INTERVIEW
General Hospital Pregnancy Bombshell: Brook Kerr On Portia’s ‘Tantalizing’ Baby Twist (EXCL)
Portia Robinson’s life has not been lacking in soapy drama these past several months on General Hospital. First, she was dealing with Drew Cain blackmailing her over her alteration of Heather Webber’s test results, forging an unlikely alliance with Nina Reeves to try to take the congressman down. Drew was shot and his assailant remains on the loose — and if the PCPD finds out that she had motive, she could find herself moving to the top of the suspect list. Meanwhile, on the home front, Portia’s marriage to Curtis Ashford was crumbling over her secret-keeping and his lingering pull to ex-wife Jordan Ashford. It was briefly back-on again (long enough for the two to hit the sheets!) before the spouses had another big blow-up, sending her into the arms of another, her colleague Dr. Isaiah Gannon. Now, after being intimate with both men, Portia learned on the October 7 episode of GH that she is pregnant! Soap Opera Digest caught up with Portia’s portrayer, Brook Kerr, to get the inside scoop on the latest twist adding to her character’s already full plate.
The More the Merrier
Kerr, who joined GH back in 2020, is having a blast seeing Portia woven in to so many storylines at once. She beams, “Every time I get a script, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, this is so cool!’ ‘Oh, my God, I love this!’ It’s very tantalizing.”
But the pregnancy twist is not one that she saw coming when she got a behind-the-scenes heads-up from GH’s executive producer, Frank Valentini. “I was about to shoot some scenes and Frank came down and he did this little finger thing, like, ‘Come here,’ ” Kerr recalls. “So I came around to where he was, behind the set, and he goes, ‘You’re doing a great job with this,’ with whatever it was we were shooting, and I was like, ‘Oh, thanks!’ I love an ‘Atta girl!’ every once in a while, you know what I mean [laughs]? And then he goes, ‘Don’t tell anybody, but Portia’s gonna have a baby.’ I was like, ‘Really? Are you serious? Wow!’ I was just kind of in shock when he dropped the bomb on me. It’s such a weighty thing; it’s so beautiful to have a child on a show, you know? It’s all these new things to play. And Trina’s going to be a big sister! There were all sorts of things flooding through my mind for about 10 seconds — and then I had to go shoot some other doctor stuff!”
The pregnancy comes at a rather complex time in Portia’s life. “I think this is kind of the first time that Portia has been on her own,” Kerr notes. “She’s thinking only of herself right now — and her daughter, of course — but she’s let go of that man,” Curtis, “who doesn’t seem to see her. She has somebody who does see her [Isaiah], which is lovely and beautiful, but really, she’s feeling like she’s alone for the first time, which is kind of a scary feeling for her, but it’s also nice because she’s figuring things out on her own. She literally told Curtis not too long ago, ‘Stop protecting me. Stop thinking like you need to protect me. You go do you.’ It’s a scary time for Portia, but it’s also like, ‘All right — you have your own life now, so what are you going to do with it?’ I think she’s a little trepidatious, but I also feel like she’s feeling empowered to go for the next step — and the next step seems to be this baby.”
Finding out she has a baby on the way comes as a big surprise to Portia, to say the least, and Kerr says she chose to play the moment of Portia seeing the pregnancy test turn positive as, ” ‘There is no way. This is not going to add on to the stack of things I have to deal with. The timing of this with my relationship being over and then getting pregnant? No, it just can’t be.’ The non-belief was her first thought: ‘I just couldn’t handle this!’ But then, I think, it’s one of those happy problems, if you know what I mean — it’s a problem that’s not a problem. It’s just definitely a shock at the beginning, especially because Portia has always been so responsible. She’s professional, she’s the co-chief of staff at the hospital — and then lately it’s been all blackmail and intrigue and hiring hookers [laughs]. It’s like, ‘All of this crazy stuff has become a part of my life and now pregnancy?! I’m already overwhelmed!’ “
Not only is the pregnancy unplanned, but Portia doesn’t know who the father is — a situation that mirrors what she was dealing with a few decades back when she became pregnant with Trina by Curtis while (unhappily) married to Taggert. Kerr says, “I think she’s a little disappointed in herself, like, ‘How could I get myself in this kind of situation?! There’s a possibility that two men could be the father of my child!’ “
So, at least for the moment, don’t expect Portia to be shouting her big news from the rooftop. “She’s just trying to take it one step at a time,” Kerr sums up. “But Portia definitely feels like she’s at the risk of disappointing everybody again. She knows this is going to affect a lot of lives.”
And Kerr is ready to take on all the drama that’s sure to come as the pregnancy story unfolds. “It’s very humbling because it means that the writers are trusting me and they’re seeing maybe what I didn’t even see in myself,” she says of Portia’s storyline prominence. “But it’s a joy and a treat to play.”
Which GH gent do you think will turn out to be the father, Curtis or Isaiah? Let us know in the comments below!
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