General Hospital’s Tanisha Harper Reacts to Jordan’s Surprise Sister Reveal (Exclusive)
Ten years, six months and 10 days after Jordan Ashford was introduced on General Hospital, the show has finally brought a member of her family of origin to Port Charles: In the September 24 episode, Jordan had a frosty run-in with Monet Mitchell (Bltyhe Howard), the new attorney at Miller & Davis, who was revealed to be her estranged sister! Soap Opera Digest checked in with Jordan’s portrayer, Tanisha Harper, to get her thoughts on the twist.
Tanisha Harper Speaks Out About Jordan’s Sister
When Tanisha Harper first got word that GH planned to bring on a sister for her character, “I was excited!” she says. “I’ve seen all the comments that fans have posted about wanting to know the background of Jordan — where she came from, who’s her family. People are like, ‘What is she all about?’ And I was curious about that, too! For me, playing the character, I’ve wanted to know more about her life before she got to Port Charles.”
Plus, winks the actress, who has one sibling — a brother who is 10 years older than her — “I’ve always wanted a sister in real life! I’m like, ‘Well, this will be close enough!'”
All jokes aside, Harper says, “Having Monet on the show is going to allow viewers to see another side of Jordan. We had Jordan as this strong businesswoman, and then we started to see a little bit more of a vulnerable side to her when she went through the car accident, and now, having her sister come onto the landscape, I think that getting to see what their dynamic is will be interesting for the viewers and add just another layer to the show in general.”
What is obvious from their very first scene about Jordan and Monet’s dynamic is that it’s not good: Jordan barely had time to process the unexpected sight of her sister before Monet got in a dig about the facial scars she bears as a result of crashing her car earlier this year. Not even Harper knows why there is bad blood between the siblings. “Clearly, the relationship is a little fraught,” she says. “We’re going to see that develop and start to understand why, and I’m definitely excited to dive into that and see how this is going to go in terms of unveiling the reasons for their estranged relationship. But even we only get so much revealed to us [in advance]!”
As for how her character feels about Monet’s arrival, Harper muses, “I think Jordan is in shock, and she’s a little leery, as well, about what her sister’s motives are for coming to Port Charles. Out of all the cities she could have come to, why pick this particular one, knowing that her sister lives there and they haven’t spoken in many years? She’s definitely wary of Monet’s motivations and apprehensive about what kind of relationship they’re going to have. She’s like, ‘What’s up?!’ Jordan’s got questions! And being that Monet is the younger sister, is Jordan going to go tit for tat with her or is she going to try and play big sister and not take the bait with her little games?”
Whatever unfolds, Harper is delighted to be bringing the Jordan/Monet relationship to life with her new castmate, Blythe Howard. “I’ve known for some time that they were going to bring a sister for me onto the canvas, so it’s been months of auditioning and finding the right person,” she reveals. “Then [Executive Producer] Frank [Valentini] came and told me that they finally found someone and they were very excited about her. I hadn’t met her yet, but on our first day of working together, she was absolutely lovely. She’s just such a great talent and we worked great together and I really enjoyed it.”
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