General Hospital's Robert Gossett on Marshall: "He’s Gotten to a Crossroads in His Life"
On General Hospital, Marshall (Robert Gossett) is finally coming clean with his family about why he stayed away for so many years. Gossett spoke to Soap Opera Digest about Marshall's conflicting emotions about sharing his schizophrenia diagnosis with Curtis (Donnell Turner).
Why is Marshall ready to tell Curtis his story at this point in time? Gossett revealed:
I think he’s gotten to a crossroads in his life and he had to decide what was more important. This secret, this shame? I thought about that as I’ve been doing the part. Mental illness, even today, is something a lot of people hide. Would I want someone to know I’m schizophrenic or would I just keep it quiet? People have their own ideas about what that is, and you wind up holding it close to your vest. So, that moment for Marshall was, ‘I’m just going to put it out there and hope you can still love me.’ So, Marshall does that, and thank God, Curtis says, ‘You’re my dad and I still love you now that I know the truth.’
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How does Marshall feel when Curtis accepts him? Gossett explained:
It’s a relief, of course. I think it raises the esteem that Marshall has for his son, Curtis. When you are able to lay something that heavy on someone and they respond in a mature, thoughtful, caring way, that’s big. It gives Marshall an appreciation for who his son has become. And not just his son, but TJ [Tahj Bellow], Stella [Vernee Watson]— who his family actually is. He realizes, ‘I am part of this wonderful family and I’ve been hiding this from them for all these years.’
The actor, a Daytime Emmy nominee this year for his work on GH, added:
And maybe there is some sort of regret that, ‘I’ve been such a fool to not trust that there was all of this love and understanding and compassion that was always available to me. But in my haste, in my need to protect my family, in my fear of what schizophrenia is, I ran away.’ He ran away from the family in order to protect them from what he thought was ugliness, yet what his family is saying is, ‘We don’t care!’ And that is a wonderful thing for him, to know his family would have accepted him no matter what he may have become.
