Exclusive: GH's Kate Mansi On What Lies Ahead For Kristina

ABC

Little Girl Lost: Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) tried to console a devastated Kristina (Kate Mansi).

General Hospital 's Kate Mansi will long remember the intense days of shooting surrounding a pregnant Kristina's plunge out of Ava's room and into the Metro Court pool and the hectic drama that ensued, from Kristina being raced to the hospital, to the emergency efforts to save the baby, to Kristina reeling from the tragic news that the little girl she was carrying did not survive. She opened up to Soap Opera Digest about the heartbreaking story turn and what it portends for her character's future.

Soap Opera Digest: What stands out to you about filming the aftermath of the dramatic fall?

Kate Mansi: It was a crazy few days. On our third day of shooting, that's when Eden [McCoy, Josslyn] had to jump in and try to save me, and I thought that was a cool thing, to see their characters in action that way. I mean, Kristina was unconscious, but it was just this very human moment, since the characters have had so much strife before. As an actor, it's so weird, because first of all, you're soaking wet the entire day because you've fallen into a pool, and you're just trying not to shiver and shake all day. And then they loaded me onto a stretcher, which was a very weird experience because you can only see above you. All this stuff is moving around you, and the [pool] set is raised, and there's the director and camera and lighting [crew members] below you. When I was on the stretcher and everyone was moving around and they were moving the stretcher, it did give me a little bit of a phobia. I mean, of course, they locked it in place, but I was strapped into this thing and I didn't know where the edge of the set was. It was very sweet because Dom [Zamprogna, Dante] — who is my big brother on the show and also my buddy on set — would always have a hand on my arm and just be like, "You're good, you're cool." He was sort of like my eyes and ears that day. When I was like, "Am I too close to the edge [of the set]?," he was like, "No, you're good. I got you." And then at one point, I was like, "Can you please just stand there," like between this structure and the edge of the set, "so that I don't have to worry?" And he very kindly did that for me between takes and I felt so much more secure.

Digest: You had some really lovely scenes this past week at the hospital between the sisters, Kristina and Molly. What were those like to do with Kristen Vaganos (Molly)?

Kate Mansi: Oh, my gosh, those were really tough. They were so well-written with Molly, like, rushing in and Kristina is still sort of coming to, and Kristina immediately goes to the baby — "We lost the baby, our baby girl," and Kristina is beating herself up — "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" — and Molly, without thinking, is about to say, "Kristina, this isn't your fault," but she stops herself. That's how Kristen played it, that at that moment, it hits her really hard, like, "I don't know know if it was her fault or not! My sister is so unpredictable and she was angry, I don't really know what happened. Maybe this is her fault!" I thought Kristen did such an amazing job with those scenes.

Digest: Then you had some intense scenes with Nancy Lee Grahn (Alexis).

Mansi: Yeah, after Molly goes, Kristina goes into this really dark, hopeless, depress frame of mind, and is really just in the depths of despair and her mom comes in and consoles her. I will tell you that when Nancy Lee Grahn is giving me this beautiful speech about how sorry she is and she starts to cry, when we finished taping, I looked at her and went, "Oh, Nancy, you have feelings?!" She, like, died laughing and was like, "Oh, stop it." But we're not used to that [vulnerability] from Alexis, which I thought was so cool, because that's sort of how tragedy and trauma work. It spares no one. No one is exempt and you get to see even the strongest people have these really vulnerable emotions, which is so powerful. There are more scenes like that coming, and I hope the fans will find some meaning in them and see themselves in it.

Digest: Is it safe to say that this is a character-defining moment for Kristina, one that is going to alter how she moves through the world moving forward?

Mansi : Absolutely. In the scenes and episodes that follow immediately after, there are so many moments where you will start to see Kristina's whole personality shift in a way that's like, "Oh, this was sort of a loss of innocence and a fall from grace." I don't now if she's ever going to be the same, and even the scenes she has with her dad, with Sonny, there's a moment where it's like, "Whoa, is is she going to suddenly justify going after people?" You see her trying to almost bargain with her loss by seeking revenge and by all these different avenues that feel a bit out of character.

Digest: Are you excited to dig into these new facets of Kristina?

Mansi: I am so excited. You know, I took Courtney Hope [Sally, Young and Restless ] to go work out with me and we were catching up and she was like, "Oh, how's it going with the loss of the baby?" and she was asking me, "How did it happen?" And I was like, "Oh, it was this whole thing, I fell out of a window, and then I fell into the pool," and the women at this, like, peaceful, Zen studio must have been like, "Who are these women?!" But Courtney has been in a similar storyline [Sally lost her daughter, Ava, last year], and we were sort of commiserating about how you yearn for those kind of heavy, gritty storylines, and then, when you're in it, you're like, "Oh, God! I can't wait to do something light!" And then when you get to the other side, you're like, "Oh, I want to do something gritty!" I definitely acknowledge the absurdity there! But I really am loving Kristina's journey right now.