What Happened to Josslyn on GENERAL HOSPITAL
Josslyn Jacks may have had a troubled childhood on GENERAL HOSPITAL, but now that she’s a teenager, things have gotten more complicated than ever before! The character actually made her first appearance as a teenager played by actress Jamie Lea Willett in a 2009 dream sequence that inspired a pregnant Carly to name her daughter Josslyn John. (John being the name shared by both her and Jax’s fathers.) After the child’s birth, twins McKenna and Karleigh Larson played Joss until 2012, followed by Sarah Johnson and Paige Oliver. Hannah Nordberg joined GH as the new Josslyn in 2014 for eight months, and in October of 2015, the girl was aged into a teen now played by Eden McCoy. In December 2023, Courtney Fulk stepped in as a temporary recast.
The daughter of Carly Corinthos and Jasper Jacks, Josslyn was involved in drama right from the start when the villainous Claudia Zacchara held Carly hostage and she ended up helping her give birth in the cabin where she was being held prisoner! Claudia intended to keep the infant for herself, but Michael Corinthos appeared and killed her, rescuing his baby sister.
As a toddler, Joss was diagnosed with kidney cancer, and Carly insisted on finding a kidney donor for a transplant rather than put the little girl through the rigors of chemotherapy. Jason and Liz’s son, Jake, had just died in a hit-and-run accident, and Carly was able to persuade Liz to help save her daughter’s life.
But after Josslyn recovered, Jax and Carly’s marriage hit a breaking point and they divorced. Jax pursued custody, fearing his daughter’s life would be in constant danger from Carly’s involvement with mob boss Sonny. But Carly received full custody after Sonny framed Jax for drug possession.
Josslyn briefly became ill again when her uncle Jerry Jacks injected her with an unknown substance that later was revealed to be an inoculation against the deadly pathogen he was planning to unleash into the Port Charles water supply. (Such a thoughtful uncle!) After she got better, the girl made frequent visits to visit Jax in Australia.
When Joss returned to Port Charles, she was upset to find her mother dating Franco, who she believed was a dangerous psycho. The girl also developed a crush on Cameron Webber and worked to split up him and Emma Scorpio-Drake with Spencer Cassadine‘s help. Joss was upset when her mother asked her to be the flower girl at her wedding to Franco, but delighted when they didn’t end up tying the knot!
Joss returned from Australia again in October of 2015 a little older and wiser and was the maid of honor at Carly’s marriage to Sonny Corinthos. Joss was still worried about her mother because she was now old enough to understand exactly what Sonny does for a living. The teen was devastated when her brother, Morgan Corinthos, was killed in a car bomb, but happy when the tragedy pushed Carly away from Sonny and back into Jax’s arms.
However, it was revealed that Jax had arranged to purchase Nelle Benson’s kidney for Josslyn back in the day (turns out that Jake hadn’t really died, so it couldn’t have been his kidney she got!), so a jealous Sonny had the Aussie arrested for organ trafficking and deported so Joss lost her dad again. It was bad when Joss clashed with her mother over her relationship with Sonny and her teenaged partying and dating new boyfriend Oscar Nero, but it got worse when Nelle schemed to get Carly arrested and locked up in Ferncliff!
Josslyn was glad when her mother was released, but then her relationship with Oscar took a turn when he dumped her out of nowhere! She found a sympathetic shoulder to cry on in Cameron and enlisted him to pretend to be her boyfriend to make Oscar jealous. Unfortunately, Cam actually had genuine feelings for her and after a while came clean that Oscar was just pushing her away because he was dying of a brain tumor. Upset, Josslyn returned to Oscar to be by his side as he underwent experimental treatment to save his life, but despite everyone’s best efforts, the boy passed away.
Josslyn was heartbroken over losing Oscar and has struggled to get over it. And Sonny inviting Dev to stay with them complicated things further, as he soon became smitten with Josslyn, going so far as to steal her journal to forge an entry to show Cameron to convince him to back off! Joss, Trina, Cam, and Dev all agreed to attend the school dance as friends, but during the evening, Joss and Cameron stole away to share a kiss. Josslyn was later stunned when an explosion at the Floating Rib took Dev’s life.
Although Josslyn hoped to get into her first-pick college, when she found out she’d been waitlisted, she eventually gave in and agreed to attend Port Charles University with Trina and get an apartment together. Finally, on the Fourth of July, Joss and Cam realized that Dev had tried to push them apart and admitted their feelings, sharing a kiss! But Josslyn was not pleased when Spencer returned to Port Charles, first telling Trina his name was Victor. When Joey Novak gave Joss a message for Jason and Carly, Jax began to fear for his daughter’s safety. When Trina helped her friend make a special dinner for her father, Joss recognized Sonny’s special sauce which led to the discovery that he was alive and living in Nixon Falls with amnesia!
Josslyn agreed to help Trina and Cam set a trap to catch Ava’s stalkers, but they were disappointed when only Spencer confessed and he kept his girlfriend, Esme Prince, out of it. While on a weekend getaway before Spencer served his time for the stalking, Esme instigated a drinking game that humiliated Trina. But when Joss confronted Spencer about his girlfriend, he took Esme’s side. Josslyn and Cameron decided to make love for the first time that night, but were unaware that Esme had set up a camera to record it. Worse still, she leaked it online and framed Trina for the whole thing! Josslyn assured Trina she knew she was innocent, and blasted Spencer for continuing to defend Esme.
Josslyn noticed the sparks flying between Trina and Rory, but didn’t notice the ones between her and Sonny’s new right-hand man, until it was too late. With her relationship with Cameron already fractured following the sex tape and then learning Cam had known Spencer was stringing Esme along the whole time to trap her, Joss found herself drawn to Dex Heller. When a mysterious person began attacking their victims with a large hook, Dex became a suspect, but Josslyn believed in his innocence. She was horrified when she found out that Sonny had tortured Dex to find out the truth, and despite her dislike for Sonny, she fell hard for Dex. She even helped patch him up after he was shot on duty and then hid him out in her dorm room as he recovered. Joss was also inspired to change her major to pre-med to become a doctor. Although she felt guilty about keeping Cam in the dark, Josslyn grew closer to Dex and they shared a passionate kiss.
When Brando Corbin was killed by The Hook, it was determined that Josslyn had been their intended victim at the time, as all the attacks seemed linked to Trina. And on New Year’s Eve, as Joss headed for the party, The Hook attacked again! This time, Britt Westbourne intervened and sadly lost her life because of her heroism.
Josslyn decided she should finally split up with Cameron and his heartbreak turned to anger when he found out she had been seeing Dex for a while. He did reluctantly agree to Joss’ request that he not say anything to anyone as she and Dex weren’t supposed to be together. She then discovered Dex was secretly working for someone to take down Sonny but it was a while before she found out it was her brother. Josslyn and Dex were worried when Sonny found out about them dating, but he revealed he’d known for a while.
After Michael chose not to use the evidence he’d gathered against Sonny, Josslyn asked Sonny to let Dex out of the business. But Sonny said that was Dex’s choice to make. Joss was happy when Dex declared his love, but upset that he wasn’t going to stop working for Sonny. Still, when Ava went missing, Josslyn teamed up with Dex to get help from Spinelli and track her down to bring her home safely.
Josslyn grew concerned about fellow pre-med student Adam, who was taking his pre-med studies way too seriously and worried about his parents’ reaction if he wasn’t getting absolutely perfect grades. She insisted on taking him to the hospital after he had a panic attack during a test and realized he was taking drugs to help him study. When she and Trina found Adam singing and playing guitar, they wondered why he wasn’t pursuing music instead of medicine.
Stay tuned to see how Josslyn’s story continues!
