What To Know
- General Hospital writer Sheri Anderson opened up about the 1979 Luke and Laura rape storyline.
- Anderson explained that the writers consulted therapists to ensure accuracy, but the executive producer cut significant script content.
- Anderson admitted she was wrong to previously defend it as a “seduction,” affirming it was rape.
Warning: The following post contains discussion of sexual assault.
General Hospital writer Sheri Anderson recently made a blunt confession about the controversial Luke and Laura rape storyline, 47 years after it was featured on the long-running soap opera.
During an interview on Michael Fairman Channel that live-streamed on June 11, Anderson, 77, opened up about how the episodes — which aired in 1979 and featured Luke (Anthony Geary) sexually assaulting Laura (Genie Francis) — came about. She said the head writer, Pat Falken Smith, told the writing team, “Jackie Smith, who was head of the network, wants Luke to rape Laura.”
“And we were like, ‘What? We can’t do that!’” Anderson recalled. “She said that’s what we were going to do, because we were exploring date rape for the first time.”
For the rape storyline, the Emmy-winning writer said that the team did its research into the topic, even consulting with professionals. “I would always send the script to a therapist and say, ‘Is this accurate? Is this emotionally correct?’” Anderson pointed out.
Although Anderson said the script was a “typical” 110 pages, executive producer Gloria Montyended up cutting 30 pages. “She was so intent on the rape and making it as brutal as she could. So, we were just going forward and thinking, ‘Oh, my God! That was really awful.’”
Finally, Anderson admitted that her view on the GH rape storyline has changed through the years. “I think Michele Val Jean once said to me or someone else that it upset her, that we would try to say that it was a ‘seduction’ and all of those things, because it was not. It was rape,” she said. “And I would try to, in a sense, defend it, and frankly, I was wrong.”
Anderson continued, “I still think we did it extremely well. But it was just more, yes, it was rape, it was wrong. People talk about that story, thinking Luke raped Laura, and then they got married. No! Luke raped Laura, but it destroyed their lives with the secrets that they carried. Laura would not tell anybody that Luke was the one who raped her, and their lives were altered in so many ways.”
General Hospital premiered in 1963 and is the longest-running American soap opera still in production.
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact theRape, Abuse & Incest National Network’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one is in immediate danger, call 911.
General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC, Check Local Listings
