'She left me twice' — General Hospital's Jane Elliot unpacks Tracy's grief...and her own

This week, Port Charles says goodbye to Monica Quartermaine as General Hospital airs two very special episodes honoring the beloved character and the iconic actress who played her, Leslie Charleson. It was an emotional week for the cast when the scenes were filmed, hitting Jane Elliot just as hard as it hit Tracy that her best friend is gone.

Jane Elliot remembers Leslie Charleson

On-screen and off, Elliot and Charleson were the best of pals with a friendship that went back six decades to Elliot's teenage years. Elliot was doing theater in New York at 18 years old when a 20-year-old Charleson was dating one of the actors Elliot was working with. They became fast friends, but lost touch over the years. Then, Elliot was hired to play Charleson's sister-in-law on General Hospital, and the rest is soap opera history.

While Tracy and Monica Quartermaine sparred on-screen, the two actresses were thicker than thieves off-screen.

"She was an integral part of my life…It’s hard enough to mourn somebody’s death once, but then to do it again," Elliot told Variety. "One was obviously the person, and the other was the character, but at a certain point, they blended. You know, Monica was Leslie, and Leslie was Monica. I had shared experience with Monica, and I had shared experience with Leslie, so she left me twice."

General Hospital's Tracy remembers Monica

After running off to Atlantic City, Tracy returns to Port Charles in time for Monica's funeral at All Saints church. Elliot understands Tracy's grief and the admiration she felt for her one-time enemy.

"Tracy had evolved over the years and was a more substantive human being and had gone through the heartbreak of losing Luke twice, and she developed a fuller personality," Elliot explained. "Because of that, she could see Monica’s weight and respected her for it."

Now, Tracy feels the weight of her loss, as so many people she has loved through the years are now gone. For the audience, it also feels like losing a best friend, someone who has been there day in and day out for nearly 50 years.

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"It’s a huge loss for her. All of her contemporaries are gone. Her mother, her father, her brother, Luke, Gregory,” Elliot said of Tracy. "I mean, Monica was it. They were the last two standing hand in hand, side by side. So losing her was like losing an arm."

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.

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