General Hospital's Maurice Benard And Lilly Melgar Take A Walk Down Memory Lane With Us! Exclusive!

General Hospital's Maurice Benard And Lilly Melgar Take A Walk Down Memory Lane With Us! Learn More Here>>>

On May 31st, 1996, fans of General Hospital were rocked when a car bomb exploded, killing Lily Rivera Corinthos (Lilly Melgar) and her unborn child, as husband Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) looked on in devastation! The explosion brought about an end to the triangle between Lily, Sonny and Brenda and scarred Sonny in ways he stills carries to this day. 

Actors Maurice Benard, who plays Sonny Corinthos and Lilly Melgar, who played Lily Rivera-Corinthos, chimed in to give us some insight into their personal relationship, the relationship between their characters and other fun snippets about this classic storyline and it's explosive climax!

When asked about the emotions surrounding the storyline, they shared:

Maurice Benard: "It was a very emotional storyline. I had to go from one woman who was right for me and one woman that I wanted more."

Lilly Melgar: "One would think I would have been heartbroken at the time but the truth is that I knew it was an epic storyline. I mean … we’re 'still' talking about it! If I was going to ‘go’, I couldn’t have thought of a better way. The writing was absolutely beautiful and what an impact it had for both Lily lovers and haters!"

We also asked them to weigh in on the debate about whether Sonny loved Lily or not:

Maurice: "I always say love the one you’re with. Sonny loved Lily but he wasn’t in love with Lily."

Lilly: "To answer this properly, one would need to define ‘love’. The facts are that Sonny felt safe with Lily. He trusted her. He never turned on her, he always defended her, protected her and took her side. He was his best self with her. Sweet, kind, caring, warm, protective and vulnerable. The fact is that when Lily left him, there’s this beautiful scene of him going after her on the plane. He was on his knees, proclaiming his love for her. He absolutely loved her. He chose her. What he had with Brenda was obsessive & dysfunctional and as much as people loved it … is that ‘love’?"

If Lily and the baby had lived, would they have had a boy or a girl and what would their child's name be?

Maurice: "I think they would’ve had a little girl and named her Lily."

Lilly: "They would have had a girl and she would have softened him even more. They would have named her after Sonny’s mom. He would have insisted that her middle name was in honor of Lily’s mother."

If Lily was going to be brought back from the dead, how would you like to see it done?

Maurice: "As a ghost to talk to Sonny in flashbacks as a great friend."

Lilly: "I have heard so many great storylines from fans on this subject. Yes… Lily actually had fans lol. What surprises me the most is that most of the Lily fans I’m aware of, were MEN! I’m sorry to disappoint, but I don’t know if I’d want that storyline at all. It’s been such a pivotal part of the evolution of the character of Sonny that it almost doesn’t seem right to mess with that."

We asked them about working with each other and their personal relationship and this is what they shared:

Maurice: "Lilly was incredible, a sponge. She took everything in and delivered. She’s a good friend of mine."

Lilly: "I’ve been very vocal about working with Maurice. I think most people know by now the story of how I manifested working with him and the impact he had on my growth as an actress.

I loved working with him, our evolving friendship, the immediate connection and trust we had. I loved being taken under his wing and knowing we had each other’s backs. I loved how much fun we had and yet how seriously we took our storylines.

My first day acting with Maurice was a dream come true for me. After 5 scenes that day, him, Steve (Burton who played Jason) and Wally (Kurth who plays Ned) came knocking on my dressing room to welcome me and tell me what a great job I had done. I was so moved by them doing that. Maurice was asking me how I did 'beats' and I innocently answered, 'I don’t even know what they are'. I was green. I had a very good acting day and he was so impressed he literally asked for a storyline with me. You have no idea what that meant to me at the time. Again, it was my dream to work with ‘him’. He quickly learned that I really didn’t know what I was doing and I wasn’t always as good as that first day! So that’s when he took me under his wing and helped me grow. Forever grateful . He is still one of my favorite people."

Finally we asked them if they had anything to say to the fans:

Maurice: "Thanks to the fans for being so loyal. No better fans than General Hospital fans."

Lilly: "To the Lily and Sonny fans, I love you! Thank you for all the years of love I’ve received. Grateful you got what we tried creating together. What a great time in our lives that was."

A very big thank you to Maurice Benard and Lilly Melgar for taking this trip down memory lane with us! Before you go, please enjoy the clip of this iconic scene posted below!