General Hospital becomes the backdrop for Erika Slezak and Chris McKenna’s touching reunion

When Erika Slezak joined General Hospital as Veronica “Ronnie” Bard, the long-lost sister of Monica (Leslie Charleson), it was a major new chapter in the show’s history as well as a return to daytime for a beloved legend. Slezak played Victoria Lord on One Life to Live for 42 years, a role that garnered her six Daytime Emmy awards. OLTL fans will also recall that Chris McKenna, who currently plays Jack Brennan on GH, played her son Joey Buchanan during the early 1990s. Now, fate has delivered a full-circle moment when the two reunited on the set.

A Return to Daytime

Access Hollywood was on hand to capture the excitement as General Hospital newcomer Erika Slezak stepped back into the soap world opposite Jane Elliot’s formidable Tracy Quartermaine. “It’s like going home but not going home,” Slezak said, reflecting on her first days on set. Taking over the role of Ronnie Bard, she described it as “a little part, but I’m proud to be a part of it.” Fans immediately saw her character go toe-to-toe with Elliot, a dynamic that Slezak relished: “It’s juicy. It’s really, really juicy. And to see two older women going at each other…it’s full-circle. I think the audience is going to go crazy.”

Slezak also revealed that her husband, Brian Davies (ex-Sheldon Harper, As the World Turns), has become a surprising fan of Maurice Benard’s Sonny. “My husband just never watches any soap, but he watches General Hospital. He’s a big fan of Maurice and Sonny," Slezak shares. "I walked in the bedroom one day and I said, ‘Oh, watching GH.’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘Oh.’ He said, ‘Well, I have to find out what happens to Sonny.’ He’s obsessed with Sonny.”

A Reunion Decades in the Making

But for Slezak, the most emotional moment was when she got the chance to reunite with Chris McKenna. On the set, the two embraced, feeling the nostalgia of having previously played mother and son wash over them. “She was like a second mother to me,” he stated, wiping back tears and noting, “I'm going to cry.”

McKenna continued, “From the first day on set, she was so warm and she was so helpful to me as a young actor and as a young man.” AH was on the set when they reunited, and there was a warm moment when she asked if they could snap a pic of her kissing him on the cheek. She was so blown away by seeing him all grown up, and commented, “When I saw him today, he's this unbelievably handsome, tall, gorgeous guy with his own family, and I thought, ‘My little Joey.’ ”

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What began on One Life to Live has now found new life on General Hospital, offering fans an unexpected reunion that bridges decades of soap history

General Hospital can be seen weekdays on ABC and Hulu.

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