WATCH: Maurice Benard Talks How Mental Health Has Helped His Career and GH Retirement Plans (VIDEO)

WATCH: Maurice Benard Talks How Mental Health Has Helped His Career and GH Retirement Plans (VIDEO) originally appeared on Daytime Confidential.

General Hospital‘s Maurice Benard (Sonny) appeared on a recent episode of Soapy Hosted by Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart, where he discussed his more than 30 years in the daytime genre and also how his mental health has driven his work and career. During the interview, Benard talked about how he uses his own issues with bipolar disorder and anxiety to bring more of a optimistic mental and emotional outlook via his podcast State Of Mind with Maurice Benard. The Emmy Award-winning actor explained how he just let his guests be themselves and steered them during the conversation in order to let their stories be heard. Benard stated:

I always felt like, take my ego out, because I have somewhat of an ego. So let’s take that out and let you be the star and I just guide you.

Later on, Benard talked about the possibility of retiring from his legendary role as Port Charles’ dimpled Dapper Don. Is retirement on the horizon? Benard explained:

I don’t know, in all honesty, if I can last that long, and not because I don’t want to. People are going to get mad at me for saying this, but I’m always just going to be honest. I don’t think mentally if I can keep going that long, and I don’t know if I could act on GH if I’m not at least at 90 percent. That’s the truth. Right now, I’m 62. Maybe another couple of years, three years, and then we’ll see what happens.

Watch Benard’s full episode below.

This story was originally reported by Daytime Confidential on Aug 5, 2025, where it first appeared.