State of Mind with Maurice Benard Discussion Thread

[Faulkner]

I didn’t want to disrupt the existing GH thread, and Maurice has interviewed people from different soaps (including Trevor St. John, Eileen Davidson, and Christian Le Blanc). 

If you’re not familiar with the format (most of you are), it’s Maurice’s YouTube series/podcast in which he interviews primarily fellow actors—usually daytime/GH stars but he occasionally interviews well-known “mainstream” names like Sharon Lawrence—about mental health, childhood trauma, and how they manage their careers.

MB’s own struggles with bipolar disorder and anxiety are well-documented. His candor about his life (attempts to take his own life, stories of hospitalizations, his threats of violence against his wife during a breakdown, etc.) ultimately gets the interviewee to open up about their own mental health challenges. He says it’s about breaking down the stigmas.

Today, he’s releasing an episode with recent Emmy winner Robert Gossett (a.k.a. Marshall Ashford a.k.a. Hat Dad on GH), who opens up about—trigger warning—the loss of his son to suicide, a tragedy Gossett mentioned in his Emmy speech in December.

 

 

 

Edited March 18 by Faulkner

[Faulkner]

Other notable SOM episodes, including an interview with Tyler Christopher before his untimely passing:

More episodes in the spoiler (to help with loading)

 

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Edited March 18 by Toups

[allmc2008]

Thank you. And damn, he's such a DILF now.

[Errol]

Great idea, @faulkner. Appreciate this thread so much.

[Faulkner]

Thanks, Errol!

I’m anticipating the inevitable Vanessa Marcil interview, as she’s teased it on her IG. Like many of us, I haven’t been a huge fan of Sonny/MB since the S&B heyday, but I think he’s done a really good job with his YouTube series.

Edited March 18 by Faulkner

[BetterForgotten]

I enjoyed the one he did with Shelley Curtis (and separately with Wendy Riche, but so much is known about her). It’s too bad someone like Curtis isn’t EP at GH right now, she’d probably infuse a lot more heart and sincerity into the often sterile way Frank Valentini produces that show.

While most of it is about how supportive Curtis and Riche was to him while he was battling his issues, they did touch upon the way soaps are produced today a bit. While Shelley acknowledged that there are budget limitations today (Mo tried to praise Valentini and how he works under such constraints), she’s right that the people producing soaps today don’t have the talent and expertise to work around that and how to really savor all the key moments between characters in scenes and build episodes around that. Come to think of it, she’d be great at a show like Y&R right now too - Griffith and the way he manages that producing team are terrible with scene execution, and he’s the damn HW too! 

 

[Vee]

I think there's some worthwhile talks on this show (like that beautiful, sad final interview with Tyler Christopher) but I also frankly think it sometimes becomes a forum to sate Maurice's ego. He's taken potshots at various unnamed actors while inviting so many on to praise his genius.

Edited March 19 by Vee

[Paul Raven]

I've tried to watch a few of these but find MB interviewing style annoying. He's not particularly articulate and meanders around a bit.

But he seems to be doing something right as he's clocked up quite a few episodes.

[titan1978]

There are many interesting episodes, and sometimes it does become more about him than the guest. He’s very emotional at times, and the stories people tell are moving.

The one with Lesley Charleson was interesting, she opened up about her family and mental illness, and I had not heard any of that before.

They are not all sad though-  he is a little obsessed with the 80’s on GH and how much drugs were just around. He asks all those older GH actors about it. He also seems to geek out a bit when it comes to those performers, admitting that he was intimidated because he watched the show during the Luke & Laura days.

I don’t think Vanessa will appear until she feels comfortable talking publicly about her custody issues with BAG and her abusive marriage before her current husband on a large scale on camera.

[carolineg]

I recall Vanessa saying she's been asked, but that she is trying to write a book about her life and once she is done with that she will go on his show.  That was a few years ago though.

[titan1978]

Just going off her half told stories, it seems to me like she hasn’t fully gone there in deference to her son. I know she has been vocal but not gone too in depth with her decades long custody fight with BAG in the past, and her son has an on/off relationship with him. Her podcast was the first time I really heard anything about it from her perspective. And truthfully, her son makes me believe her side of things- he’s clearly closer with her and also clearly wants some kind of relationship with his father. It’s a terrible situation.

And she never brings up her divorce from the actor from CSI New York.

[carolineg]

Interesting.  I have never heard her podcast, but that all makes sense.  I am sure MB would talk about whatever she wanted to though.

[titan1978]

It’s kind of heartbreaking. Her friend Suzanne was the co-host and you really get a feel for their close relationship, and then she has a reoccurrence of Breast Cancer and sadly passed away from it. She was on GH as Brenda’s wedding planner if I remember correctly, they met on Vegas.

[Soapsuds]

Martha Byrne will be on Sundays chat talking about her acting career and the family's fight dealing with her husband's troubles.

[Soapsuds]