Guide to General Hospital’s Hottest Leading Man: Sonny Corinthos
Sonny Corinthos (played by Maurice Benard) has been voted the # 2 “Top Actor” for the July 18th issue of ABC Soaps in Depth and has been the most notable male star on General Hospital for the last two years. What is it about this man that makes him so dynamic, charming, and irresistible? Here is a brief look at Sonny’s history on
General
Hospital
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Sonny Corinthos (a.k.a. Michael Corinthos, Jr.) came on the scene in 1993 when he seduced Karen Wexler into stripping for him at the Paradise Lounge. Things heated up between the two, but the relationship did not last and Sonny was soon caught up in a love triangle between Brenda Barrett (played by Vanessa Marcil) and Lily Rivera.
It was his subsequent marriage to Lily Rivera that gave Sonny the position as Port Charles’ mob boss. Since then, Sonny has held control of illegal trade at the docks and has been the primary target of several DAs, detectives, and the Port Charles police commissioner. Always one step ahead of the law, Sonny has been in and out of scrapes, power plays, and legal battles (including the battle for custody of Kristina, Sonny’s daughter with the current DA Alexis Davis).
For 13 years, Sonny Corinthos has been the sexiest bad boy on ABC Daytime. While he has been married twice, he’s had numerous affairs, including mother and daughter Alexis Davis and Sam McCall, who is now the girlfriend of Sonny’s best friend, Jason Morgan.
Sonny’s most notable love affairs have been with Brenda Barrett and Carly Benson (his second wife whom he married and divorced three times). His relationship with Brenda began during his first year on the show and continued for years despite the fact that Brenda married Jasper Jacks and had a relationship with Miguel (played by pop star Ricky Martin).
The relationship between Carly and Sonny has been passionate, volatile, and marked by betrayals and infidelities-as well as serial marriages. When Carly was kidnapped by rival crime lord Lorenzo Alcazar, Sonny was shocked to find out that his wife-whom he had gone to great lengths to rescue-was now falling in love with her captor. Sonny retaliated by sleeping with Sam McCall and Reese Marshall.
Earlier this year, Sonny began a love affair with Emily Quartermaine, the adopted sister of Jason Morgan (who was born Jason Quartermaine). This pitted Sonny and Jason against one another as Jason could not allow Sonny to date Emily (despite the fact that the same situation had happened about two and a half years ago when Jason began dating Sonny’s half-sister Courtney).
Jason was not as forgiving as Sonny had been and proceeded to steal the mob business out from under his best friend until Sonny gave up his relationship with Emily. The attraction between Sonny and Emily was so strong that Sonny refused to leave her. Unable to regain control of his crime empire, Sonny gave up fighting Jason and acknowledged Jason as the new mob boss.
After loosing the business, Sonny Corinthos began having a mental breakdown, suffering from symptoms of mania and paranoia which are characteristic of bi-polar disorder (also called manic depression). Sonny has evaded Emily’s attempts at getting him treatment, frightening her by tearing up a dress that reminded him of his ex-wife, Lily Rivera; attacking Emily’s former husband, Nikolas Cassadine, for speaking to her; and physically threatening his brother, Ric Lansing.
Jason intervened by asking Carly to watch over Sonny and taking Emily to a nearby island. Unfortunately, Jason was shot trying to rescue Sam McCall from crazed killer Manny Ruiz, so Carly is currently caring for Sonny while Jason is in recovery at
General
Hospital
. The close proximity of Carly and Sonny is generating rumors of the couple reuniting.
During one of Sonny’s turbulent mood swings on July 3rd, he kissed Carly and attempted to seduce her before recovering himself and claiming that he “would not cheat on Emily”. As Emily does not return from the island until July 13th, there is definitely the possibility of a renewal of the Carly-Sonny romance.
Sonny is expected to continue to loose emotional control over the next few weeks until his family can finally convince him to receive treatment for his condition. This storyline was created because of Maurice Benard’s real battle with bi-polar disorder.
