Little Robin Scorpio became a beloved character on General Hospital from the moment she stepped foot in Port Charles as the long lost daughter of a super spy couple in 1985. Played by seven-year-old Kimberly McCullough, Robin remained a fixture on the show for over a decade and a half. In the 1990s, she became a young teenager who endured young teenage drama, perhaps the most dramatic being her romance with a boy named Stone, who died of HIV/AIDS related complications, but not before passing the virus on to his true love.
Cue young Robin Scorpio, secret love child turned young heroine turned character living with HIV for 22 years, as of 2017.
Since becoming infected and learning to deal with being HIV-positive, Robin has fallen in love again (and again), had her heartbroken (more than once), been kidnapped (too many times to count), presumed dead (for extended periods of time), married, given birth to an HIV-negative daughter, and became an overachieving super doctor (at one point forced to use her medical genius to revive expired villains of her super spy parents).
All in a sudsy days work for the longest running HIV-positive character on television. Robin sometimes takes leave of Port Charles—affording actress Kimberly McCullough time to go to college, work on other projects, grow up, have a life—but she and Robin somehow seems to always find their way back to GH, especially for the Nurse’s Ball, the annual gala that raises money to help those infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
General Hospital and Kimberly McCullough deserves a world of credit. Soap operas have always been at the cutting edge of social issues and GH continues to carry the mantle. Thank you, GH and Kimberly, for allowing the HIV-positive character Robin Scorpio to live, love and thrive in soap opera land all these years. You’ve been a great educator and your HIV/AIDS-related storylines have been an inspiration, especially to this longtime HIV/AIDS survivor and soap fan.
Long live, General Hospital!
Randy Boyd author 