‘General Hospital’ Star Genius Francis Denounces Luke Laura Date Rape

If there’s a defining moment in American soap operas, it’s Luke and Laura’s wedding on General Hospital. The supercouple’s wedding (played by Anthony Geary and Genie Francis) was a huge televised event when it aired in November 1981. It brought 30 million viewers to the ABC series and made the duo one of the most iconic couples in soap history.

But as famous and popular as the couple is, their relationship started on an extremely ugly note. In an October 1979 episode, Luke raped her, and although the show originally played her that way, the event was later deemed to be a “seduction” due to the pairing’s popularity. Though the characters stayed together for years and their love story was an important part of the series until Geary left the cast in 2015, the attack cast a huge shadow over the rest of their storylines. And Francis, reflecting on the scene decades later, doesn’t think the plot should be defended.

Francis, now 60, spoke about the rape scene during the “General Hospital” panel at the ABC Television Critics Association’s winter press conference. Francis said she was 17 when she filmed the scene and did not understand the gravity of the event she was portraying. But looking back, she said the scene was “inappropriate” and refused to defend it any longer.

“As a little kid of 17, I was told to play rape and I played it and I didn’t know what it was. At 60, I don’t feel the need to defend that anymore,” Francis said at the TCA panel. “The story was inappropriate and I don’t condone it. It was a burden I had to carry trying to justify this story and that’s why I don’t do it anymore. When a woman says no, she should be listened to. When you act out that scene, not only does she say no, she screams ‘no’.”

Francis has had an on-off relationship with General Hospital since she first left the series in 1984 and reappeared for a lengthy period from 1993 to 2002, followed by guest appearances in 2006, 2008 and 2013. Since 2015, when she starred as As part of Luke’s exit storyline, Francis co-starred on the soap opera, with Laura becoming mayor of the fictional city of Port Charles and remarried psychiatrist Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom).

“General Hospital” airs weekdays on ABC. The series celebrates its 60th anniversary on April 1, with celebrations beginning in late March and a special honoring the late cast member Sonya Eddy, followed by the annual Nurses Ball storyline and the return of former cast member Jane Eliot. Showrunner Frank Valentini is executive producing the series, while Chris Van Etten and Dan O’Connor serve as co-head writers.

Tony Maglio contributed to the coverage.

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