General Hospital's Scarlett Spears Opens Up to TV Dad Maurice Benard About the Fear She Couldn't Shake
General Hospital’s Scarlett Spears, who plays Donna, opened up to her TV dad Maurice Benard on his podcast, revealing she fears being ignored and the uneasy quiet of being alone—so much that she asks her parents to keep the TV on while she plays.
On General Hospital, Scarlett Spears plays Donna. Off screen, she just had a surprisingly honest chat with her TV dad, Maurice Benard, on his 'State of Mind' podcast. The topic? That very real kid fear of being alone and feeling like no one is listening. Silence, as it turns out, is not her friend.
What Scarlett shared
Benard asked if anything in life makes her sad, and Spears did not dodge the question. She said what really gets to her is feeling ignored — that moment when it seems like no one is listening. She clarified that the scary part is being alone, like sitting in her bedroom by herself.
Her workaround is simple and honestly pretty relatable: background noise. She said she often asks her parents to leave the TV on while she plays with her dolls, because the voices make the room feel less empty — like people are around.
'When I hear voices, it feels like people are actually in the room with me. So I don't feel scared.'
Benard's response
Benard told her he gets it — he has struggled with quiet too and watched a lot of TV for the same reason. His advice, though, was to not take that ignored feeling personally and to practice being okay with the quiet. As he put it, you shouldn't need to flick the TV on every time the room goes quiet. When you&aposre playing or just sitting by yourself, what you need is 'Yourself. That's it.'
It's a quick, thoughtful exchange between a young actor and her on-screen dad that lands somewhere between sweet and pretty insightful: she explained what scares her, he offered empathy and a nudge toward getting comfortable with the silence.