The General Hospital star, Genie Francis will no longer defend the storyline that started the Luke and Laura phenomenon, the infamous rape scene at the Campus Disco.
"I think that the story was inappropriate, I don't condone it, and it's been a burden that I've had to carry to try to justify that story, and so I'm not doing that anymore."
The Emmy Award-winning actress will no longer answer for her character's rape scene in the long-running ABC daytime drama.
"Genie Francis popularized the role of Laura Webber opposite Anthony Geary's Luke Spencer in the soap, a supercouple beloved by viewers. While their love story played a major role in the series, it began quite hideously, with Luke raping Laura in a 1979 episode. It was later played off as a seduction and they remained together for years, with their wedding becoming a major TV event when it aired in 1981."
"Francis, 60, reflected on the controversial rape scene during the show's panel at the ABC Television Critics Association press conference on Wednesday, calling the storyline inappropriate and stating that she'll no longer carry the burden of defending it."
"You know, as a young kid, at 17, I was told to play rape, and I played it," Francis said. "I didn't even know what it was. But, at 17, you follow the rules, and you do as you are told, and you aim to please." According to the Entertainment Weekly website.
"Genie Francis began acting in the two part episode titled "Jury Duty" on the television series Family. Her biggest role came in 1977 with Laura Spencer on General Hospital as she was a recast. It would bring her instant stardom in the late 1970s. The television couple of Luke and Laura wed on November 17, 1981, with 30 million viewers tuning in to make the episode the highest-rated hour in soap opera history. At the peak of her success, Francis left the series in 1982 to try her hand at prime-time television." Information taken from Wikipedia.
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