Disney/Christine Bartolucci
Medical Intervention: Portia (Brook Kerr) put her career — and possibly her freedom — on the line by tampering with Heather’s blood tests.
On the Monday, September 23 episode of GH, fans learned what many already suspected: Portia altered Heather’s blood test to try to keep the woman who once terrorized her daughter, Trina, behind bars. Soap Opera Digest chatted with Brook Kerr (Portia) about her character’s high-risk move.
Soap Opera Digest: This is not the first time Portia has bent the rules — and the law — for her daughter, but she wasn’t yet co-chief of staff at the hospital when she brought Oz Haggerty out of his coma, which means she has even more to lose this time. What was your reaction when you found out that she was going to be doing some test-tampering to keep Heather behind bars?
Brook Kerr: Well, I was a little bit shocked, because you’re right, the last time, it was Oz Haggerty when Trina was on trial and Portia woke him up early [from his medically-induced coma] to get information. So when it came around this time, it seemed like such a preemptive strike, you know? Like, “Just in case!” I was thinking that Portia is doing it … not necessarily unconsciously, but she’s doing it more like, “Let’s just dot our I’s and cross our T’s. Let’s just make sure there’s no room for this not to go the way we want it to [when Heather is in court]. Let’s leave no room for chance.” So when it comes out, it’s, you know, no harm, no foul. Those are my justifications, by the way [laughs]! It’s no harm, no foul because this woman did terrorize people and maybe the other people that are in her world aren’t as familiar with the fact of where that murderous rage came from. Laura’s grandson fell in love with Portia’s daughter, and that was not [Heather’s desired outcome for Esme]. It’s more personal than “Oh, this hip thing.” Portia feels like she has a deeper level of knowing that is always turning in her, that maybe the lawyers and the other people working on the case for a day or hear about it every now and again don’t really hold true to their being. Heather is a threat, and that threat is not gone because Esme is dead. Who would want vengeance more than a serial killer?
Digest: It’s been a hot topic among fans, ever since this cobalt poisoning storyline started, that Portia has always been the one being like, “We are not giving Heather a second chance! All you guys are crazy!” And then you’ve had other characters advocating for her to potentially get some leniency because of her medical condition. To a lot of viewers, it seemed like not enough people were on Portia’s side. We even published an essay about, “Why are the other characters acting like Portia’s over the top? She’s actually kind of the voice of reason here.” What was your opinion about how fiery Portia was getting on this topic?
Kerr: I agree! I concur! You know, I think that unfortunately, that does happen a lot — sometimes, the people that scream the loudest are minimized, you know? There’s a minimization of somebody’s strong fervor. They can’t quite put their mind around it, so it’s dismissed, you know what I mean? So I feel like yes, I am the only one in the room that is [taking Portia’s position], but I also feel like it’s toughening Portia up a bit [to realize] that things aren’t always going to be perfect. She’s done everything to put her life together, there’s been some hiccups but she’s gotten past them, and still, not everything is going to be picture perfect. I think I’m choosing for this to ground her a little bit, to not be so swayed by things because, “All right, we’re not living in an ideal world, so I need to be ready, and not just be so easily knocked off my foundation when things don’t go right with my family, with work, with things that come up in life.” I think this has been a frustrating situation for her just to feel like [no one is on her side], especially among her people, her community. But there’s a certain compass, an inner compass, where she knows she’s not wrong. Like, “Okay, there’s a health change [in Heather], which is fine, we all have them, they come and go in life, but you know what? I’m not gonna pin my family’s safety and prosperity on that!”
Digest: She and Curtis have clashed heads on this topic a little bit. Do you feel like they are on the same page now?
Kerr: I think we are on the same page. I think he is distracted with work, though. I think he’s got a lot of things changing in his life. I’m more inundated [with the Heather issue] on a daily basis, because she comes into the hospital every now and again. I think he knows that Portia has a valid point, but he’s also trying to maybe put his proverbial arms around her. Like, “I understand your point, but we’ll be all right, we’ll figure it out.” It’s a calm, it’s a hushing — not a hushing in a bad way, just a comforting kind of thing. But I don’t think he feels this as deeply in his soul as Portia does.
Digest: So, in the same episode we found out that Portia tampered with the results, we also saw her on edge after discovering that Brad Cooper is back working in the lab.
Kerr: Oh, God!
Digest: Why do you say, “Oh, God?”
Kerr: Because it’s like, “Of course,” you know? Here Portia is thinking that she’s dotted her I’s and crossed her T’s and put a nice little bow on things, right? “Everything is fine!” And then to have someone come in who [could discover what she did] and wouldn’t have a problem telling on her … Brad’s a wild card! He’s a bit of a wild card and Portia doesn’t trust him. He’s proven that he can’t be trustworthy, so to have any sense of vulnerability that he might find out something that is so important to Portia is terrifying to her.
Digest: To this point in the story, Portia is the only one who knows that she changed the results. Trina doesn’t know. But I assume Tabyana Ali (Trina) knows, and I want to know what her reaction was.
Kerr: She was like, “Yesssss!” Like, “My mom’s got my back!” She loves it.
Digest: How premeditated do you think this was for Portia? How do you understand how she decided to pull the trigger on such a high-risk plan?
Kerr: How I saw it is that Portia was instrumental in finding out [about Heather’s cobalt poisoning] diagnosis, but when Ric Lansing came onto the scene, it was just a different vibe. I think that was the shift, because you’re dealing with somebody [in Heather’s attorney] who is somebody who actually does what they say they are gonna do, has a little bit of a reputation. He came in and Portia knew that could change the way a judge sees this case, because lawyers are the ones that give the judge all the perspective, you know? They paint the picture for the judge. I feel like as soon as he walked into Heather’s hospital room and had that energy of, “I am now on your team and we are going to be a winning team,” as soon as Portia felt that…
Digest: He just had too much lawyer swag for Portia’s comfort?
Kerr: One hundred percent! And I think that is when the cynicism started to creep into Portia a little bit because she’s been through this whole trial thing before [when Trina was wrongfully arrested and tried after being set up by Esme]. I was already mad at the lawyers, at Nancy’s [Lee Grahn, Alexis] character, you know what I mean? Like, “I get this little game, I’m figuring out this game, so let me try and get ahead of it.” I think that was the turning point for her.
Digest: So, how would you describe Portia’s state of mind at this juncture — where she’s got this secret, no one is on to her, but now Brad is back in the mix and could jeopardize her keeping this all under wraps.
Kerr: Well, it’s that thing where the humidity and the heat is [ramping up]. I don’t think that Portia is very good at this, at this sneakiness. She’s not necessarily the best at it, which I like. She’s running off of pure instinct and I think at every turn it’s like, “Oh, shoot, one lie begets another lie, and one action might beget another action.” I don’t know if she was prepared for all of that, for all of the consequences that could possible come — not to mention, what could possibly come around [regarding] her career. There’s a lot of really good stuff that I’ve shot, all these extra things that are going to keep coming Portia’s way, and I think it’s going to be really challenging for her.