Rebecca Herbst takes center stage during her 25th anniversary on GH.
Rebecca Herbst has handled a variety of storylines during her 25-year run as Elizabeth Webber on General Hospital. For the performance she’s giving in this most recent — and arguably, most challenging story — Soap Hub bestows Performer of the Week honors on Herbst.
Rebecca Herbst – Star of the Week
Liz (Rebecca Herbst) has been battling a significant problem for a while now, which has had an impact on her relationships, emotions, and state of mind. GH finally investigated what horrific incident in Liz’s background was the root of all of her issues. It turns out that the reason Liz’s parents Jeff Webber (William Moses) and Carolyn Webber (Denise Crosby) had sent their daughter away all those years prior was due to a significant event.
Having decided she couldn’t go on without knowing what had occurred, Liz traveled to California to get into her parents’ home, looking for answers. She was taken aback when her father and mother arrived home unexpectedly. “Yes, mom, it’s really me,” Liz semi-snarked back to her mainly absent mother, Carolyn Webber (Denise Crosby) after laying eyes on her for the first time in a quarter of a century. Liz’s acerbic layer was a callback to the demeanor Rebecca Herbst first brought to her character back in 1997.
Herbst gave her character a smoldering resentment as Liz and her parents chatted informally about the lives of her kids. She was furious that her parents ignored the fundamental question of why they had abandoned her in favor of monitoring the lives of her boys through social media. Why, during the past 25 years, when Liz had been raped, given birth to children, married, been widowed, and so much more, had they not supported her?
When her parents attempted to downplay the situation and emphasize how well she had done in life, Liz scolded them. Liz anguishedly reminded her parents that “all of my delights in life, all of my success have been because myself and my determination.” “It was unrelated to you,”
Liz became enraged when Jeff (William Moses) and Carolyn made an effort to underline how essential their work with Doctors Without Borders was. She screamed indignantly, “I wanted parents who loved me…how could you consider it better to cut me loose.” Liz turned to go but stopped herself and returned, pleading with her parents to help her remember what she couldn’t. Unfortunately, Liz’s “Gram,” Audrey Hardy (Rachel Ames), couldn’t be there to support her, but props to GH for hanging Audrey’s photo above Jeff and Carolyn’s fireplace.
There are a lot of absent parents in soap operas, but we quickly discovered that there was more to Jeff and Carolyn’s choice to stay out of Liz’s life than first appeared to be the case. Liz recalled that Dr. Reiko Finn, Jeff’s mistress, had warned her to avoid her father, despite Jeff’s attempts to stop his daughter from prying too deeply. Liz wouldn’t budge, so Jeff spoke the truth. Reiko was at the time married to Dr. Hamilton Finn (Michael Easton), Liz’s current fling, and he confessed to having an affair with her.
Liz clarified that she remembered something occurring while they were all on the Mariana Islands. Liz enquired as to how Reiko had ended up at the bottom of the stairs after Jeff stated that Liz had interrupted them in the middle of a private moment. Jeff asserted that he was to blame for Reiko’s mishap. But when Carolyn insisted that the truth be told, Jeff acknowledged that Liz had actually shoved Reiko down the stairs.
Herbst acted furiously at first, accusing her father of lying, but then she remembered being with Reiko at the top of the steps (Mele Ihara). “I finished! After remembering the dispute, a frightened Liz (Rebecca Herbst) told her parents, “It was me!
Liz had hard picturing Jeff and Carolyn as Liz’s savior, but all of a sudden they moved from being Liz’s careless parents to being her. In the hopes that Liz wouldn’t remember the incident, they applied for a transfer and sent her away. Unfortunately, not everything was as simple to correct. Reiko needed a blood transfusion following the fall, which caused her to develop Blackwood’s Syndrome, the illness that ultimately claimed her life. Liz was heartbroken to discover this from Jeff.
Liz thought her parents’ behavior was selfish rather than unselfish. Liz bemoaned, “[Y]ou poisoned me, programmed me, and then expelled me to safeguard your priceless reputations.” “Hopefully that was worthwhile,”
Veteran viewers were shocked that Jeff and Carolyn had never visited Port Charles throughout this time, and viewers were unsure of what had been profoundly disturbing Liz for the past year or so. (Though it’s more obvious why Jeff is avoiding them given how frequently Heather Webber shows up.) After all, Heather (now portrayed by Alley Mills) was the reason Jeff departed Port Charles in 1981 with his family, including Heather’s son Steven Lars (Scott Reeves).
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