The couple shares four children, and their love story is still going strong 40 years late
NEED TO KNOW
- On Aug. 11, General Hospital star Maurice Benard took to social media to celebrate his wife Paula Smith on their 35th wedding anniversary
- The actor reflected on their 40 years together and all the ways that Smith has supported him
- He also shared throwback images of the couple with their children
Maurice Benard is looking back at his decades-long love story.
On Monday, Aug. 11, the 62-year-old General Hospital star took to Instagram to mark his 35th wedding anniversary with his wife and “rock,” Paula Smith.
In the post, Benard shared several throwback pics with his longtime love. In the first, they posed together in formal clothes, with the actor wearing a black suit with a matching tie and a white dress shirt, and his wife in black.
Other photos showed the couple posing with their four children — daughters Cailey Sofia, Cassidy Rose and Heather Rose and son Joshua James.
The final snapshot was of Smith sitting in a car while on the phone.
“It’s our anniversary What does that mean?” Benard wrote in the accompanying caption. “It means being with someone for 40 years. Who has never wavered always there for me and our children. Has never made me feel small.”
He continued, writing that Smith “always says to me (you are stronger than you know) when he is “in need.”
“Thank You sweetheart, for being the rock and holding it all together🌹,” he concluded.
While they met 40 years ago, Benard and Smith exchanged vows in 1990.
Despite the star’s long-running and beloved turn as Sonny Corinthos on the beloved soap opera, his wife has largely remained out of the spotlight over the years.
In June, Benard was excited to share a brief clip of his wife on the official YouTube account for his State of Mind podcast. In it, she is sitting at a wedding with a young child in her lap.
Dressed in a long-sleeved floral dress and a hat, she smiled for the camera.
“I can’t believe my wife Paula let me video her,” Benard titled the 30-second clip.
Smith also appeared on the podcast in September 2023. During the appearance, she discussed her relationship with her husband and why they stayed together through some of his darkest days amid a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
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Asking his wife how she felt seeing him struggle with “bizarre behavior” and “manic episodes,” she said, “I think for me, I believe we end up where we’re supposed to be.”
She continued, saying that she didn’t feel “afraid” or like she “had to run from” her husband.
“It was something where I felt like I needed to stay and needed to help. I just didn’t even question that,” she said.
In his 2020 memoir Nothing General About It, Benard opened up about some of his struggles with his mental health, including an episode that took place in 1993 when he stopped taking his medicine. At the time, he noted that his wife stayed by his side to support him.
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