‘General Hospital’ Star Reacts to Character Being Killed Off: ‘I’m Sad’
The Doctor Is In
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From what she wrote on social media, General Hospital alum Tonja Walker was as surprised as fans were to learn that Olivia Jerome, her character on the ABC soap, had apparently met her demise in prison.
“Looks like I died,” Walker wrote in an X thread on Thursday. “Oh, what a rip! I wish we could have actually shot some great story, but again, another missed opportunity… unless it’s not. I guess you never know. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
In a follow-up post, she wrote, “I’m sad that they apparently killed off Olivia. I love ABC, Disney, [and] that job! Decades I’ve loved working for them. Sending love and good wishes to them all.”
After one fan pointed out that the news of Olivia’s death is just hearsay, Walker responded, “Well, if you see the body, let me know! They’d owe a check! Even [if] it’s AI! … If it’s true, it’s kind of sad.”
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And when another fan asked if Walker thought Olivia was really dead, the actor replied, “I have zero idea! But it would be fun to see the story and not hear it from the morgue, right?”
Walker — who also played Lizbeth Bachman on the ‘80s soap Capitol and Alex Olanov on One Life to Live — joined General Hospital in 1988 as Olivia, the daughter of mob boss Victor Jerome (Jack Axelrod). Olivia battled for power with brother Julian Jerome (played by Jason Culp at the time) and half-brother Dino (Chris DeRose), as Soaps in Depth recaps.
In that original run, Olivia survived an assassination attempt by Dino, and after her father’s death, she refused to join in Julian’s revenge scheme against Duke Lavery (Ian Buchanan), her lover. And so Julian kidnapped and seemingly killed her in a 1990 episode.
But Walker returned to the show in 2017 as Olivia was revealed to be alive. During that stint on the show, Olivia ordered a hit that killed Morgan Corinthos (Bryan Craig) and abducted Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough) and Griffin Monro (Matt Cohen) in an attempt to resurrect Duke, Griffin’s father. Eventually, however, Olivia was arrested and institutionalized.
Fast-forward to Thursday’s General Hospital installment: Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) gets a shocking call about a prisoner in Pentonville, and Anna Devane (Finola Hughes), once Duke’s wife, later hears from Jordan Ashford (Tanisha Harper) that Olivia has been attacked and killed behind bars, per Soaps.com.
In an X post on Friday, Walker expressed displeasure over her character’s demise — and her most recent storyline. “It doesn’t feel good to be disposed with, you know,” she wrote. “Even if it’s just a character I created. I loved her, especially the real her. The one I was before my brother killed me. The last stint was totally not Olivia, she’d gone way past that.”
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