Eva LaRue opened up about Natalia’s last days, explaining that it didn’t go in the direction that the story indicated, but she loved the final scenes nonetheless.
The death of General Hospital's Natalia took Eva LaRue by surprise, but she rolled deftly with the punches.
Things have been heating up on General Hospital lately. Michael and Willow are battling for custody of their kids. Tracy and Drew are waging a very public war. And Charlie’s Pub was firebombed, nearly killing Kristina, just to name a few. Now, we have the death of Natalia. The poor woman seemed to be losing her mind when she thought Sonny was going to run away with her. And when that didn’t happen, she found herself at the bottom of bottles of alcohol and pills. Sadly, she died, and Eva LaRue dove into what exactly happened with her character.
It Was Not a Boring Exit
“In your lifetime, whether you’re doing daytime or nighttime [TV], rarely as an actor do you get those kinds of scenes,” is what LaRue told Soap Opera Digest about Natalia’s final days. Her character’s daughter was Blaze (Jacqueline Grace Lopez), a singer who had gone on tour.
Because Natalia was facing jail time for a DUI if she didn’t hand over evidence on Sonny (Maurice Benard), LaRue knew she was being written out. But she assumed Natalia would join Blaze on tour. But she was glad things ended the way they did because, “It would have been a boring exit!”
Her Life Took a Downward Spiral
Despite going in a different direction than she anticipated, LaRue explained how she loved Natalia’s final scenes. “Natalia just goes into a full-on life spiral,” she said, adding, “a full-on, huge, juicy arc of a life spiral over the course of a couple of days.” She felt that actors hardly ever get such complex scenes, especially dramatic death exits like that, and referred to them as “delicious.”
LaRue was extremely happy with the material she was given, remarking, “That was awesome.” She further noted that while she’s never had a panic attack in real life, she drew from friends who did and shared their experiences with her. At the end of the day, Natalia thought she was going to have a nice life in Belize with Sonny, but alas, that was not meant to be.
