A sweet family reunion went down on the set of General Hospital.
Upon joining the cast of the ABC soap opera, Erika Slezak got the chance to reunite with her former TV son, Chris McKenna. McKenna previously portrayed Joey Buchanan, the son of Slezak’s Victoria Lord, on One Life to Live from 1990 to 1993.
“[Access Hollywood] did a feature on Erika Slezak and this was the segment where they covered our history. ❤️🥹,” McKenna captioned a Tuesday, September 30, Threads post featuring a video of the moment he and Slezak reunited on the GH set. While posing for photos, Slezak adorably asked if they could take one of her kissing McKenna on the cheek.
“She was like a second mother to me,” McKenna told the outlet in an interview before noting that he was “gonna cry.” Reflecting on his OLTL days, he added, “On the first day on set, she was so warm and she was so helpful to me as a young actor and as a young man.”
Slezak also opened up about the pair’s reunion, telling the outlet, “When I saw him today, he’s this unbelievably handsome, tall, gorgeous guy with his own family. And I thought, ‘My little Joey.’”
Last month, McKenna shared a behind-the-scenes selfie he took with Slezak on the GH set via Instagram. “Just indescribable having Erika here. To be meeting my family after so many decades apart is incredible,” he captioned the September 22 post. “My two moms and the mother of my son together. So grateful. #OLTL #GH.”
Since scoring his first major role on OLTL, McKenna booked guest roles on several shows, including, That ’70s Show, Touched by an Angel, Private Practice, House, Castle, 90210, The Bold and the Beautiful, Grimm, Major Crimes, and S.W.A.T. McKenna also scored recurring roles on series such as State of Affairs, The Young and the Restless, and Good Trouble before taking over for Charles Mesure as Jack Brennan on GH earlier this year.
Slezak — who appeared on OLTL until its end in 2013 — made her GH debut as Veronica Bard, the younger sister of Leslie Charleson‘s Monica, late last month. In an August interview with Woman’s World, McKenna joked that he would “attack” executive producer Frank Valentini if he didn’t put his character “in at least one scene” with Slezak.
“I can’t wait to see her in the hallway. It’s going to be hard for me not to cry,” McKenna continued. “It’ll be special to finally see her again, and I just want to say one word with her on camera. Let me ask her where the bathroom is. Anything!”
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