‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: On October 31st, we lost a phenomenal actor and a great human being. Tyler Christopher, who played Nikolas Cassadine on General Hospital and Stefan DiMera on Days of Our Lives, died from a cardiac event.
Maurice Benard, who plays Sonny Corinthos on GH, did his State of Mind podcast with Christopher a year ago and paid tribute to him by replaying the interview and commenting on his tragic death.
At the beginning of the video, Maurice talked about the last time he saw Tyler, and he felt then like it would be the last time he saw him.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: The Last Time Maurice Saw Tyler Christopher
Maurice was driving him somewhere, and when they arrived at their destination, before Tyler got out of the car, Maurice hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. When Tyler got out of the car, he started crying.
Maurice wanted to convey the message to anyone who is struggling with addiction: keep moving forward and don’t give up.
Maurice had known him for 25 years. When Tyler Christopher sat down with Maurice for the State of Mind podcast, he was ready to tell his story about alcoholism and bipolar disorder.
This episode of State of Mind was incredible, as many revelations and hard truths were told.
At first, Tyler talked about his children. How he always tried to overcompensate for not having a robust role model growing up. Christopher would visit his kids every month. He said that even though his kids are all grown up, his first question when he visited them was, “How are you?”
Tyler started drinking at age 9. He had heard from his classmates that you can get a buzz if you drink vanilla extract, so he tried it.
Tyler said he enjoyed the feeling that alcohol gave him, and he had been drinking all his life. He talked about the traumatic brain injury he had due to a fall in the shower while experiencing alcohol withdrawal.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Tyler Experienced Delerium Tremors
He said he had delirium tremors, which rendered him unable to walk and caused shaking, confusion, and sudden mental and nervous system changes.
Tyler fell, and his skull exploded. His brain injury was so severe that the doctor performing the surgery told his family that he didn’t think Christopher would survive. But he did.
Tyler couldn’t walk or talk, and the only thing he remembers from this time was that Maurice and his wife, Paula, called him at the hospital. He couldn’t recall any other details of the experience.
Christopher said that he had made a decision that he would survive, and he worked hard at his rehab and slowly but indeed made a full recovery.
Christopher also revealed for the first time that he had flatlined three times because of his alcohol addiction, and the doctor brought him back.
Two times, he flatlined due to alcohol poisoning, and once, he flatlined from withdrawal. Tyler explained that alcohol is one of the few substances you can die from just by withdrawing from it.
At the end of his life, Tyler was in treatment. Tyler Christopher was an outstanding actor, a warrior who left behind his triumphant spirit, which will live on forever.
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