Kimberly McCullough (ex-Robin, General Hospital) pays tribute to Tyler Christopher. Read here...
Tyler Christopher, who was well-known for his portrayal of Nikolas Cassadine on General Hospital and Stefan DiMera on Days of Our Lives, passed away on October 31, 2023, at the age of 50. The news of his passing was shared in a statement released on the Instagram account of his former General Hospital co-star, Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos). The soap community has been deeply affected by Christopher's death, and his former colleagues have been paying heartfelt tributes to him. Kimberly McCullough, who played Robin Scorpio Drake, paid tribute to her former co-star and good friend.
In a series of videos on her Instagram account, she said: "I want to talk about Tyler Christopher, the person. If you are a fan of his or even if you knew him personally, go on a walk with me," she opened. She went to share, "I first met Tyler when I was about sixteen and as some of you may know, Nikolas and Robin had a friendship, a very sweet friendship, but so did Kimberly and Tyler. We were a part of this acting class where I met a lot of my really good friends and we were also part of a friend group. Once, when I was going through a breakup, It was a really hard time in my life. I was extremely lonely and he apologized to me for not being there for me, and he said I hope you'll forgive me. It made me feel like I wasn't crazy, that I was loved, and that Tyler really was my friend. I mean, what 20-something-year-old TV star at the height of his career says the words, 'I hope you'll forgive me?' But that was the kind of friendship we had, Tyler was like a big brother to me and things were never romantic between us, which was great. It made our friendship even that much sweeter and simpler."
"Tyler always supported me when I wanted to make a transition into directing. He could see it as clearly as I could. He would always say yeah, go go go, keep going. I know you're going to do it. He even went so far as to put me up in his house in Austin, Texas, while we were shooting a TV show. I was shadowing on an ABC family show, and he totally took care of me while I was there. He would even make coffee in the morning before he go to work and leave me a little note like see you at work. He was just thoughtful."
McCullough also noted that Tyler had a great sense of humor. "I remember Finola [Anna, GH] came up to me one day after working with him and she was like, 'I didn't know he was so funny.' She was like 'Tyler is so clever; he just says this stuff under his breath and so if you're not listening very carefully, you'll miss it.' I was like 'I know, I know, no one knows he is freaking stand-up comedian in the body of a prince'. Tyler was like so funny. He would tell these stories and my stomach would hurt so bad. I would cry like those cartoons where the tears shoot out of the side of your eyes."
"So, I guess my point to all of this is to tell you that even though Tyler had his own struggles. he found a way to be all these things for me as a friend. He found a way to be empathetic, generous and had a way of just making me laugh like no one else could. We share a love of hip hop, we shared a love of dogs, we shared of love of finding the emotional truths in our craft. Even though I am super sad today, I am so grateful I got to know someone like that and grateful that I got to have a good friend for over 30 years. Rest in peace man," she emotionally concluded.
(Photo: JPI)
"Tyler always supported me when I wanted to make a transition into directing. He could see it as clearly as I could. He would always say yeah, go go go, keep going. I know you're going to do it. He even went so far as to put me up in his house in Austin, Texas, while we were shooting a TV show. I was shadowing on an ABC family show, and he totally took care of me while I was there. He would even make coffee in the morning before he go to work and leave me a little note like see you at work. He was just thoughtful."
McCullough also noted that Tyler had a great sense of humor. "I remember Finola [Anna, GH] came up to me one day after working with him and she was like, 'I didn't know he was so funny.' She was like 'Tyler is so clever; he just says this stuff under his breath and so if you're not listening very carefully, you'll miss it.' I was like 'I know, I know, no one knows he is freaking stand-up comedian in the body of a prince'. Tyler was like so funny. He would tell these stories and my stomach would hurt so bad. I would cry like those cartoons where the tears shoot out of the side of your eyes."
"So, I guess my point to all of this is to tell you that even though Tyler had his own struggles. he found a way to be all these things for me as a friend. He found a way to be empathetic, generous and had a way of just making me laugh like no one else could. We share a love of hip hop, we shared a love of dogs, we shared of love of finding the emotional truths in our craft. Even though I am super sad today, I am so grateful I got to know someone like that and grateful that I got to have a good friend for over 30 years. Rest in peace man," she emotionally concluded.
(Photo: JPI)
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