Lulu Spencer and Nathan West’s romance just crossed a major milestone on General Hospital — and the woman playing Lulu has some refreshingly honest thoughts about filming those intimate scenes.
In an exclusive interview with Soap Opera Digest, Alexa Havins opened up about what it’s like to share on-screen chemistry with Ryan Paevey while being married to actor Justin Bruening in real life. And her answer? Equal parts gracious, funny, and completely real.
The First On-Screen Kiss in Years
Before joining GH in 2024, Havins had genuinely stepped away from acting. She was home-schooling four children — three daughters and a son — while Bruening worked on location for his Netflix series. She considered herself done.
So when Lulu and Nathan shared their first kiss back in January, it marked Havins’s first on-screen kiss in many years. And since Lulu had been living a chaste life since waking from her coma, the moment carried real weight — both for the character and the actress.
Then came the March 18 episode, when Nathan carried Lulu upstairs after their first date. The romance officially graduated from slow-burn to fully ignited.
“Ryan and I Have Fallen Into a Really Comfortable Rhythm”
Havins told SOD that she and Paevey work well together. “We’ve fallen into a really comfortable and nice rhythm as co-stars,” she said. She particularly appreciates his dedication to rehearsal.
“He’s always hunting me down to run lines,” she laughed. “He’ll sit right next to me in the hair and makeup room while I’m getting ready, and we’ll run lines over and over. It’s almost like cramming for a test in high school!”
The process doesn’t stop there. Havins described a full loop of preparation: run lines in hair and makeup, run them again after wardrobe, then run them again on set. “I love that he’s into doing that,” she said, “because it gives us that dress rehearsal and run-through which we don’t really have formal time for because we’re filming so much material.”
The Real-Life Love Story Behind the Camera
Havins met Bruening on the All My Children set in 2003, when they were cast as future couple Babe and Jamie. After a year of friendship, they started dating — and Bruening proposed right on the AMC set in 2004. They married in 2005 and have been together ever since.
SOD notes that Havins winked during the interview, saying of her real-life kissing preferences: “I want to kiss Justin Bruening!”
It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes honesty that fans love — a reminder that soap actors navigate a unique professional reality where passion on screen and devotion off screen exist side by side.
What’s Next for Lulu and Nathan?
The romance is heating up fast, but storm clouds are gathering. Nathan’s true identity remains a ticking bomb — and spoilers confirm he’s about to swear Lulu to secrecy about something connected to Cullum and Britt. Whatever Nathan is hiding, it could transform this love story into something far more dangerous.
But for now, fans can enjoy watching two actors who clearly respect each other bring one of GH’s most talked-about new couples to life — one rehearsed, prepared, and very intimate scene at a time.
