GH’s Laura Wright Says Carly’s Alliance With Nina Was ‘A Means To An End’ (Exclusive)

GH stars Laura Wright (Carly, l.) and Cynthia Watros (Nina)

To the surprise of … well, absolutely no one, the unlikely General Hospital alliance of Carly and Nina — sworn enemies who banded together to try to get Nina’s daughter, Willow, to see the light about Drew and dump him, thus ensuring that Drew won’t be living under the same roof as the women’s shared grandchildren, Wiley and Amelia — has hit the skids. The cause? Carly’s maneuvering over the upcoming Willow/Michael custody hearing, with Carly planning to stand in for her son, who is in Germany recuperating from the burns he sustained back in January. The tension between the women got so thick, a full-on brawl broke out! Soap Opera Digest chatted with Laura Wright (Carly) for her take on the women’s doomed pact.

Fun While It Lasted

The actress says that her favorite part of the storyline has been “working with Cynthia [Watros, Nina],” describing her on-screen nemesis as “just amazing and hilarious and fun.”

Given Carly’s propensity for serving as Michael’s protector and champion — even when he’d rather she let him fight his own battles — it made sense to Wright that she would be even more motivated to step up to the plate for her son when he’s not there to do it himself. “I see her as fighting for Michael,” she nods. “We’re both mothers fighting for our kids, but everyone is acting like Michael is not even alive, and that’s infuriating Carly.”

In Wright’s view, this was never going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Carly and Nina. “She doesn’t trust Nina as far as she can throw her,” the actress declares. “This is not an alliance of, ‘We’re together on this.’ Carly’s [point of view] is, ‘I will throw you to the wolves in a freaking heartbeat. I owe you nothing. This is for my kid. And if I’ve got to spend even five seconds with you because of him, then 100 percent, the second I don’t need you anymore, I can toss you out.’ That is how she feels about Nina. There’s no friendship, there’s no, ‘I owe you something.’ Not at all. Outside of the pleasure of getting to work with Cynthia, who I think is one of the best humans on the planet, as far as Carly goes, it’s, ‘You are a means to an end.’ ”

Carly’s adamant stance is a choice Wright believes is critical to maintaining the character’s autenticity. “If it’s not that [rigid], as an actor, it’s wishy-washy,” she opines. “To me, [Carly softening toward Nina] is not Carly. Carly is like, ‘I walked in on you in bed with my husband. You are so dead to me unless I need you to save my kid’s life and to protect my grandkids. You kept Sonny away from his family and we all almost died because of it.’ I’m sure Cynthia has to justify her own stuff on Nina’s side of things, but from Carly’s perspective, this is just a means to an end.”

On the flip side, Carly did have a warm relationship with her daughter-in-law, Willow — that is, until Willow’s affair with Drew was revealed. And before he took a turn toward the scummy, Carly was also on good terms with Drew, her ex-lover. Does it surprise Carly to find herself at such odds with people she was once so close to? “I don’t think she gives herself that much time to think about Drew because she’d want to kill him,” Wright says. “But with Willow, yeah, it’s shocking, because she really thought that Willow loved Michael. It’s Willow’s lack of empathy toward Michael that is really shocking to Carly.”

All’s Fair In Love And War: Nina and Carly’s latest argument got heated with a little help from stunt doubles Kara Smith (who stood in for Nina) and Heather Laura Bonomo (who stood in for Carly).