'General Hospital' star Maurice Benard breaks down as he reunites with daughter Heather after months
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The latest episode of 'The Tamron Hall Show' was a tear-jerking one, as everyone cried after the emotional reunion of 'General Hospital' star Maurice Benard with his daughter. The March 30 episode of 'The Tamron Hall Show' was all about celebrating the 60th anniversary of the popular soap opera 'General Hospital' and the 30th anniversary of his character Sonny. During the conversation, Maurice talked about his experience on the show and how the immense contribution of his groundbreaking character changed the course of the series. But Hall had a surprise for Benard at the end that brought him to tears.
After talking about his family and his daughter Heather Andresen, Hall had her daughter's picture flash on the screen and continued talking about her when he suddenly said that Maurice Benard was not the only one who had made a trip to come to the show. He started to tell a story about Andresen before Hall interrupted him. And called Andresen to the stage.
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'These surprises kill me'
"This is her. You haven't seen her in..." Hall said to Bernard when she flashed a photo of Andresen on the screen behind them before the actor cut her off and said, "Oh, don't do that." "You haven't seen her in a long time. You've never seen her in uniform," Hall said, specifying Andresen's work with the Air Force, which had kept her away from Benard since October last year. Hall continued to talk about the father-daughter relationship and said, "You're not the only one who made a special trip today. She wanted to be here — because I know it was rough getting on that plane and coming here — your daughter, Airman First Class Heather Andresen." Bernard and Heather hugged as she came on stage, post to which teary-eyed Bernard was quite emotional and didn't believe his daughter was there with him. Bernard shared that "these surprises kill" him. "I am so proud of her. I can't talk, so can I leave?" he joked.
'Can I call you mom?'
When Bernard joked about leaving, as he was too sad to be there, Hall talked about Heather and her being adopted by Bernard when she was 15-years-old and said, "You were adopted by your half-sister, Maurice's beautiful wife, and that changed the trajectory of your lives," Hall said. She too cried at what Bernard said next, "The most beautiful thing that I shouldn't say, because I'm not going to be able to talk…" he said through tears. "When we adopted her, we were talking in the room, and Paula, my wife, and her were talking about how happy we were, and at one point [Andresen] said, 'Can I call you mom?'" The episode ended with Hall giving shoutout to Bernard's wife and kids and congratulating the entire 'General Hospital' family.