Britt’s Heartbreaking Exit From GENERAL HOSPITAL
On the Jan. 4 episode of GENERAL HOSPITAL, Kelly Thiebaud made her final appearance as Dr. Britt Westbourne, and she went out with a bang! But Britt didn’t make the grand exit she’d hoped for after her birthday bash. Rather, Thiebaud’s swan song was a set of emotional, Emmy-worthy scenes shared with Kathleen Gati (Obrecht) in an empty Haunted Star as Britt died in her mother’s arms after being poisoned by The Hook.
“I don’t know if I can watch today’s episode,” Thiebaud confessed on Twitter, knowing the emotional gravity of the scenes ahead. Replying to her TV daughter’s post, Gati wrote, “I just did, and it was so heartbreaking. I’m reliving what we went through. Miss you tons!”
In the episode, Brit returned to the Haunted Star where her mother was cleaning up after the birthday party. The doctor had changed her mind about leaving town to be alone rather than cause her loved ones to watch her health worsen because of her advancing Huntington’s disease. But that plan was quickly altered when Britt was scratched while grappling with The Hook on the docks.
At first, thinking that her daughter was inebriated, Obrecht indulged Britt’s request to toast the night and her birthday and the two took a walk down memory lane. “I was a fool Britta, I robbed us both,” Obrecht confessed, recalling how cold she was as a mother when Britt was a child. “I never held you enough. I never held your brother at all because I gave him up. I didn’t even get to hold him at the end.”
As Britt rambled that she’d come back because she “wanted more time with all of you,” a confused Liesl shouted that her daughter wasn’t making any sense. Britt revealed that she’d been poisoned by The Hook, and though her mother wanted to drive her to the hospital herself to get the antidote, Britt knew that time was not on her side. “There must be something I can do!” a teary Obrecht cried. “Hold me,” Britt whispered, struggling to talk. “Like you wanted to hold Nathan.”
Sitting on the floor of the ship’s ballroom, Liesl cradled her daughter in her arms as Britt took her last breath. “All those kisses I never gave you. All those nights I put you to bed and never rocked you to sleep,” Obrecht lamented. “My precious girl. I love you, sweetheart. Mama loves you.”
The final scene between Thiebaud and Gati was in the hospital morgue. Five years after her son, Nathan, had been shot and killed by his and Britt’s father, Faison, Obrecht said a final goodbye to her daughter. “Our time together was far too short, but I am so proud to have been your Mutter, to have witnessed the woman you grew up to be. Give Nathan a message for me,” Lisel said before leaning down to whisper something in Britta’s ear.
As the episode aired, GH viewers applauded the two women for their gut-wrenching performances, with one asking if Gati really did whisper something in Thiebaud’s ear during that final scene. “Something special in Hungarian,” Gati revealed while thanking other followers for their praise. “Such profound and painful scenes to film with my wonderful colleague.”
The news that Thiebaud would be leaving GH broke back in August, at the same time it was announced that she’d be reprising her role of Eva on the ABC primetime drama STATION 19. We wish Thiebaud all the best in her next adventure and hope that we may someday see her back in Port Charles again!
