Willow Tait on General Hospital — Her Entire Dramatic Life Story Revealed

Willow on General Hospital has had quite a dramatic life in Port Charles with romance, heartbreak, hidden secrets, and much more! If you’d like more information on the beautiful young woman, look no further! Introduced back in October 2018, the GH character has always been played by actress Katelyn MacMullen.

A Mother’s Love

Willow Tait was introduced as Aiden‘s schoolteacher when she had a private meeting with Elizabeth Webber and Franco Baldwin about the little boy, who had been acting withdrawn and having trouble making friends in school. She was next seen when she ran into Harrison Chase in the hospital parking garage on her way to a bereavement group meeting that was also attended by Michael Corinthos.

It was then revealed that Willow was the biological mother of Wiley, the baby that Brad Cooper and Lucas Jones adopted, and Julian Jerome had convinced her to back off and not be a part of the child’s life. However, the infant Willow had given birth to had died in his crib, and Brad had agreed to swap babies with Nelle Benson, so as Willow grew closer to Wiley and felt a pull towards the little boy, she had no idea it wasn’t actually her son. It then came out that Willow was a former member of the Dawn of Day cult, and its leader, Shiloh, was her baby’s father! Her mother, Harmony, tried to get her to come back to the group, but Willow wanted nothing more to do with them.

When Shiloh learned Wiley was his son, he immediately set about stealing the child for himself, but luckily, Willow’s new boyfriend, Chase, was a cop and came to her defense. After Shiloh’s reign of terror ended with his death, Willow was surprised when her mother showed up at her doorstep, having been released from prison. Harmony insisted she was turning over a new leaf, but Willow had no idea she was now working for villainous drug runner Cyrus Renault!

Willow had grown so attached to Wiley that she was absolutely heartbroken when the truth about the baby switch came out, and she learned that the baby she had given birth to had passed away over a year ago. As Michael took over raising Wiley, Willow remained a part of the little boy’s life, and when Nelle got out of prison and wanted her son back, Willow offered to do anything she could to help Michael retain custody. However, when Sasha Gilmore suggested that she marry Michael to create a family that would ensure the judge would let him keep Wiley, Willow declined.

Marriage of Inconvenience

But when Sasha and Chase made it appear they were having an affair, Willow and Michael came together and tied the knot in order to defeat Nelle in court. But over time, they grew so close that even after they found out about the lie that brought them together in the first place, there were still feelings there. So even as Willow began to reconnect with Chase, she was still part of Michael’s life (and not just because she moved out of the Quartermaine mansion and into the gatehouse!).

As Michael and Willow were about to make their reunion official, her attempt to break things off with Chase hit a snag when the cop fell seriously ill and was hospitalized! Believing that he was going to die, Chase proposed, and a guilty Willow accepted. However, after they got hitched, Chase was cured, and Willow was stuck. She carried on her affair with Michael in secret, but people started catching on, and eventually, Chase caught them in bed together! Willow apologized and confessed the truth, and they both agreed to an annulment.

Willow was then free to be with Michael and help him raise Wiley, but she grew concerned when he went behind her back to make Nina Reeves pay for keeping Sonny Corinthos away from his family for months. And when he proposed, she admitted she wasn’t ready to take that step quite yet.

Unfortunately, Willow overheard a conversation between Sonny and Nina, and when she was called to testify in Nina’s criminal hearing, she revealed that the pair had been in love during their time in Nixon Falls. Then it was Michael’s turn to be mad at Willow for a while!

Secrets and Lies

Things took an unfortunate turn when Willow went looking for her birth certificate so she could get a passport to go on vacation with Michael, and couldn’t find it. Harmony acted suspiciously and privately confided to Alexis Davis that there was no birth certificate because Willow’s real mother was a woman named Joan, who also lived in the commune. She and Douglas were ordered to raise Willow, and he got a forged birth certificate for them. Michael investigated, and Willow was stunned to learn there was no record of her birth!

While Willow continued clashing with Nina over visitation with Wiley, she was further heartbroken when her mother was hit by Sasha’s car and lay near death! Worse still, before Harmony died, she confirmed that Willow wasn’t her daughter, but swore Carly to secrecy regarding the identity of her real mother! As she mourned the woman she thought was her mom, Willow got a DNA test that proved she and Harmony were not related.

As Willow stood by Michael and testified in court to keep Nina away from Wiley, she had no idea that Carly had done her own DNA test that proved Nina was her biological mother! Unaware of the secret Carly was keeping, Willow also continued to experience dizzy spells. When she finally went to the doctor, she was stunned to find out that she was pregnant! However, Dr. TJ Ashford warned that her symptoms had started well before she became pregnant, and wanted to do further testing. Willow happily told Michael he was going to become a daddy, but neglected to mention TJ’s fears about her health.

Two Lives on the Line

Willow was heartbroken to learn that she had leukemia and chose to keep it a secret, knowing Michael would force her to have treatment. She wanted to wait until the baby was strong enough, but by that time, she was unfortunately at stage four. The tension between Willow and Nina also intensified when she kept seeing Willow and TJ together and jumped to conclusions. When Michael caught wind of this, he caught Willow and TJ at the hospital, and she finally admitted her diagnosis. He offered his unconditional support but reluctantly agreed to continue keeping it secret from everyone else.

Willow decided to search for her biological mother in the hopes of finding a bone marrow donor and asked Drew Cain to help. Unfortunately, Carly — unaware of Willow’s diagnosis — interfered to keep the truth that Nina was her mom from coming out! Willow confided her diagnosis to Drew so he would understand how important it was to find her mother, and he agreed to keep searching. Unfortunately, the chemotherapy treatment wasn’t working because she’d waited so long, and the bone marrow donor the hospital found proved invalid. And when Willow collapsed again, she was rushed to the hospital, fighting for her life!

When Willow regained consciousness, she was horrified to learn that Nina was her biological mother. Unfortunately, Nina turned out not to be a match, but Dr. Terry Randolph suggested they could use stem cells from the baby to help treat Willow’s leukemia. So Willow agreed to deliver the baby early in the hopes of saving both their lives.

Willow nearly died giving birth, but Michael’s pleas for her to come back to him kept her from going into the light with Harmony. Michael and Willow named their daughter Amelia Grace, but were heartbroken to learn that they weren’t able to harvest enough stem cells. Fearing time was running out, Michael and Willow decided to get married as soon as possible. She convinced Michael to invite Sonny to the wedding, but Nina was still not welcome. After a beautiful ceremony, the reception was interrupted by the SEC arriving to question Carly about insider trading.

After Michael confessed to her about using Dex to gather evidence to bring Sonny down, an upset Willow collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital. As her time ran out, Willow urged Michael to make amends with his father and Nina to drop her vendetta against Carly. Nina’s aunt, Liesl Obrecht, was found to be a match, but her kidnapping delayed the transplant. Eventually, Obrecht returned to Port Charles, and Willow received her life-saving donation.

After recovering, Willow returned to work at the hospital and was haunted by dreams of Harmony trying to warn her of something. She and Michael attended Sonny and Nina’s wedding, and later didn’t understand why Nina was being so reluctant to spend time with her and Wiley. On New Year’s Eve, she found out the truth that Michael had found out that Nina turned Carly and Drew in to the SEC and had used that to blackmail her into staying away from their family. Furious at Michael for lying to her, Willow pushed him away, but they reconciled by Valentine’s Day. When Jason turned up alive but shot, Michael asked Willow to use her nursing skills to keep him alive. She worried that stealing antibiotics from the hospital would cost her her job, but Michael had Spinelli cover her tracks.

As 2024 continued, Willow began having second thoughts about her nursing career because it was taking her away from the kids. After some back and forth, she eventually accepted Drew’s offer to be the spokesperson for a nonprofit that helped patients find bone marrow and stem cell matches. In turn, she helped convince Drew to run for Congress. Drew also helped bring Willow and Nina together so that the mother and daughter could begin trying to repair their fractured relationship.

A Step Too Far

But while growing closer to Nina, Willow also found herself growing closer to Drew, and sharing a passionate kiss with him on the Fourth of July! They both agreed it was a mistake and should never happen again, but a guilt-ridden Willow confessed the kiss to Nina, who urged her to stay quiet. In August, Willow left the nonprofit to return to nursing, but still couldn’t avoid Drew, and they shared another passionate liplock. When Sasha admitted she’d seen them on the Fourth, Willow opened up to her about the whole messy situation.

After Nina warned her that Cody knew about her and Drew and publicly announced it, Willow raced to tell Michael the truth, but Drew beat her to the punch. She insisted the kiss meant nothing, but Michael stormed off. When he later returned home, he asked if there was anything else she wanted to confess, and when she insisted there was nothing else, they had sex. In November, Willow was comforting Drew over Sam’s death when they gave in to passion again and had sex in the Quartermaine nursery!

Willow was then publicly humiliated when nanny cam footage of her and Drew was accidentally streamed to the television during the Quartermaine Christmas party. She was also shaken to find out Michael had known about the cheating for a while, having seen the footage on his phone immediately afterward. Nina urged Willow to stay at her apartment with the kids, and Carly tried to block them from going anywhere with Wiley and Amelia, but Michael gave his okay.

Willow accepted Drew’s invitation to join him in Washington, D.C., for his swearing-in as a Congressman and brought Wiley along for the trip. However, she regretted it when she received divorce papers from Michael, and attorney Martin Grey warned that the trip could work against them in the custody fight. Worse still, while they were away, Michael was nearly killed in an explosion! Willow raced back to Port Charles, but Michael’s family didn’t want her anywhere near him. At Drew’s urging, she used Michael’s medical proxy against his family, threatening not to let them visit Michael until they gave her back her kids. In the end, Willow was allowed to move into Nina’s with Wiley and Amelia as Carly took Michael overseas for treatment.

The Ties That Bind

Drew surprised Willow with his new home and was able to persuade her to move in with the kids, as well as to sign papers making him Wiley and Amelia’s guardian, should anything ever happen to her. A furious Carly blasted Willow for already settling down with a new man, but Jason stopped the fight before it turned physical. Willow went to Germany to speak to Michael about the custody situation and was disappointed to be told he wouldn’t see her. She was shocked to return home and find an escort leaving their bedroom after a wild night with Drew. Although initially upset, Willow soon believed Drew’s claim that his actions were the result of being drugged. When she was served with divorce and custody papers, Drew hired Ric Lansing to represent her in court.

Michael returned home early and surprised everyone at the Nurses’ Ball, taking his kids home with him. The custody hearing got ugly, and Michael was revealed to be the father of Sasha’s baby. Willow ended up helping to safely deliver their daughter, Daisy, after Sasha went into labor on the witness stand. In the end, Michael was awarded full custody of the children, and Willow had a mental break, completely shutting down. Despite everyone warning her about Drew, Willow refused to listen and even accepted his marriage proposal in the hopes of creating a stable family unit so she could get her kids back. After numerous mysterious incidents involving Daisy going missing and changing clothes, it was revealed that Willow was behind it, hoping to make Michael and Sasha feel her pain.

On her wedding day, Curtis Ashford urged Willow to reconsider marrying Drew, revealing that her fiancé had an affair with her mother. Willow confronted Nina, who admitted the truth, then walked down the aisle to sandbag Drew by asking if he’d slept with her mother while they were falling in love. Realizing he was as horrible as everyone had warned, she left him at the altar. Willow moved in with Liz temporarily while Drew continued trying to win her back. After Drew was shot in the back and nearly killed, Willow reconciled with him and agreed to marry in a small, private ceremony in the hopes that the union would help her in her custody fight.

While at a family therapy session with Michael and their children, Willow was arrested for Drew’s attempted murder and subsequently went on trial. Drew hired Alexis to represent his wife, offering to let her finally spend time with her granddaughter, Scout, if she managed to prove Willow’s innocence. Alexis originally didn’t want to put Willow on the stand, but after Drew insisted on testifying and derailed the defense with his emotional outbursts, she had no choice. Willow was cool as a cucumber as she gave her testimony, even as the prosecution tried to provoke her, while in her mind, she was flashing back to how she stole Edward’s gun from the Quartermaines and shot Drew in the back!