General Hospital’s Genie Francis will not “defend” the controversial 1970s rape scene that led to the marriage

General Hospital star Jenny Francis has said she will not defend the controversial 1970s rape scene that led to her character’s eventual marriage to the rapist.

The 60-year-old TV series legend was candid about the infamous history of her character Laura Spencer during ABC’s Television Critics Association show on Wednesday.

Jenny was involved in a controversial rape scene with Anthony Jerry’s character Luke in 1979 that fans have been questioning ever since.

What was even more baffling was that Luke and Laura eventually fell in love and eventually got married.

At the final session, Jenny put her foot down to the infamous scene and said, “I am no longer defending him.

“You know, when I was a little kid, 17 years old, I was asked to play rape, and I played it. I didn’t even know what it was. But at 17, you follow the rules, do what you’re told, and aim to please yourself. At 60, I no longer feel the need to advocate for it.

In the shocking scene, Laura denies Luke’s advances but forces herself on her before the camera cuts only to revert to showing Luke with his shirt open and Laura crawling away from him on the floor.

Jenny continued, “I think the story was inappropriate, and I don’t condone it, and it was a burden I had to carry around to try to justify that story, and so I don’t do that anymore.”

“I think, when a woman says no, she has to be listened to, and if you replay that scene, you don’t have Laura just saying no.” You have her screaming “No”

Laura and Luke eventually become a ‘power couple’ on the daytime soap opera as their wedding ceremony on November 17, 1981 brought in 30 million viewers.

The story wasn’t quite over for Laura who spoke about how difficult it was to photograph weddings as she explained in the session: ‘I think about what an uncomfortable day it was to shoot.

“You know, in very high heels, mired in mud.” I had this headdress on, and it’s pretty, but it was wiry, and it stuck to my head, and I wasn’t allowed to sit because you can’t wrinkle that dress.

“And it was very physically uncomfortable, and everyone was very nervous because it was such a big deal.”

It wasn’t an easy day of filming, Jenny said, but things started to turn around a bit when they filmed the dance scene.

“There’s a picture, I think, that showed where we start dancing,” she explained. It was after the party, and we started dancing to Virginia’s reel, and then I really started having fun. But before that, it was a very tough day of shooting.

Despite the hard feelings, Genie understands the scale of the event and its impact on fans.

“You know, it’s hard to put that in just one sentence,” she said. It still sinks into my mind how big of a deal that was.

At the time, I knew it was popular, but I never dreamed that we would celebrate our 60th birthday [anniversary] And I still talk about that moment.

Jenny has starred as Laura on/off for over 45 years from 1977 to the present day.

Her on-screen husband Anthony starred in the role from 1978 to 1984 before returning from 1993 to 2017.

General Hospital is the longest-running American television series in production as it will celebrate its 60th anniversary in April.