GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Maurice Benard and Son Joshua Filmed a Top-Secret Project!
On Maurice Benard’s latest episode of his YouTube series, Maurice Benard: State Of Mind, the beloved actor who plays GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Sonny sat down with his son, Joshua Benard, to discuss the 16-year-old’s musical talent, their mental health during the pandemic, and a top-secret project they just worked on together!
Benard said he couldn’t spill many details about the upcoming project that they recently filmed at their home. But he did share that father and son star in it together, it is produced by his wife, Paula, and is the reason why he’s been sporting a gray beard lately!
“We just shot, just now, something. I can’t really get too specific. That’s why I have this enormous beard,” the GH star said. “I had a gut feeling about this, and it seemed to turn out great. My wife is producing and my son, who is very talented, is the actor.”
Turning to Joshua, Benard asked his son, “Did you have fun acting with your dad?” The teenager, of course, was quick with his reply. “Well, I don’t get to a lot. So any time we do act… there’s no other person I’d rather act with.”
Benard didn’t totally buy that answer! “What about Robert Downey, Jr.?” he asked his son. “Well, that’s different!” Joshua replied. “There’s a little scare factor [with that big of a star]. But with you, I can be as good as I know I can be and as comfortable. And even if I mess up, then I can be like, ‘Dad, what do I do?’”
The father and son also discussed how important Joshua’s music is to him, as well as how they both have been handling their own mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. Back in March, Benard confessed, he was at a low point, mentally, but is now feeling much better. Meanwhile, Joshua said that he has been struggling with some anxiety more recently as a result of being in lockdown.
“What’s funny is, I want to now be inside without feeling the ugly pain that I had, because now it almost feels like a vacation,” confessed Benard. “And it was a vacation for you guys, because I saw you guys at that time always having fun and I was going through hell.” For Joshua, the opposite now holds true. “At the start of it, you were at your worst and we were [having fun],” said the teenager. “And now, you’re good and I feel like it’s worse for me than when it started.”
Thankfully, Joshua told his dad he usually starts to feel better once he picks up his guitar. “I just [strums a few chords] and I’m good.”
Below, you can watch the father and son’s complete conversation — and see a great duet of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love!”
