Credit: Disney
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Blaze has come a long way on General Hospital since she first popped up almost two years ago to sing a duet with Chase. Right now, she’s front and center as The Invader‘s article blasting Ava’s recording of Natalia has outed her, infuriated just about everyone and threatened to blow up not just her career, but her relationship with her mom and Kristina. (Check out our recap of the explosive fallout here.)
Things, in other words, are just about as rough as they get for the singer and model — which is amazing news for Jacqueline Grace Lopez! As the story pushed her front and center on General Hospital, the actress took to Instagram to share an incredibly touching post about what this all means to her.
In it, she shares a video watching the ABC sudser and seeing her photo pop up in the opening credits. As the fans cheered on the milestone, Lopez wrote, “Only older, do I truly see and feel how representation matters. Grateful for this moment for so many reasons. Thank you, General Hospital.
She then explained within the video itself that, “Growing up in the ‘90s, I was this little Filipino Latina with big buck teeth and glasses since the third grade. I think I got contacts maybe in junior high. I never really saw myself represented in anything.”
“And now older,” she continued, “I really see how that contributed to my feeling invisible. So to get this moment to realize that there might be some kid home from school, or someone who sees someone that looks like them, if that can help them dream big, I know that would have helped me. And that means everything.”
Take a look at the emotional video below, along with that adorable photo of a young star.
We don’t know what the future holds for Blaze. This rift between her and her mother may be too big to heal. But we have hope that it will all turn out for the best. As Kristina told her, they’ll make it through this.
But one thing we do know is that we couldn’t be happier for Lopez or for all the kids out there growing up who now get to see themselves reflected in her and know that they and their dreams matter. No one should ever feel like they’re invisible. (Though we have a feeling that right now, Blaze probably does wish she could just disappear!) As Lopez noted, representation really, truly does matter.
