General Hospital megastar Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) has long been tackling tough mental and emotional issues with his wellness website, State of Mind. But he took the brand further this month with an emotional YouTube segment that includes his GH costar Ingo Rademacher (Jasper Jacks).
In a nearly 30-minute video interview, Benard chats with Rademacher about anger issues and how they can affect parenting. As Rademacher tells Benard, his past behavior and inability to control his emotions as a father become so concerning, his wife, Ehiku, pulled him aside and said, "You need to change. You have a problem."
Rademacher admits that his anger issues became troublesome even before he had his sons, 12-year-old Peanut and eight-year-old Pokahu. "Before I had kids, I would have my little anger tantrums just about something that wasn't right, because I thought it was okay," the actor shares. "If I look at that guy now, I'd be like, 'Dude, what is wrong with you? Don't do that.'"
Especially because, as he confesses, "I did hit Peanut and Pohaku a couple of times. I think that ended maybe two and half years ago. That was the last time that happened 'cause I was like, I feel bad every time."
He adds, "I think that's a major parenting fail because [it signifies that] you don't want to put in the effort to sit down and have a conversation with your child; you want to just shut him up and be able to talk to your wife and not have them disturb you."
Rademacher also tells Benard that he thinks that "anger's a little bit of unhappiness that in my case I don't think is justified... It's a mental weakness when you get angry for no reason."
As can be seen in the emotional video below, Peanut also joins in on the conversation, opening up about the feelings that he had when his dad was upset with him and lost his temper. Admits the 12-year-old before he sheds a tear, "Usually, after my dad gets angry at me, I go in my room and I'm like, 'I could freakin' kill him!'"
Benard assures Peanut that it's better to let out his frustrations rather than keep them inside, and Rademacher shares that the reason that they decided to open up about such personal family issues is to "hopefully stop other dads from doing this to their kids."
Check out Benard and Rademacher's full State of Mind video interview below and let us know what you think in the Comments section at the end of the article.
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