General Hospital’s Kirsten Storms has been making us smile as Maxie Jones for more than 20 years as Mariah Maximiliana Jones, our intrepid cosmetics mogul, fashionista, and expert party planner. Her return in February came with much fanfare — and with good reason.
The maturation of Maxie Jones
Kirsten Storms took Maxie on a journey over the last two decades, from a scheming girl who usually meant well to a mom of three with a precocious, scene-stealing son. After making a name for herself as Disney’s Zenon, girl of the 21st century, Storms spent her teen years as Belle Black on Days of our Lives before debuting as Frisco (Jack Wagner) and Felicia’s (Kristina Wagner) young adult daughter in 2005.
Since then, Maxie has seen it all and been through it all. A turning point came for the character in 2013 when she gave birth to a daughter, whom she eventually named Georgie, but she lied that the little girl was the baby she was carrying for Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) and Lulu (then played by Julie Marie Berman). Georgie was actually Maxie’s baby with Spinelli (Bradford Anderson), but a series of unfortunate events stopped her from telling the truth until her secret was exposed.
Storms infused real remorse and guilt into the fallout from that story, turning Maxie from a scheming girl to a heroine we could all root for. That transformation was complete when Maxie met Nathan West (Ryan Paevey), a new cop in town who eventually became her husband. Subsequent romances with Peter August (Wes Ramsey) and Austin Gatlin-Holt (Roger Howarth) could not hold a candle to what Maxie shared with Nathan.
Kirsten Storms’ Maxie lights up the General Hospital screen
While we have not seen her much over the past year, Storms’ Maxie is always a breath of fresh air whenever she’s on our screens. Last summer, Storms announced a leave of absence from GH to start a new life in Tennessee. While recent reporting points to some struggles the actress has been having, she still made it back to the GH set this past winter to bring Maxie out of her months-long coma.
When James (Gary James Fuller) began complaining about ice skating with a helmet, Maxie appeared as if the last eight months had never happened. She told her son he could never skate without a helmet and then wondered if her hair looked okay because everyone was staring at her. That was classic Maxie and classic Storms.
The next few weeks were glorious as Maxie made her way back into Port Charles life, both at home and at work. Although Maxie chose to be with Spinelli and not her alleged back-from-the-dead husband, she had a lot to think about when she saw “Nathan” again. Her scenes with Alexa Havins’ Lulu as they navigated the Nathan (aka Cassius) mess were both amusing and compelling and that’s because it is hard not to root for Maxie Jones.
Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.
Edited by Hope Campbell