| Elizabeth Webber | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Rebecca Herbst as Elizabeth Webber | |||||||||||||||||||
| General Hospital | |||||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Rebecca Herbst (1997-present) Martha Madison [1] (temp; June 2011) |
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| Duration | 1997–present | ||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | August 1, 1997 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Richard Culliton; Karen Harris | ||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Lizzie (by Steven) Liz (by Nikolas) The Maternal One (by Spinelli)[2] |
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| Gender | Female | ||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Surgical Nurse[3] (nurses desk) |
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| Residence | 458 Lexington Avenue (Queen's Pointe Suburb) Port Charles, NY 16543 |
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Elizabeth Imogene Webber (previously Lansing and Spencer) is a fictional character on the popular ABC soap opera, General Hospital. She has been portrayed by Rebecca Herbst since August 1997. From June 8, 2011 to June 20, 2011, she was temporarily portrayed by Martha Madison while Herbst was recovering from viral meningitis.
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Elizabeth has been portrayed by actress Rebecca Herbst since 1997. In 1999, the role brought Herbst the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Younger Lead Actress, as well as an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in 1999 and a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2007.
On January 18, 2011, ABC Daytime announced that Herbst had been let go from General Hospital and her exit would be storyline dictated.[6] Herbst along with many of her co-stars were shocked and devastated at the news of her impending exit. After much fan protest, a month after the original announcement, ABC released another statement saying that Herbst would retain her role on the show.[7]
A lot of times, fans react and for a few days, it’s all anyone can talk about. But Becky Herbst fans really refused to let this drop.
— Richard M. Simms, ABC SoapsInDepth[7]
Elizabeth was born on November 1, 1982[8] in Boulder, Colorado. She is the second daughter of Jeff Webber. She has two older siblings: Steven Webber and Sarah Webber.
General Hospital writers brought the character of Elizabeth Webber to Port Charles when she was 15 years old. She is the granddaughter of Dr. Steve Hardy, one of General Hospital's original characters, and the daughter of Dr. Jeff Webber.[9] She is said to have lived in Boulder, Colorado with her parents and her sister, Sarah. While growing up in Boulder, Elizabeth said that she never received as much attention as her sister did and always rebelled and got into trouble. Her parents ended up moving to Russia to work as doctors there, leaving Elizabeth no choice but to move in with her grandmother Audrey Hardy in Port Charles, New York. She quickly developed a crush on Lucky Spencer, but Lucky chose to date her sister, Sarah.
On Valentine's Day 1998, Elizabeth was raped.[10] Lucky found her, and the Spencer family helped her through her ordeal. Lucky moved in with Liz for a short while before camping out in a boxcar and then moving into his own apartment. As teens, Liz and Lucky fell in love.
In April 1999, Liz was grief-stricken when Lucky was presumed dead after his apartment caught fire. In the months ahead, Liz became close friends with Jason Morgan, who helped her deal with the loss of her first love.
In 2000, Luke and Laura discovered that Lucky was alive. He had been held captive by Helena Cassadine and brainwashed into believing that he did not love Elizabeth. Lucky pretended to love Elizabeth because he still cared about her happiness, and they became engaged. The wedding was called off after she realized this.
Elizabeth moved on and quickly fell in love with and married Ric Lansing. Elizabeth discovers she is pregnant but she miscarries, leading Ric to blame it on his brother, Sonny Corinthos. Elizabeth divorces Ric after she discovers he was planning on stealing Sonny and Carly's unborn child. When Elizabeth is blinded temporarily, she sleeps with Zander Smith, who dies soon after. Ric agrees to raise the child as his own and the couple renew their vows but she divorces him after she realizes he will not give up his obsession with Sonny.
In 2005, Lucky and Elizabeth began their romance again. Elizabeth was now a nurse at General Hospital and had a son, Cameron Spencer, fathered by Zander Smith. Before Lucky and Elizabeth married, Elizabeth chose to become a surrogate mother for Jasper and Courtney Jacks.[11] Lucky did not approve and took a break from their relationship. After a car accident, Elizabeth miscarried. Lucky helped her through her pain, and they began a rocky marriage. Elizabeth was kidnapped by Manny Ruiz in 2006, and Jason rescued her once again.
In 2006, Lucky became addicted to painkillers and began an affair with Maxie Jones, his pill supplier. Elizabeth discovered Lucky's infidelity, sought comfort from a drunken Jason Morgan who was heart broken from his separation from Sam. Their drunken one night stand resulted in another pregnancy. Lucky, believing the baby was his, went to rehab while he and Elizabeth divorced. A paternity test revealed that Jason fathered her unborn child. Elizabeth kept the truth a secret to protect the child from Jason's dangerous lifestyle and to keep Lucky from suffering devastation that she believed would cause him to relapse. After Lucky completed rehab, Elizabeth remarried him, while still lying about her unborn child.
After Elizabeth committed perjury in Jason's murder trial, she and Ric had a confrontation where she accused him of holding onto his vendetta against Sonny and Jason, and he accused her of being blind to who Jason is. Elizabeth helped Ric with issues regarding his ex-girlfriend, Marianna, who was in the country illegally, and Ric attempted to keep Elizabeth's relationship with Jason a mystery to Anthony Zacchara in order to protect her. However, they are rarely friendly with each other as Elizabeth finally ceased to trust him.
In May 2007, Elizabeth gave birth to another son, Jacob Martin Spencer. Elizabeth was supported by Jason when their son Jake was kidnapped. Sam McCall, reeling from having learned that Jason was Jake's father but would not claim him due to Elizabeth not allowing Jason to claim his son, froze when she witnessed Jake being taken. Jason eventually found Jake and brought him back to Elizabeth. Jason found out that Sam had watched his son get kidnapped. Lucky in his jealousy and anger began an affair with Sam McCall as payback. Elizabeth and Lucky divorced again.
In November 2007, during the Black and White Ball, Lucky discovered the truth about Jake's paternity and agreed to keep the paternity a secret to protect Jake. After Emily Quartermaine's death and funeral, Jason and Elizabeth began a secret relationship, where they could see each other but Jason was still not allowed to see Jake. They became engaged, but on the same day of their engagement, Michael was shot and Jason decided that his job was too dangerous for Elizabeth and her children, and he called off their relationship. Elizabeth decided to fight to be in Jason's life, but he was adamant that they would not have the life she wanted. Jason invited Elizabeth to go with him to Italy, but after he witnessed the shooting of Sonny's fiancee, Kate Howard, Jason once again realized that he and Elizabeth would never want the same things in life.
In November 2008, a mob war began heating up in Port Charles. Lucky asked Jason to agree to send Elizabeth and the boys, along with Sam, to hide in a cabin. During a shootout between Sam and Elizabeth and Russian mobsters, Jake was kidnapped for a second time. He was safely returned after Sam was able to rescue Jake from a bar that exploded. After this close call Elizabeth finally realized that they will never want the same things in life and parted ways for good.
In early 2009, Elizabeth was poisoned by an airborne toxin carried inside a patient. Lucky helped her through the crisis, but the two decided to remain apart. When Lucky begins dating Emily's unknown twin sister Rebecca Shaw, Elizabeth finds herself attracted to Nikolas and the two kiss, as witnessed by Rebecca. Elizabeth attempts to break things off with Nikolas, and after her son Jake is injured, Elizabeth accepts Lucky's proposal to marry. Elizabeth, still attracted to Nikolas, has sex with him, and is almost discovered by both Rebecca and Lucky.[12]
Lucky begins to believe that Elizabeth does not love him and calls off the engagement, and Elizabeth secretly begins a romantic relationship with Nikolas. Rebecca witnesses the two together, but after Nikolas accidentally hits her with his car, she leaves town without revealing the secret. An emotionally invested Elizabeth decides to have sex with Nikolas for a final time, but Lucky is outraged when he sees the two together. A despondent Elizabeth learns she is pregnant, but despite both potential fathers agreeing to stand by her, Elizabeth's mental state deteriorates to the point she checks into a sanitarium. Feeling stronger, she agrees to have a paternity test to determine which brother is the father. The test reveals that the baby is Lucky's, but Nikolas' grandmother Helena switches the results so she and Nikolas can raise a Spencer baby as a Cassadine. With this, Nikolas begins to heavily pressure Elizabeth into moving into Wyndemere with him, but she flatly refuses, both because she blames Nik for her losing Lucky and because she doesn't want any of her children around the influence of the cruel and murderous Helena.
On July 19, 2010, Elizabeth gives birth to a baby boy named Aiden Alexi Nikolossovich Cassadine. The following day, the baby goes missing from General Hospital. Elizabeth and Nikolas first suspect Helena Cassadine, but she claims she is innocent. On July 22, 2010, a message appears on the television screens. The message shows Franco, and Lucky and Nikolas suspect him of kidnapping Aiden. But before Franco could reveal where he had hidden Aiden, he fell off the building and made out that he had died when in fact, he hadn't and he gave Aiden to his mum so she could have the son she always wanted. On August 9 Lucky got Aiden back from Karen, then gave him back to Elizabeth and Nikolas.
On August 17, 2010 Elizabeth and the boys move into Wyndemere with Nikolas. But it doesn't work out and Elizabeth takes the boys to stay with her sister Sarah in northern California.
In October 2010, Elizabeth returns to Port Charles with the boys. In mid-October, Liz and Brook get into a fight about Nik.
In late December 2010/early January 2011, Elizabeth's oldest son, Cameron, survives the Port Charles bus crash. While waiting with Jake at the hospital, Elizabeth allows Jake to play with Jason and Sam.
On March 8, 2011, Elizabeth sent in DNA papers to see who Aiden's real father is. She got the results back on the 17th and discovered that Lucky, not Nikolas is Aiden's true biological father. But just as she finishes reading Aiden's paternity test results, she realizes that her other son Jake, is missing. Jake had run out of the house and got hit by a car. Elizabeth found him and he was rushed to the hospital. She immediately called Lucky and he came rushing to her side to comfort her. Patrick and Robin Drake operated on Jake to try to save his life, while Lucky, Elizabeth, Steven and Lulu waited for news on his condition. Patrick and Robin worked hard to save him, but the injuries Jake sustained were too great and he died on the operating table, while his biological father, Jason watched from the observation window. Jason broke the news of Jake's death to Lucky, who then went and broke the news to a devastated Elizabeth.
Afterwards, Jason approaches Elizabeth with a request. He tells her that Carly's daughter, Josslyn, is suffering from advanced kidney cancer, and Carly has requested that he and Elizabeth consider donating Jake's organs to save Josslyn's life. Elizabeth is outraged by the request and slaps Jason, stating that he has no right to ask after he "abandoned" Jake and shouting that he will not use Jake for "spare parts." However, upon learning of Josslyn's situation, Lucky talks to Elizabeth about it, stating that, though they could not save Jake, they can save other children. After much persuasion, Elizabeth reluctantly agrees to donate Jake's kidneys to Josslyn.
On March 25, Jason returns Jake's toy motorcycle to Elizabeth and they discuss Jake. Elizabeth apologizes for saying that Jason abandoned Jake and for never letting Jason be a part of his life. Though Elizabeth kicks herself for Jake's death and for never letting Jason get to know his son, Jason reassures her that it's not her fault. Jason goes on to state that, when they spent time together the night of the ski resort bus crash, he knew that Jake was happy and loved, and tells Elizabeth that he will always be grateful to her for that.
On March 28, Elizabeth discovers from Dante that Luke was the one who hit Jake. She goes to confront him at the Haunted Star, but contrary to expectations, she doesn't blame him at all, but instead blames herself, insisting that it never would've happened if she hadn't been distracted and keeping an eye on him. Luke admits that he had had a few drinks beforehand and pleads for her to blame him or the booze as long as she doesn't blame herself. Elizabeth sadly states that, while that should make a difference, it doesn't because Jake is still gone.
On April 15, 2011, Maxie Jones stops by to give Elizabeth her condolences on the loss of Jake and sees Aiden's paternity test results on the coffee table. She reads the results and is shocked to discover that Lucky is Aiden's biological father. She admits to Elizabeth that she was snooping and tries to convince her to tell Lucky the truth, stating that both Lucky and Nikolas deserved to know the truth about Aiden. Several opportunities for Elizabeth to tell the truth to Lucky and Nikolas presented themselves, but even at Maxie's insistence that she tell the truth, she declined each time, not wanting to hurt Lucky or disrupt his life. When Elizabeth hears about Lucky's upcoming marriage to Siobhan McKenna, she finally decides to tell him the truth about Aiden. She goes to the courthouse intent on telling Lucky the truth, but after hearing Lucky and Siobhan recite their vows, and remembering herself and Lucky reciting their vows to each other years ago when they were teens, she realizes that Lucky truly cares about Siobhan. She leaves the courthouse without telling Lucky about Aiden, because she wants to give him a chance to be happy after all they had lost.
Elizabeth returns home and finds a gift that Lucky bought for Jake for his birthday. It was a motorcycle that Lucky bought in advance to be shipped to Elizabeth on Jake's birthday. Devastated, Elizabeth returns the motorcycle to Lucky but ends up interrupting his wedding night with Siobhan. Lucky tells her not to be sorry and that she is welcome at his place anytime, but she still apologizes and leaves. Siobhan later visits Elizabeth to apologize herself about the mishap earlier and they discuss Lucky and his happiness. Elizabeth leaves the room for a moment and Siobhan finds Aiden's paternity test results on the coffee table. She opens the results, reads them and is shocked to discover that Lucky is Aiden's biological father.
On June 21, Elizabeth tells Lucky that Aiden is his son, to keep him from completely spiraling out of control. They have a heart to heart about their son Aiden and all the events of the past few months.
On July 5, Elizabeth is informed by Dr. Matt Hunter that she was the one who made a potentially fatal mistake during Siobhan McKenna's emergency surgery. Elizabeth injected the wrong medication into Siobahn's IV, which caused her blood pressure to drop. If not for Dr. Hunter, Siobahn would have died. The hospital board reviewed the mistake and giving Elizabeth's flawless record before this, she was only given a three-month suspension and when she returns to work she is to remain out of the operating room for six months. Elizabeth is relieved, fearing that she would lose her job. However, Siobahn sees Elizabeth' relief and promises that she will pay with a malpractice suit. On July 8, Siobhan serves Elizabeth with the suit and names everyone in the case except for Matt, because he was the one who saved her life after Elizabeth's mistake. However, after Lucky talks with Siobhan, he convinces her to drop the law suit against Elizabeth and the hospital. Lucky and Elizabeth then spend family time with Cameron and Aiden, but tensions between Elizabeth and Siobhan still run high.
On July 22, Robin, the new Chief of Staff, gives Elizabeth her job back, however, she will have to work at nurses' desk. Siobhan is livid that the hospital let Elizabeth return to work and re-thinks the law suit.
Since late July 2011, Elizabeth has been helping Lucky with a drug case that involves GH.
August 1 - 4, Liz is the only one who believes that Lucky was injected with something. She convinces Dante to not tell Mac that Lucky was drugged up. They are currently searching for him.
On August 5, Liz and Siobhan get into a fight about Lucky which causes Siobhan to fall down the stairs. While on the way to the hospital, they get into a car accident with Jason and Carly. On August 23, 2011, Siobhan dies from the hands of Anthony Zacchara.
On August 26, 2011, While Jason is in surgery for his brain injury. Sam, Monica, Carly and Elizabeth all have dreams about him. During the surgery something goes wrong. Jason comes out it fully recovered.
Elizabeth dreamed that she and him were together, however, Jason finds Elizabeth's birth control pills that aren't open.
In September, Liz and Matt have a picnic on the top of GH, however, she leaves when he says that once he publishes his data then he'll be out of his brother's shadow. Elizabeth is taken hostage after she follows a lead, she is later saved by Lucky.
In mid-October 2011, Elizabeth wants to get back with Lucky, however, he feels that every time they get back together it turns "toxic".
On October 19, 2011, at Matt's boat party for him being published. She tells him about Steve and Sarah, after he talks about being in Patrick's shadow. Liz and Matt begin talking and later Matt and Liz look like they are going to kiss, but leave us in a cliffhanger.
On October 20, 2011, Matt and Elizabeth began to kiss, however, they stop when she restrains herself. She leaves and while is on the deck, she turns to see Lisa staring at her.
On October 21, 2011, Elizabeth is chloroformed and thrown overboard by Lisa. She is later saved by a mysterious man. Elizabeth is later found by Spinelli, who takes her to the hospital. She develops pneumonia.
On November 11, 2011, Jason visits Elizabeth in the hospital.