Simply Lovely
Remarkably, GH's Rebecca Herbst is as down-to-earth as she is beautiful.
Soap Opera Weekly
January 5, 1999
Written By: Lara De Loshi
Considering that her recent rape storyline proved that General Hospital's Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth Webber) is more than adept at screaming, yelling and venting, the soft voice on the other end of the line catches me completely off-guard. She seems almost - dare I say? - shy. But first impressions can be decceptive. Twenty minutes into the conversation, the 21 year old actress is relaxed, funny, honest and clearly at ease dishing about herself.
That is not to say my origional assessment was completley off base, because Herbst is the first to asmit she is "very shy", which has occasionally blindered her in her chosen profession. "I have always been shy - painfully so when I was a child - ans no matter what you do for a living, I think if you're a shy person then you just always are by nature. I am fine when I am around people I feel comfortable with. But I have definitly had to work on it, especially since joining the show. The first couple of months when people wree reconizing me I would say, ‘No, that is not me..I get that a lot, but no.' I was actually lying because I didn't know how to deal with people staring or complinmenting my work. I felt that if I said anything about the show or my character, it would be bragging, and I didn't want to sound egotistical. That is just so unattractive to me. What I figured out, though , is that being friendly is a lot better than being shy, because people mistake it for being bitchy. And let me tell you, in high shcool I didn't have any friends for the first couple of years because I was so shy everyone thought I was a bitch."
One of the things that has helped Herbst become more comfortable interacting with fans is "watching the more experienced people on the show - especially Jackie Zeman (Bobbie)." the actress says. "She is so wonderful with her fans ans people in general. It has taken some time, but now I actually sit ans talk with them. But if someone comes up and says, ‘I really like your outfil,' or ‘You have beautiful hair,' I still get toungue-twisted, and have a hard time just getting out, ‘Thank you.' I blush and get all embarrassed and then the person ends up thinking I am a freak."
Conquering her shyness isn't the only change Herbst has undergone lately. Since joining GH in August 1997, she notes, "I am a completely different person. It's funny, I was telling my mom the other day that when I was 14 I thought that I was so mature; and at 17 I felt like an adult. When I turned 20 it was like, ‘Well, I finally make it. I've got a real job and work year-round like everyone else and I am paying my own bills. Now, at 21, I look back and think: Wow, I was so young then. Having a stable job really settles your state of mind. It is a comforting feeling. I fell like my life is finally settling into something I want."
Along with that has come a sense of balance. "But don't fool yourseld, I am not always completely balanced," she admits with a laugh. "I get depressed every now and then. There are nights when I cry myself to sleep or when I'm driving the car and crying or I get mad and you don't wantr to talk to anybody. Trust me, I'm not always happy-gp-lucky. But I enjoy what I'm doing; I love my job and the people I'm working with, so that helps keep things in perspective.
Commitments to family and a higher power also help her stay grounded. "My family is amazing," she says warmly. " My parents, Debbie and Wayne, have been married 28 years. I get along with them great. I still live with them and I don't fell the need to move out. My sister, Jennifer, is my best friend; and I have God in my life. I feel very balanced. Religion has always been a major thing in my life. Of course, it comes and goes as you're growing up because you're figuring out who you are and what you want, but I feel I'm a very religious person. I enjoy going to church, learning and connecting with genuine, fun people there. In a way it's like therapy, and everybody need therapy in some shape and form."
Her faith, she adds, "guides me in everything I do. Every step, even if I'm not looking, my faith is always there. I believe that if you have God in your life he always has his hand under your butt, waiting to catch you, push you in the right direction or help you through if you are going down the wrong path."
Not that she has traveled too far off the beaten path. Actually, Herbst is pleased with where her life has taken her. "I have worked very hard to get where life has taken her. "I have worked very hard to get where I am," she says. "Nothing has ever just been haded to me, and that is something I am not afraid to, not brag about but be proud of."
Herbst ventured into the business via commercials at age 6 - not because she wants to act but because "I found out that the kids in the commercials got to keep the toys they played with during the commercial," admits with a laugh. "And they were always the latest, coolest toys, and that was all that mattered to me."
However, it soon became less about the freebies and more about the work itself. The actress has more than 60 national commercials on her resume, as well as guest roles on, among others, Beverly Hills, 90210, Boy Meets World and the film Why Me? She was also a series regular on Nicklodeon's Space Cases ("It was a children's Star Trek") and recurred on Brotherly Love. Interestingly, no matter what the project, "I always played the same type of character," she relates. "As a little girl, if I did anything other than a commercial, it was the girl who had to look sad because her parents were fighting. When I got a little older, it was the sweet, innocent, heartbreaker type of thing. It was after I turned 18 that I began playing roles with attitude. I would much rather play those roles - they are more fun than the girls who are just sweet and innocent."
Luckily, her GH role has allowed her to incorporate those characteristics she's become skilled at conveying - and a few she has picked up along the way. "Elizabeth is a great character who is constantly growing," Herbst says. "In the past year she {was} a smart-ass child with no respect for anybody, who was out to get everyone. But that is because she was hurt since her parents pretty much abandoned her. So her frustration, anger and snottiness came from being misguided. The rape changed all that, though. It killed her spunk and turned her into this scared little girl who never wanted to come out of the house. Now it is not much as an issue. She's fallen in love with Lucky and the old Elizabeth is shining through - in a good way...the spunk without the snot," she adds with a laugh.
The chemistry Herbst shares with co-star Jonathan Jackson shines through as their on-screen love continues to blossom. "I knew I was going to like Jonathan from the moment we met," the actress says. "I am five years older than he is, but we connected on levels that I've never before really connected with anybody. He has taught me so much in the past year - most importantly that age doesn't really have any relevance."
Things haven't always been hunky-dory, though. Several months into working together "we started not to communicate all that well," Herbst says, the tone of her voice denoting the pain and difficulty of the situation. "I am not really sure why that happened. We knew each other so well and we were so comfortable with being Liz and Lucky. I could fall into his arms and tell him as a character but the moment we stepped off the stage and were Becky and Jonathan friends, not just Liz and Lucky friends. So we've been hanging out; we do barbecues with his family, that sort of thing. It has been really nice developing that friendship."
What also had developed nicely is their characters romance. "I am so impressed with how the writers have handles Liz and Lucky because they didn't jump into the relationship," Herbst says. "I mean, it took a year before the two even kissed! The show has remained very true to the characters, keeping in mind that Liz a 15 year old rape victim. Even after their first kiss, they don't kiss all the time; they are still not real intimater with each other. They are playing it safe, and I think it's wonderful. It also keeps me out of the bed for a little while longer, which is nice," she adds with a laugh.
Herbst's personal life isn't as complex. In fact, the actress is single for the first time since she was 16. "I have always had a boyfriend, but not I am 21, I am single and I am loving it," she laughs. "Being by myself I have learned so much about who I am and what I want. I do date, and I learn from interacting with other guys who I want and who I don't. My biggest goal is to have a husband and children. Since I was 13 I thought I would be married by 21 and pregnant by 23. Obviously, that is not going to happen." Well, you never know. "Then I better find him as soon as I get off the phone with you!" she jokes. "I have just always thought it would be great to spend my 20's with the person I was going to be with for life because you grow so much during this time. You grow at any age, but your 20's are such a fragile and experimental growth period. It would be nice to experience it with the love of your life."
