It was the slap heard 'round Port Charles, when Kristina's new boyfriend, Kiefer, lost his temper and lashed out in violence by striking her. The situation echoes the real-life, headline-grabbing incident involving singers Rhianna and Chris Brown — and that is intentional. Here, the actors weigh in on the topical tale:

Lexi Ainsworth (Kristina):
"I was very excited when I heard about this story for a lot of reasons. Nothing like that has ever happened to me personally, so not only was it was a great challenge to play something like that, but I'm really glad I could do the PSA [Public Service Announcement] to inform people and let people know that this does happen, every day. That's an important message to people my age. Hopefully this will let girls in trouble know that they have friends and family who can support them and help them through it and let them know that any relationship like that is not a healthy relationship and they need to get out."

Christian Alexander (Kiefer):
"I found out the day I was shooting that scene that the storyline was going to be centered around domestic violence and abuse. I'm thrilled that we're doing something in the teen storyline that can help people be more aware of it. I spoke with the writers, who mentioned that the Chris Brown/Rihanna situation brought this to light, got people talking about it and there was an opportunity here to shine some light on the issue."

Drew Garrett (Michael):
"That first moment was a shocker. I watched it on TV and it was believable. It was horrible. It made you sit up and go, 'Whoa!' If it gets you worked up and makes you think, 'This should not happen and this does not have to happen,' then it's powerful. This is the kind of story that makes you want to help somebody. Maybe someone might see it themselves or know someone who's in a similar situation. It's definitely a positive thing."