Lexi Ainsworth Talks Life After General Hospital and More! (EXCLUSIVE)

Lexi Ainsworth discusses life after General Hospital, the best of Kristina, and plans for the future! Read more here >>

Photo: DAVID-SIMON DAYAN



Lexi Ainsworth (former Kristina, General Hospital) sat down with Soap Opera News recently to discuss life past Port Charles, the best part of playing Kristina, and her big plans for the future.




When asked about how she's been, Ainsworth, a travel enthusiast, replied, "I've been good. Dang busy. I've been traveling a lot." Her recent travel was for a close friend's wedding in New Orleans, which was a memorable experience. Ainsworth hadn't been to New Orleans since her friend's freshman year for Mardi Gras, so it was nice to visit again.







It was captivating to hear Ainsworth speak about her passion for traveling. When asked what makes it so intriguing for her, she explained that it's all about meeting new people from around the world. "Meeting all the different people from all over the world, exchanging stories, hearing their perspective on life, just immersing myself in the culture, like food and music and the architecture. I just think it really makes me a more open-minded person and gets me outside of my comfort zone sometimes. And I think that's always important." Ainsworth has been fortunate enough to travel to many fascinating places, but her dream destination is Japan. Although she had hoped to visit for her 30th birthday, the timing didn't work out due to her frequent travels. "I really wanted to go for my 30th, but it just didn't make sense because I had already been traveling so much. So maybe probably not this year because my birthday is coming up next month, but that is the bucket list. Okay. I haven't really explored Asia."



Ainsworth portrayed Kristina Corinthos-Davis on General Hospital for several years and earned a Daytime Emmy award in 2017 for her outstanding performance as a younger actress in a drama series. During our conversation, we inquired about her preferred storylines from the show. "Well, I think going back, like, way back, the teenage storyline was one of the most challenging storylines and the one that I was nominated for the first time," she admitted. "That was a really special experience, I think, because we got to play the story out in real-time. It went on for several months, and I think it was an important story to share. I mean, a lot of the stories that I've gotten to play, especially when Kristina came out, that was another big one that was really honored to have that responsibility to share that story and to portray a character that was going through that and coming out to her family. At least those are probably the two most for me, the most special and important stories that I got to tell."




Earlier this year in May, Kate Mansi took over the role of Kristina. Ainsworth mentioned that she and Mansi know each other. "We won Emmys the same year, so we met backstage. We both did The Talk a while ago and we're friends on Instagram and we stay in touch kind of via social media. We've hung out a few times. We live kind of nearby each other, though I haven't seen her in a few years."




Curious about the recast, we asked Ainsworth if they discussed the character. She replied: "Ah, no, not really. I don't think there's really anything to discuss because she's going to make it her own, and as she should, because she has something new to bring to it, which I think could be really exciting for the fans to see, taking it in another direction. So, yeah, no, I don't think there was really anything that needed to be said about the character. It was a lot of fun to play her for all these years. She'll always have a piece of my heart. She'll always be with me, and it was such an amazing experience to have played her for the amount of time that I did, which was a lot of people don't get that lucky to be on a show for ten years. So I'm just really grateful for that whole experience and the people that I got to work with."




Ainsworth still keeps in touch with a number of her friends over at GH. "I keep in touch with Kelly [Monaco] and I keep in touch with Nancy [Lee Grahn] and Maurice [Benard] a bit. Kately [MacMullen]," she said. She also admitted, "It's funny, because I feel like a lot of the people that I hang out with outside of the show are people that I didn't really work with that much. I don't think I had any scenes with Katelyn, maybe one scene with Katelyn, but we hang out quite a bit. We'll go on hikes a lot. And then Brytni Sarpy, who's no longer on General Hospital, but Y&R, and then Lizzie Hendrickson, I used to see her a bit, but with a baby, things have changed a bit. She's busy with that, but we kind of check in every now and again. So, yeah, quite a few!" And when she thinks of the cast and crew of the ABC daytime drama, Ainsworth noted, "We’ll always be family."






When asked if she would consider doing another soap opera, she said, "I would be open to it." She has a number of friends over at The Young and the Restless, so that would be a plus. "I've got quite a few people, quite a few friends on Y&R. Jason Thompson's over there, Brytni Sarpy's over there. And Lizzie is also there. I had two potential opportunities to work over there in the past, so I know that that could be a possibility, maybe at some point later down the line. I'm open to it."






As for other projects, she admits a few are in the pipeline, but the recent strike has made things hard. "Yeah, that's kind of halted a lot of different projects. It's not stopping me from continuing to work, collaborating with other people on other projects, some unscripted projects that I'm working on. So that's kind of what my focus is right now." She then revealed, "We're supposed to film a movie, but that's postponed until we get clearance. That'll be filmed in Oklahoma, so it's a thriller film called Masterpiece. So when that gets up and running, I'll be sharing more about that. I'll be producing and acting in that."






Getting to know Ainsworth outside of her love for acting and travels. She told us, "You guys probably also know that I used to teach yoga, so yoga is a very big part of my life. Getting back into that again, back into my practice, and also working on a project that I'll get to incorporate my training. So I'm excited to share that when that is completed. Yoga is a very big part of my life. I love hiking. I love dancing. I grew up in ballet. I haven't done that in a while. But just kind of dancing for fun." Ainsworth is also a big lover of cooking, "It's very therapeutic for me. And another way that I like, I don't like to follow a recipe, so I just find whatever's in my fridge and just kind of throw things together. So it's like another way that I get to be creative. It's like, oh, this is about to expire. So I guess I'll try to improvise here. Writing is something I'm very interested in doing more of this year."






Winding down, Ainsworth could not go without leaving a message for her many fans who have continued to support her throughout the years. "Well, I just want to thank everyone, all the fans, for supporting me through the ups and downs of my career. Their loyalty and love of the show and of Kristina and of me and just how supportive they have been throughout the years means so much to me. And I hope I'll get to connect more with the fans at some point soon and be able to share things that are coming up and, yeah, just thanks for being on this journey with me."



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