Maurice Benard Talks Mental Health & Wrestling With Medina Ali

General Hospital (GH) star Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) sat down with Medina Ali for a chat on his podcast, State of Mind, on Sunday. It was an interesting conversation and many fans appreciated seeing her. Read on for details on their discussion.

Who Is Medina?

If you don’t know, Medina is a major athlete and an actress. In fact, she’s making a lot of waves in the world of wrestling. Maurice, who has a personal interest in mental health and how the mind works, seemed fascinated by what Ali had to say.

The introduction told GH fans a bit about his guest. Medina Ali (28), listed her achievements which include tennis, basketball, soccer, gymnastics, and combat sports like Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Motivated To Succeed

Going back to her childhood, Ali explained where her determination came from. She told the real-life Sonny Corinthos that she started out her “Xena Phoenix” persona in WOW: Women of Wrestling. That came after she was chased off the basketball court for being too aggressive.

At the time, her dad told Medina:

This fire and spirit you have is who you are. Never let go of it because you are my phoenix.

It seemed interesting to Maurice that top-flight sports weren’t Medina’s first career. In fact, she started working as a producer, mainly on short films, and also featured during the Palm Springs Film Festival. However, after a WWE tryout during the pandemic, Ali moved into professional wrestling.

Physical Demands Are Tough

If you’ve ever thought that wrestling seems a bit scripted, you could be right. Thanks to Medina, GH fans now know that often, wrestling has predetermined outcomes. But, as she explained to Maurice, the physical demands are very real.

“We feel everything,” she noted. While they perform for the cameras, they need to be careful to not hurt anyone.

Naturally, Maurice Benard turned the conversation to mental health, as he always does. Well, it seems that Medina Ali doesn’t struggle with chronic anxiety or depression. The reason for that, she felt, was because her intense physical workouts keep her mentally strong. Working out, she described, was like “therapy” for her.

Mental Health Discussed

As usual, Maurice talked about his own mental health issues and his bipolar diagnosis. He also talked about hypnosis that helps him cope. Sweetly, Medina suggested he should join WOW, which made him laugh. And, they talked about how he could name himself “Sonny The Gangster.”

Actually, plenty of guests who were interviewed on State of Mind talked in the past about how physical well-being helps them cope, along with learning to stay in the moment, and learning to say “no.”

ABC Fans React

Many General Hospital fans appreciated seeing Ali on the podcast. One fan wrote in the comments section, “What a treat this is from Maurice… my deceased father-in-law is in the Boxing Hall of Fame…As a father of a daughter, this lovely young woman is such a delight to see here. It’s like my world’s coming together.”

Here are a few more responses from the discussion:

• i really like medina i like her ipersonalty…that she is out going i like her attitude… that she is a go-getter. i like that she is engaging and i like that she’s into sports.
• Maurice and Medina thanks for sharing your experiences. I enjoyed your conversation. Maurice you have some of the best shows and interviews there are! So keep working your magic on your shows, love you and Peace!

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below, and remember to come back often for all your General Hospital cast news and updates.