Sometimes, waiting for that first kiss from someone you love can seem like an eternity. No different is the case of a soap opera actress playing one half of what many are calling the newest supercouple on General Hospital.
"It was awkward but it was also, Finally!" says Rebecca Herbst about the long-awaited kiss between her character, Elizabeth Webber, and Lucky Spencer." I’m telling you I started to count down the weeks. I kissed Jonathan (Jackson, Lucky) for the screen test, but that was a while ago. We knew it was coming. We just didn’t know exactly when. So it’s kind of new. Something we don’t do every day."
Knowing that this special moment was something GH fans were screaming for. Both actors wanted to make it as poignant as they could for viewer. After all, not only was it a question of first love, but each character has their own element of concern: the issue of recovering from rape for Liz. And the issue of "did I inherit my father’s sexually violent tendencies?" for Lucky
"We wanted their moment to be so special," explains Herbst. "But it’s so hard for that feeling to come across on paper. So it was,' Well, let’s just go do it and see what happens.'
"Jonathan came up with a couple of really good ideas while we were up there that made it that much more special." she adds. "In the script, it called for Lucky and Liz to fall into a little kiss where nobody really breaks away and it ends when it ends, then they walk off hand in hand, Jonathan was thinking that they fall into a kiss, break away, look into each other’s eyes and see that it’s OK, then go in for another kiss. Make it a couple of moments of that acknowledgement that they were each crossing a line and it felt comfortable and right. Both of them have their concerns, but both of them, have their wants."
With Lucky playing a tune on his guitar that he wrote about Liz., it was the ultimate dream of many women being serenaded by the one you love." I know. I loved it! I could use a couple of hours of that", Herbst teases.
When she began her GH run a little over a year ago, Liz was a bratty little girl, indeed, Herbst jokes that when her friends first caught her on the show, they would tease her about playing a character with such a nasty streak. Now, as she plays out the recovery of her rape. Herbst has welcomed with open arms the metamorphosis of he character into a heroine.
" I’m glad because it’s a change, not because I now get to play a good girl",she notes." I enjoyed playing Elizabeth before. And I enjoy playing her now. She has evolved. She’s changing. That in itself is exciting to play".
Part of the catharsis was the dynamic rape storyline that GH writer Michelle Val Jean wrote for Liz based on Val Jean’s own continuing recovery from rape. The experience of playing out the story has hit interesting places in Herbst’s head and heart."In a way, I feel like it has become a part of my personal life", she says. "Rape was never an issue before I had this storyline. I knew it was out there. I knew about date rape. I knew that you should be careful. But I never had a personal friend who was violated in that way. Now, this storyline has brought out a whole new awareness to this horrible thing out there".
From day one of the story, Val Jean had lengthy talks with Herbst about her personal perspective on the rape story, "She has told me her experience. She’s not saying, 'Take from this and do that'. Instead it’s,' Let me tell you what happened to me because I want to let you know where I’m coming from'", Herbst explains." When I first heard her story, when we first talked on the phone, I ended up crying with this woman that I barely knew. I had no idea that she would be my only source of material to pull from. She’s been amazing".
Now, Herbst feels that she can connect with people, who have been through rape I know that some people might get upset with me for saying that. But my character is going through the whole process of healing and the getting up and the falling and the getting up again, I can understand it.
"A lot of my fan mail is: Elizabeth is doing the right thing,'She’s helping me so much, I see that Elizabeth is healing so I know that I can heal too. I do know that there are so many girls in their early teens to late 20's who do relate to Elizabeth and really do feed off of her healing. I’m glad to know that playing this character may actually help people cope with their pain."
