Ethan Lovett’s return to General Hospital brings another familiar face stepping back into Port Charles with unfinished business. But a recent conversation with his portrayer, Nathan Dean (formerly Nathan Parsons), went somewhere else entirely. In advance of his comeback, the actor took a look back at his initial run on State of Mind with Maurice Benard, and then opened up about a major loss in his life.
The General Hospital star discussed loss and suicide
Dean revealed a family incident that changed his life forever. His brother died from suicide at the age of 28. He talked about how there weren’t any signs they recognized at the time, nothing that clearly pointed to what was coming. His brother had been with the family not long before, showing up, being present, making it feel like everything was fine. Then it wasn’t.
“There was no lead-up to it… not that we knew about,” Dean said. And that’s the part that stays with him. “We had no idea he was dealing with that.” There’s no clean way to process something like that, no version where it suddenly makes sense after the fact.
He also touched on the people who try to be there, even when they don’t have the full picture. “No one should have to take on our mental stuff… but they willingly do,” he said. It’s not a neat dynamic. It’s complicated, and sometimes it’s the only thing holding someone steady. (Check out Dean’s huge life milestone.)
Continuing the conversation around mental health
There wasn’t a speech or a big takeaway waiting at the end of it. What Dean kept coming back to was something smaller, more direct. “If I can reach one person… my job is done.” And that’s something Benard has been trying to hit home since he started SOM.
Deans words sounded like he’d been thinking about for a while, and he finally had a safe space to reveal his innermost thoughts. “If I can tell a true story so much so that one person goes, ‘I’m not alone,’” he said, describing what’s always driven him, even before this moment. Not fixing it, not solving it, just putting it into the open where someone else might recognize a piece of their own experience.
That’s where the conversation stayed. Not on answers, but on the idea that a lot of what people carry doesn’t show up on the surface. “People think that they’re okay, that this is just normal… but at the end of the day, they’re struggling with something that is deeply rooted,” Dean said, cutting straight to the disconnect between what’s visible and what isn’t. It’s not always obvious. And that’s what makes it harder to see until it’s already too late. (Get a sneak peek at Ethan’s return.)
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 24/7.
