Kelly Monaco and Billy Miller (GH’s Sam and Drew) took New York City by storm on February 24, entertaining fans at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater, where Once In A Lifetime Events held their “Killy Live” appearance. Here are some of the juiciest takeaways from their onstage interviews with Digest’s Mara Levinsky.
1. He remembers their first meeting — but she doesn’t!
The pair was introduced years before Miller joined Monaco as a GH cast member in 2014. “We have a lot of mutual friends,” Miller shared, “and I met her in Vegas once. I thought she was absolutely stunning and gorgeous and she doesn’t remember me — so, so much for that fairy tale!” The first meeting she can recall took place at a horse racetrack — and as she drove home, she recalled, “I remember looking at [him] in my rearview mirror, and he had said he had left Y&R [as Billy] and I said, ‘He’s going to come on to play Jason.’ ” “The next day,” picked up Miller, “She was like, ‘You should come to GH and play Jason,’ and I was like, ‘What?!’ And that’s kind of how it all started! She called Frank [Valentini, executive producer] and said, ‘Hire this guy.’ ” Monaco added, “He has three Emmys, so it wasn’t really difficult [to argue the case to Valentini].”
2. They made a pact to both enter this year’s Daytime Emmy race.
“I made her a promise that if she submitted, then I would do it,” he explained (they both earned prenominations in the Lead Acting categories). When she said she’d been worried about her ability to pull off the toxoplasmosis storyline, Miller proclaimed, “You pulled it off. I just got out of your way!”
3. They help choreograph their love scenes.
Miller insisted that there is “nothing sexy about a sex scene,” noting, “You’ve got boom guys [and crew guys], people sniffling in the background offstage and there you are, in your skivvies and they’re going, ‘You did it wrong.’ ‘What do you mean, I did it wrong? Do I come to your house and tell you you did it wrong?’ ” He took some good-natured ribbing from Monaco for caressing his own leg during their characters’ first love scene, but she also praised him for coming up with the ender for the scene, “when we were curled up in a ball, which I thought was the sweetest part.”
4. They set off alarms during the show’s holiday party at the GH studio when they went to the roof to shoot a “Killy Live” promo.
“I was not kidding when I said [online] we were almost in serious trouble,” Monaco groaned.
5. They’re each other’s biggest fans.
Miller said of Monaco, “She is fortunate genetically; she could be one of those people in L.A. you just couldn’t bear. But she’s actually just a very sweet, open, warm person that doesn’t seem to have a mean bone in her body.” He added, “It is a great joy working in my career with Kelly because she is dedicated and raw and real.” Monaco told him, “Your smile lights up the whole room. You are hysterical; you make me laugh. And especially when we have really brutal days at work and you have to be around someone 24/7, basically, I would, like, choose to be handcuffed to you.”
6. She prophesized back in high school that she would end up on GH.
“My high school self knew I was not going to be in the Poconos too long,” Monaco mused. “I think I manifested my dreams and I went for it, I went after it. I remember telling someone I was going to be on GENERAL HOSPITAL and it was a total lie. I manifested it!”
7. They’ve both hooked up with a co-star.
That was one admission made during a round of “Never Have I Ever” — and they also copped to having to do kissing scenes with co-stars they didn’t want to kiss and coming to work still drunk from the night before. “I did [a] show in Vegas for four months!” Monaco offered by way of explanation. Miller said, “I was working on ALL MY CHILDREN [as Richie] and I kind of lost track of time. ‘Oh, shoot! It’s two hours before I have to be at work!’ ”
8. Miller is just as curious as viewers about Drew’s missing years.
“That’s the million dollar question,” Miller noted. “I did decide to stay [when my GH contract expired last year] because I got input into the character, I got to work with [Monaco], which was important to me…. I’d really love to see what they write for his backstory, what his memories might be. I’m sure he’s seen some stuff that is going to be fun to play.” He waved away Monaco’s worry that Drew might have another wife out there, joking, “I’ll just have to write her a Dear John letter and say, ‘Bye!’ ” Monaco allowed that Sam is probably afraid to find out about Drew’s past. “I think Sam feels confused and afraid of a lot of things right now. I think she’s afraid of her past and what’s potentially happening and his past and what potentially happened in that, because they’ve both moved on, these two characters, and evolved and have grown together. That is soap gold, basically!”
9. Miller thinks Jason and Drew both have reason to be jealous of each other.
“We both actually have something the other one wants — not just the woman. He [Jason] didn’t have these last few years. How do you compete with that? How do I compete with [what he and Sam shared]? I think it’s going to be very interesting — and I don’t think it’s going to end in a handshake.
10. The chances of them getting married in real life? “Zero,” according to Monaco.
The actress asserted, “I don’t believe in marriage, so there is absolutely no chance that I will marry Billy Miller.” “Well, guess I can put the ring back in the drawer!” he responded. Monaco said she sees fans’ desire for them to be an off-screen duo as “a testament to what is shown on-screen and the connection that we share as actors. If y’all are digging it so much you actually want us to be a couple in real life, then we’re doing our job.”
11. They both hope fans will be kinder online.
“As some of you might have noticed, y’all get a little mean with each other on that Twitter,” Miller observed. “That needs to die down. We’re all actors. I wear makeup for a living! Steve Burton [Jason] wears makeup for a living.” Monaco acknowledged that she’s affected by nasty posts about her on social media. “I don’t mind bashing the character. I don’t mind that, go at it, call Sam whatever you want — but of course, I’m a human being; I don’t like to be bullied. I don’t like to be abused and that’s verbal abuse and it’s scary and I don’t like it. It keeps me away from social media.”
12. Monaco thinks Julian deserves a second chance from Sam.
“I think one of Sam’s major character-building moments is not having a father figure in her life, so I would love for them to eventually explore having an honest relationship [with Julian],” Monaco offered. “Everybody deserves a chance, right? I think he deserves a chance and I would love to see some sort of father/daughter relationship. I think it could help Sam in a way where she could evolve, too.”
13. Monaco has taken over Miller’s dressing room.
“I actually don’t have my own dressing room!” he mock-complained. “I had one, but it’s Kelly’s [now].”
14. They don’t get much of a heads-up about future storyline.
“I got the warning with the toxoplasmosis,” Monaco said. “Yeah, because you had to learn how to say it!” exclaimed Miller. “And then on top of that, you had to say encephalitis — and let me tell you how fun that is at 7 in the morning!” He said that actors aren’t informed about long-term story plans in part because “things change. I think soaps are kind of like the original SURVIVOR, trying not to get voted off the island [based on] what plays on-screen, what doesn’t. It’s fluid.”
15. Miller had to learn to interpret Monaco’s vernacular.
“Kelly has her own language,” Miller reported. “I’m not joking. One day she was like, ‘This is going to be easy. It’s going to be like a walk in the forest, a walk in the woods!’ ‘It’s going to be a walk in the woods?! Do I need a gun? Are there going to be bears? Oh, you mean a walk in the park?’ It takes a while to figure out.”
16. Miller took Burton’s return as Jason in stride.
“I’ve worked with Steve. I’ve had many beers with Steve,” said Miller. “He grew up on the show, I’m glad he’s able to continue to work.” While he enjoyed his time as Jason (“I was hired to play Jason but not in the same way; we wanted to bring back some of the Quartermaine personality and I think we succeeded”), he admits, “I also had issues with the Jason character. I couldn’t figure it out, like, ‘So wait, he’s got brain damage, he can’t feel anything, but he cries a lot? And he was born rich and suddenly he’s this badass because he got in an accident? I don’t understand!’ ” Burton reclaiming the character opened up new avenues for Miller’s own GH role. “What’s exciting is that we talked about, ‘Well, what would you want to do?’ ” In creating Drew, Miller was interested in exploring his vulnerabilities. “Outside of wearing Spandex and a cape, Jason was a little bit too much hero,” he opined. “I kind of like to see flaws in people and I think when Steve and I are together and playing off each other it might be very interesting because it’s not a guarantee if either of us would win in a fight —and we’re fighting over her!” He pooh-poohed the notion of tension between them. “Steve Burton is not Jason Morgan, I’m not Jason Morgan.” Nodded Monaco, “It’s a soap opera! We want to tell a good story and keep it dramatic. There’s room for everyone!”
