General Hospital's Kirsten Storms Dishes On How Some Of The Show's Fans Perceive Her
Kirsten Storms has been a big part of the soap world ever since she landed the role of Belle Black on "Days of Our Lives" in 1999 when she was only a teenager. She's been playing Maxie Jones on "General Hospital" on and off since 2005, and the sophisticated fashionista has lived through a hundred horrors during her time on the show. Whether Maxie is coping with raising three kids on her own, the death of her policeman husband, Nathan West (Ryan Paevey), or fighting deception after deception thrown into her path by her baby daddy Peter August (Wes Ramsey), who happens to be the secret son of long-time Port Charles baddie Caesar Faison (Anders Hove) as well as Nathan's brother, Maxie's life is ever-overloaded with drama.
After years of playing the part, audiences definitely have an opinion about Maxie — and Storms herself. After years in the business, Storms has likely heard it all before and knows a whole lot about the psychology of soap fans. That means she definitely has a notion as to how the fanbase feels about her performance and Maxie's status on the show. This is what she really thinks about the audience's preconceptions about who she is.
Some fans can't separate Storms from Jones
During an appearance on the FABLifeShow in 2015, Storms revealed that she often has to deal with fans of the show referring to her by her character's name. "They really think we are our characters, and I get addressed as Maxie all the time." Storms explains that this seems to happen often on the internet, and adds that perhaps this is because soap operas air five days a week. "They're questioning like, my characters decisions and stuff. Like, I'm married, I have a toddler, I don't make the same decisions my character does," she said ruefully.
Soap fans are notorious for their strong dedication to their favorite actors and shows, though sometimes the line between what's real and what's fake can become mixed up in their minds. Sometimes that can result in chaos, as devotees of certain couples with large fanbases can be very loud and sometimes disruptive to the lives of the actors who play the characters they adore. Just take a look at how "Days of Our Lives" fans reacted when the show was moved to Peacock after airing on NBC for decades on Twitter and you'll see how devoted the fanbase can be. But Storms seems able to weather those bumps with applomb, as do many of her colleagues. It's all in a day's dramatic, baby-swapping, husband-stealing work.