to deal with. At least Kevin has the training for it.

Hate her n her acting.

I am not sure I embrace the way mental illness is handled here. As I take trainings and am assigned articles on the job as part of equity efforts, the storytelling on GH and others seems off.

I see your point clearly, Iakovos– Mental illness is taken too lightly—almost satirically. A joke!! It’s a soap and this storyline has definitely been fantastical. I’m happy it’s over. Is it?
I don’t know if we should categorize Esme as mentally ill. I got the impression, today, that she has been brainwashed— manipulated by Ryan, per se. Is mental illness hereditary, environmental or both?
I think this is where the transformation of Esme begins. If Avery is here to stay, Esme will be “prepped” as an innocent victim. Where does she go from here? Spencer is out of her orbit, at this point. Too bad—because I found myself FF-ing his scenes with so-out-of-tune, nuTrina. She is so off acting the damsel in distress, but at the same time the quasi sexy, little temptress. Didn’t work. Too bland and ineffectual.
In my opinion , this girl has yet to find her niche on GH.

It irks me that soaps have a need to redeem every dark person..
The world has a good many bad people, it is the way it is…
On soaps, it’s the dark ones that make the soaps suspenseful and even more thrilling
it’s them that delivers the drama and put the emotions into to fans..
I think Eseme is great the way she is..she brings drama..soaps are empty without suspenseful drama and fans are invested in an intriguing get even story..
Couples are boring they offer a ho-hum whose the daddy or a betrayal yawn same ol’
couples do not offer much excitement that’s why writers break them up at 5 months lol.
I am against redeeming…
giving a person a turn or a mellowing out and a two sides of the coin-ok-
but never a redeeming,..that usually kills a great character..

Great interview! Was not a fan of esme – she was so triggering. Hopefully this is her character arc. Mostly I think the family dynamics between Ryan and heather have the potential to be really funny and also kind of amazing. It’s like the soap version of the Adam’s family so there is a Huge amount of potential there. She is a reality good actress and seems very down to earth in real life!

Ryan, Heather & Esme would be a really funny & amazing family? How many people have been murdered, MURDERED by Ryan & Heather? Ryan & Heather need to go away permanently. No possibility of redemption for either one of them. Heather used to be funny at times (when Robin Mattson played her) but I cannot stand her now.
I would like to see these dark characters gone. Lighten this show up a little.

I suppose, Gloria, it depends on someone’s dark, literary sense of humor, à la John Barth, Roald Dahl etc. I still believe Alley Mills represents a caricature of more than what the eye sees. She’s wonderful– I see a completely different version from yours. I think this trio did lighten up the show —a little bit akin to Sartre, if you appreciate his writing. He was a genius—not that i am making any comparisons, but I can’t say I have held these writers in great esteem until this twisted story.
I have this weird feeling Ryan will resurrect—that’s my personal twisted sense of humor.

LOL, Cyndi–well put!! And, I so agree with you– nuHeather is hilarious and “Ryan”, as the evil twin, is the kind of character you hate to love—But, Lindstrom portrays both charaters with such skill, it’s hard to believe the reality of being one person.
As Su000 states, “darkness” becomes some characters and their uniqueness ( for lack of a better word) shouldn’t be altered. Well, exceot for Esme—I don’t want her locked up, as Ryan and Heather will eventually be. I want her right tgere–center stage. I think Avery is amazing, befitting every essential mien due to an oustanding actress as she.
Pardon the typos, if any–

I like the new Esmeralda, and would like to see her character developed. The old devious Esmeralda was irritating. GH doesn’t need that many villains.

Always good to see the great person behind a menisimg character. She is lovely in this interview.

Please, stay Avery. I’ve loved you from day one—-well, almost. LOL, albeit you were such a baddie!! Such a good baddie!!
Your talent has shone through from the beginning and it has only gotten better. Thank ye gods for Esme’s amnesia—-hope she never regains her memory. But, if and when she does, her benevolent halo’s power will destroy any remnants of lingering evil .
Sorry for the mushy , melodramatic words, but I haven’t appreciated another actress on this show since Maura West.

This actress is so good! I can’t tell if she has amnesia or not. Nothing wrong with being a villainous on a show.

Angela Y,
Yes, this actress is so good and so convincing its hard to hate her. I dont think shes faking but I think we know she’ll get her memory back and she can’t just be automatically redeemed. She’s done a lot of bad things and will have to pay some way or another. I just hope the spoiled brat doesn’t get to take her son, his baby brother away from her. He sure isn’t a father figure in any way.

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‘General Hospital’s’ Dominic Zamprogna Shares He Was ‘Happy to Hear’ of The Triangle Storyline Developing Between Dante/Elizabeth/Ric

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Dominic Zamprogna

General Hospital’s Dominic Zamprogna (Dante Falconeri) opened up about the burgeoning love triangle forming between his Port Charles alter-go, Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) after recently aired scenes, plus his hopes for the future of a Dante and Liz pairing during his appearance on the Sunday, April 23 edition of the That’s Awesome podcast with Steve Burton (Jason Morgan) and Bradford Anderson (Spinelli).

On last week’s GH Ric has made the decision that he wanted to propose to his ex-wife, only when he showed up at Elizabeth’s front door he misread the scenario he walked in with Liz tending to Dante’s injured leg from the softball game. From there, the legal eagle’s jealous streak is reemerging which may cause him to act out and do something unforgivable, or will he take the high road? Stay tuned,

Speaking with Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson about where Elizabeth stands in the annals of the long-running soap, Zamprogna said, “She’s up there with Steve and Maurice (Maurice Benard) as one of the most legacy-filled people on the show.”

Courtesy/ABC

HOW DANTE AND ELIZABETH CAME ABOUT

Dominic jokes it’s a far cry for where they were previously, “We had some scenes together years ago and we were both laughing. And Becky’s like, ‘Well, I guess we’re not going be paired up anytime soon.’ I remember we laughed immediately after they yelled ‘cut,”‘and said to each other, “Well, so much for that!”

Fast-forward to 2025, and “Elizabeth Korte (co-head writer, GH) came up to me at the General Hospital Christmas party, and I think it was a year and a half ago and she said we’re going to have you in scenes with Elizabeth, My internal monologue is going ‘I’m not with Lulu (Alexa Havins) anymore and Sam’s (Kelly Monaco) gone, so maybe they want to see if this works.’ I didn’t want to get scenes with Becky and try to find the chemistry. I just wanted to play whatever honestly was written and came across for both of us and hope it was what people liked, and I don’t know if it is. or not.”

Knowing how beloved Elizabeth is to the GH faithfuls, Zamprongna added, “She got a big fan base with Ric and a big fan base with with Jason and you know you’re going to piss somebody off. But, didn’t Ric drug Elizabeth and put Carly in a panic room?”

Dom and Liz

Photo: ABC

DANTE AND ELIZABETH PAIRING COULD STIR UP STORY FOR OTHERS IN PORT CHARLES

In closing, Dominic felt that the wide-reaching tentacles of a Dante and Elizabeth relationship is something he is down 100% to play. “The triangle thing; I was happy to hear it was with Ric and her, because I felt it’s important to have her the top of it as opposed to Dante, Lulu and Elizabeth.:

Zamprogna added, “When you get into relationships on a soap, things seem to fizzle out a little bit and the buildup is what’s the fun part, and the getting to know each other. and the people who are affected by this coming together. When with this case it’s going to affect Ric, Sonny, Lulu? So, much more story here. To me, it’s going to be a fun story to play.”

You can check out Dominic’s visit to That’s Awesome with Steve and Bradford below.

Now weigh-in: Are you rooting for Dante and Liz, or Dante and Ric at this juncture of the story, or neither of them for Elizabeth? Let us know your thoughts and picks via the comment section.

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GH and OLTL Alum Patrick J. Gibbons Reveals the Story Behind Writing Trina’s Song on ‘General Hospital’ (Exclusive)

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Patrick J. Gibbons

At the conclusion of today’s August 21 episode of General Hospital, Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) sings a lullaby to baby Dez, that went into a montage to close out the episode as her father Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) reports to Pentonville and winds up in his jail cell.

However, in a fun fact, the song entitled, “A Lonely Heart To Give” was actually written by none other than former One Life to Live and General Hospital actor, Patrick J. Gibbons.

Daytime fans first met Gibbons as Sam Manning on One Life to Live. At the time, when he started on the soap, he was just 5-years-old. Gibbons played the part from 2010-2013 on ABC and Prospect Park’s editions of the show. Fast-forward to 2018, Gibbons shows up on General Hospital as Wyatt Hoover, the scout who seemed always be injured, but in the thick of the drama. Patrick had appeared on GH multiple times as Wyatt including: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023.

Photo: ABC

FROM HIS GRANDMOTHER’S DEATH CAME THE INSPIRATION FOR HIS SONG

Now in 2026, General Hospital fans are getting to learn about another side of Gibbons’ talent as a songwriter and guitar player after “A Lonely Heart to Give” debuted today! Michael Fairman TV caught up with Patrick, who is now a senior at Penn State entering his final year as a finance major, to get the back-story of how his song wound up on GH!

Gibbons explained he wrote the song in honor of his grandmother who passed away a few years ago with whom he was, very, very close with. “Randomly, my grandmother had a downfall and passed away during the second semester of my sophomore year. I was in my dorm a lot and I was just playing with my guitar. And at the time, I was really into finger-style playing. I wrote the lyric and music to it (with a little help from my guitar teacher Lou), and my mom showed the rough demo to Frank Valentini (EP, General Hospital). He’s like an uncle to me. Frank loved it so much he said, “Finish that up. I want to hear the whole thing, and I want it on the show.”

MAKING MUSIC FOR GENERAL HOSPITAL

Gibbons and his parents took the next steps! “So now, all we needed was a female voice, because I thought that would fit the song well,” Patrick shared. “At the golf club we go to my parents were at a dinner. They liked the singer that was performing and spoke to her about the song, and she says she would like to bring it to her ‘boss’ who ended up being Eric Bazilian of the Hooters fame!” (Bazilian also wrote the smash hit song “One of Us” for Joan Osborne).

Next, “We went in the studio and recorded it and the song came together and it was beautiful. We loved it. They loved it at General Hospital and now they’re putting it the show and they are coming in with a piano, instead of a guitar. Paul Glass, the GH musical director, has been keeping us updated over the last six months of how it was coming along, and when it would air, and how GH put their own arrangement to it. I can’t wait to see and hear what they did with it.”

Photo: JPI

PATRICK’S ONE LIFE TO LIVE FAMILY

Everyone knows that the One Life to Live extended family share a very tight bond, and Patrick said he does stay in touch with a few of his former One Life to Live co-stars, especially those from the Manning family! “I stayed in touch with Kassie DePaiva (ex-Blair) and sent her little videos here and there. She was like my second mom for five years. We keep in contact with Kristen Alderson (ex-Starr) over X the most, and she can’t believe how big I’ve gotten. Like, none of them can! (laughs). I also loved working with Roger Howarth (ex-Todd) and Trevor St. John (ex-Todd and Victor Jr.), and to me since I was so young, they were just my friends, ‘Roger and Trevor,’ not Todd Manning or Victor Jr.”

It was a trip to California and a visit to Port Charles that ultimately led to Gibbons second soap role of Wyatt Hoover. Patrick explains, “In 2016, Frank Valentini invited us out to Los Angeles to visit the set of General Hospital. I think he heard me say, ‘This is so much fun. I miss being on the set.’ He goes, ‘You should come out. I’ll bring you on the show. We can make you a character.'”

A few years later, Patrick’s dream became a reality! “Then, by the summer of 2018, I was playing Wyatt, the scout, and shared scenes with Wes Ramsey (Peter August), and the best was when I shared a scene with Roger Howarth and Michael Easton (ex-John, OLTL and ex-Silas, Finn et al, GH), it was like chemistry from the old days.”

Photo: PGibbons

IT’S ALL IN THE NUMBERS

As to his future aspirations, it’s a career in the finance game that has piqued Gibbons’ real-life interest. But never say never to a return to acting. Patrick explained, “I’ve always enjoyed numbers. And on top of that, one of the biggest parts of finance is being personable and outgoing.”

He continued, “That’s one of the greatest skills I developed growing up. I really love the markets. I’m super interested. I’m never going to close the door to acting. I’m always open to that because I just love it so much. It’s such a great art.”

Take note! If there are any investment bankers or private equity folks among the GH faithful looking for a young analyst next year, Patrick’s DMs are open. You can find him on X at @PatrickJGibbons.

So, what did you think of the song sung by Trina on today’s GH that was written by Patrick J. Gibbons? Did you enjoy Patrick’s performances as One Life’s Sam and GH’s Wyatt? Would you like to see him back on GH at some point? Let us know via the comment section.

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‘General Hospital’ Alum Chad Duell Admits That He Didn’t Expect the Role of Michael Corinthos to be Recast, and Would Consider Working on Another Soap (Exclusive)

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Chad Duell, the Daytime Emmy-winning actor, who stepped away from the pivotal role of Michael Corinthos on General Hospital, opened up about: his previous decision to leave the series after nearly 15 years, where’s he’s at now after time away from the demands of a daytime soap opera, and took a stroll down memory lane with some of Michael’s most-acclaimed storyline during his run, during a livestream chat on August 19 on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel.

Viewers last saw Duell on-screen as Michael in January of 2025, and with his successor in the role, Rory Gibson making his debut at the GH Nurses’ Ball in episodes that aired later in May. It was clear that during the conversation, Chad was a bit surprised that the GH brass decided to recast him when he thought he was just taking some much needed time off.

Burn-out of the daily grind of being on a soap was definitely a part of Chad’s decision to take a break. Duell explained “People know when you’re doing something for so long or your character is kind of in the same place for so long or doing the same stuff over and over again, you do get a a little burnt out, you get a little stiff, stale, a little stiff at times. I didn’t want that to be any sort of lasting impression. I have 15 years of a body of work of I’ve done on that show, which is fantastic.”

Chad Duell

Photo: ABC

WHILE CHAD WAS AWAY GH RECAST MICHAEL CORINTHOS WITH RORY GIBSON

Chad shared, his mindset when leaving GH was, “I’m taking some time away, we’ll see what happens.” Then he added, “Obviously, they decided to go in a different direction with Michael when I was gone. I didn’t think they were going to bring somebody back in my place. But you know, it’s the business. You never know what can happen.”

Duell also shared he has not watched a single episode of General Hospital since he left the series, but now feels he reenergized following the loss of his father and stepping away from the GH, “I’m in a place now mentally, where I’m ready to sink my teeth into it again.”

Courtesy/ABC

Even though he is no longer Michael on GH, Chad was very happy with his final storyline where Michael was set on fire when a bomb exploded at Sonny’s (Maurice Benard) penthouse. “It was fun to put him in a dangerous situation, because I was wanting Michael to be in something scary instead of trying to be a hero character or just things happening around him, but to be the center point of tragedy happening to him. (I always saw) Michael as the heart of the (Corinthos) family.”

When Michael was badly burned the show chose not burn his face, which normally a soap does when they are recasting role and switching actors. Chad weighed-in, “They didn’t burn my face because I told Frank Valentini (EP, GH) I’m willing to come back. It was just a little bit of a break. So, I assumed that if they would have burned my face, they could have brought somebody back looking different than me… if that’s what their plan was.”

Courtesy/ABC

MEMORABLE MICHAEL STORYLINES

One of Chad’s most memorable performances was the in the storyline of Michael’s rape while he was sentenced to prison in 2010 and the confession of it in 2011. “It was so well-written and I was very nervous,” recalled Chad. “When I get really nervous about something, it ends up being really good when I do it, because it just means I care a lot about it”

“I have to put a lot of effort and work into it, and I really want it to be good.  I was working with Dominic  Zamprogna (Dante) and Steve Burton (Jason) a lot during those scenes, and Laura Wright (Carly). It was great working with Steve and Dominic, especially, during that storyline.

A NEW SOAP ROLE FOR CHAD?

As to a future soap opera role, Chad is open to the idea and would love to jump back in to a juicy role, “I know people over at The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless. They know that if they’re interested, I would love to come in for a screen test or something, and they can see what I’m doing.”

Meanwhile, Chad has been busy putting out new music under the moniker Duelly and during the interview he explains how he creates his EDM tracks and much more. You can stream his latest single, Static in the Quiet Room on Spotify, Apple Music and You Tube Music.

You can check out the full conversation with Chad Duell below.

Now let us know: what show would you like to see Chad cast on down the line? BTG, DAYS, B&B, Y&R, or a new role on GH? What did you think of his thoughts on the casting switch while he was away in the role of Michael? What was your favorite Michael storyline during Chad’s 15-year run on the ABC soap opera? Let us know via the comment section.

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