General Hospital’s Josh Kelly revealed how acting helped his war trauma

When you see General Hospital’s Josh Kelly playing Cody Bell, you wouldn’t think that he’s seen the horrors of war. But he recently opened up about it on co-star Maurice Benard’s YouTube mental health talk show, State of Mind. Kelly got into detail about how becoming an actor helped him after being in combat and witnessing some horrific events.

Acting puts him in touch with his emotions

The conversation between General Hospital’s Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) and Josh Kelly led to his time in the military. He explained that while he did well in school, he wasn’t particularly fond of homework, although he excelled at algebra and used that knowledge to get into computer programming for a time.

At one point, he got into trouble when he was in school and it caused his mother to cry. When that happened, his father scolded him, saying:

I chose your mother. You happened. If you ever make if you ever make her cry that much again, on your 18th birthday, you're out of the house.

Reflecting on that incident, Kelly further explained:

I loved it. I loved that he was that honest with me because now like…I knew where we stood. I was like, ‘All right, well I definitely…don't want them to pay for college so I'm going to join the military. I'll have the military pay for it and um I'll become an actor I'll go to some acting school after [the] Army.

Little did Kelly know that after he enlisted, the terrorist bombings of 9/11 would happen, and he was off to war, serving with the elite Ranger Battalion in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He explained that the worst part about being in the military was the anticipation of knowing you’re going to war. Everyone made goodbye videos that they left on their bunks before being deployed. He said he felt bad for the enemy at times because they were led to believe that if you killed people, you’d go to heaven.

He recounted one horrific incident where two soldiers he was acquainted with got killed:

I saw some guys get, um, blown up who were…they were literally giving food. They were bringing food to a pregnant woman and the guy, the husband, self- detonated himself, his pregnant wife, and two guys that I didn't know that well, but I knew. And I saw the explosion happen and, uh, and I-I feel bad for that guy because he honestly believed…you don't do that…to be mean. You do that because you really believe [in] whatever higher calling.

Benard asked if Kelly had PTSD, and the actor responded that anyone who sees war suffers from it. He didn’t think he had been affected by it, but when he got into acting after the military:

I started, like, having emotion. I was like, ‘Oh! Maybe I was affected by War.’ But a lot of guys wait until they retire to feel the things that…they have.

Kelly further stated:

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For me, I’m really grateful that I got into acting because it's a good excuse to feel

You can watch new episodes of General Hospital on ABC and Hulu.

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