The Complete Evolution Of Britt Westbourne On General Hospital
Being the daughter of two supervillains — the sinister Cesar Faison (Anders Hove) and former mad scientist Liesl Obrecht (Kathleen Gati) — has made life difficult for Dr. Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud) on "General Hospital." Because of her sarcastic and ill-tempered demeanor, when Britt came to Port Charles in 2012, she was quickly given the nickname "The Britch," per Soap Hub. A new doctor at General Hospital, Britt became infatuated with Dr. Patrick Drake (Jason Thompson), whose wife, Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), had recently died. Even though he wasn't ready to start dating, Patrick reluctantly agreed to go out with Britt. She got a nurse named Sabrina Santiago (Teresa Castillo) to babysit his daughter, Emma Drake (Brooklyn Rae Silzer). However, Patrick and Sabrina would soon find themselves attracted to each other (via Soaps in Depth).
Britt and Patrick started dating, while Emma and Sabrina began to bond. When Patrick heard Britt call Emma a brat, coupled with Britt tossing Emma's doll onto a barbecue, he broke up with her. Britt swore revenge on Sabrina and started scheming with Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) to ruin the nurse's career. Unfortunately for Britt, Maxie's father, WSB agent Frisco Jones (Jack Wagner), got involved, and when Britt ended up injured, she separated herself from Maxie. Britt then tried making it look like Sabrina had cheated on a nursing exam, and when that failed, she consulted with her duplicitous mother, per Soap Central.
With Liesl's help, Britt's days of scheming and manipulating were just beginning.
Britt's plan to get Patrick backfires
Per Soap Central, Britt Westbourne announced at General Hospital's annual nurse's ball that she was pregnant and Patrick Drake was the father. Her mother, Dr. Liesl Obrecht, ensured that the paternity test results would back Britt's claim up. Patrick still chose Sabrina over Britt, although he agreed to be part of the child's life. Britt then bribed lab technician Brad Cooper (Parry Shen) to make it look like she required bed rest during her pregnancy, but she ended up having to stay with Sabrina and her roommate Felix DuBois (Marc Anthony Samuel). When the two started to look into the veracity of her paternity claim, Britt schemed with Brad to make it look like he was the sperm donor.
Meanwhile, Liesl had mistakenly poisoned Duke Lavery (Ian Buchanan) with Propofol intended for someone else and fled town (via Soaps). While Patrick continued to believe the baby was his, the police figured out that Liesl was Britt's mother. Patrick insisted Liesl would have no part in the child's life and wanted to sue for custody. Britt then claimed that Brad was the sperm donor and Patrick wasn't the father (via Soap Hub). During this time, Britt moved out of Sabrina's apartment, and Nikolas let her stay with him at his mansion, Wyndemere. While living together, the two started to develop feelings for one another.
Britt's schemes cost her Nikolas
When the baby was born, Britt named him Ben. Although Britt told Liesl not to interfere in her life, Liesl didn't listen to her and kidnapped the child, bringing him to Cassadine Island, per Soap Central. There, villain Jerry Jacks (Sebastian Roche) and the captive, and very much alive, Robin Scorpio (Kimberly McCullough), took care of the baby while Liesl went to see Cesar Faison in prison. She told him about their grandson, promising that she would break him out of jail so they could be together. Nikolas and Britt traced Liesel to the island and became Jerry's hostages.
Eventually, Jerry took everyone to Port Charles so Robin could find a cure for his Polonium poisoning. Britt worked with her, and she was freed, taking the baby back to Wyndemere. By this time, Liesl had been arrested. She then threatened to expose the truth — that the baby had been conceived via a frozen embryo belonging to Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) and his wife Lulu (Emme Rylan) — if Britt didn't help her get out of jail (via Soap Hub).
In time, Nikolas proposed to Britt, but when the truth about the baby did finally come out, Nikolas dumped her (via Soaps in Depth). In an attempt to get him back, Britt and his son, Spencer Cassadine (then Nicholas Bechtel), faked the boy's kidnapping so she could be a hero by rescuing him. Liesl threatened to reveal this plan as well, so Britt admitted to her scheme, ultimately losing Nikolas for good.
Britt comes and goes in Port Charles
Having broken more than a few laws with the embryo plot, Britt left town with her father, Faison, while Liesl stayed behind because her son, Nathan West (Ryan Paevy), had been shot, per Soaps in Depth. Britt snuck back to Port Charles briefly in 2015 to watch the nurse's ball with her friend Brad Cooper, then left again. In 2017, mob boss Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) and his enforcer, Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), were pursuing Faison, and they happened upon Britt. Tired of being a fugitive, Britt agreed to turn herself in. As luck would have it, a year later, Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) and Dr. Hamilton Finn (Michael Easton) came to Britt in prison, offering her a way out: she would be freed if she lured her mother into a trap by pretending to be sick. The plan worked, Liesl was captured, and Britt was finally free. After meeting her newly found half-brother Peter August (Wes Ramsey), Britt left Port Charles once again, leaving a note for Liesl explaining she was starting fresh elsewhere.
Britt returned to town in 2020 when Brad Cooper (Parry Shen) faced prison because he was involved in a baby swap scheme. She questioned Brad's father-in-law Julian Jerome (William deVry), about his involvement, and the two ended up having an affair (via Celeb Dirty Laundry). Meanwhile, Liesl Obrecht had been framed for a crime that she surprisingly didn't commit, so Britt offered her mother some support as well.
Britt helps Jason prove Cyrus Renault's guilt
As Soaps in Depth reported, Britt Westbourne's medical license was eventually reinstated, and she went back to work. Her affair with Julian Jerome continued briefly until she left Port Charles again to work in Boston. Later in 2021, she returned to General Hospital as the chief of staff, shocking her co-workers. She had been hand-picked by drug lord Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober), who had assumed control of the hospital. Realizing Cyrus had nefarious intentions, Britt agreed to help Jason Morgan take him down if he protected Brad Cooper from the evildoer, per Soap Opera Spy. She worked covertly to prove that Cyrus was using the hospital as a cover for his drug dealing operation.
Cyrus began to suspect that she and Jason were up to something. Later, Jason was framed by Peter August for murdering Franco Baldwin (Roger Howarth) and landed in the hospital after Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright) had Shawn Butler (Sean Blakemore) stab him in prison, per Celeb Dirty Laundry. Jason managed to escape from the hospital but learned that Cyrus had sent henchmen to kill Britt in her office. Jason ran back in and saved her. As they fled in the hospital parking lot, he was shot, but not fatally, and the two went on the run, per TV Season Spoilers.
Britt and Jason find love on the lam
According to Soaps in Depth, Jason Morgan and Britt Westbourne made their way to a safe house where she treated his gunshot wound. Britt performed the surgery, although unhappy that they weren't in a sterile hospital environment. After tending his wound, she realized Jason had lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion. Jason's friend Damian Spinelli (Bradford Anderson) showed up with the much-needed blood supply, and Britt performed the transfusion.
The police then called Spinelli in to answer questions about Jason's daring escape, as they believed that the mob enforcer was holding Britt hostage. After Spinelli left, Britt questioned whether or not they could trust him, and Jason knew that Spinelli would eventually knuckle under the police interrogation and give away their location, per Soaps. Jason's ex-wife Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco) brought them fake passports, and the two escaped to Canada.
Hiding out in a cabin, Jason and Britt found they were developing feelings for each other. Jason began noticing that Britt was experiencing hand tremors, and she admitted that she might have inherited Huntington's disease from her father but was afraid to get tested. Jason convinced her to get the diagnosis confirmed by a local doctor. She did, and to her horror, Britt learned that she had the markers for the disease. She and Jason made love, and Britt was happy to have someone she could confide in who wouldn't judge her for her past misdeeds.
However, Britt and Jason's love affair would be short-lived.
Britt and Jason broke up because of his job
According to Celebrating the Soaps, it turned out that Britt Westbourne's half-brother Peter August had killed Franco Baldwin and framed Jason Morgan for the crime. He had paid Gladys Corbin (Bonnie Burroughs) to claim she had seen Jason dumping the murder weapon. Eventually, Jason was exonerated, and he and Britt were able to return to Port Charles.
However, during their time away, Jason's boss, Sonny Corinthos, had plunged into a river when a footbridge collapsed beneath him and was presumed dead. In reality, Sonny had been washed downstream to the town of Nixon Falls, where he was suffering from amnesia. With Sonny seemingly dead and Jason missing in action, Carly Corinthos was forced to take control of her husband's criminal organization. As there were five mob businesses, otherwise known as The Five Families, working in tandem to keep order and balance their respective territories, the Corinthos family appeared weak and ripe for the picking. Upon Jason's return, he and Carly realized they had no choice but to get married as a show of strength against the other families who were moving in on Sonny's territory, per Soap Hub. As much as they didn't want to, Britt and Jason had to break their relationship off.
A depressed Britt ended up sleeping with Carly's ex-husband, Jasper Jacks (Ingo Rademacher), per Soaps In Depth, though they agreed that there would be no expectations beyond their one-night stand.
Britt got a demotion at the hospital
Although Britt Westbourne had been the chief of staff, her absence while on the run with Jason Morgan caused some turmoil at General Hospital. Upon her return, the head of the hospital board, Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson), decided that while Britt acted heroically, she would receive a minor demotion for leaving the institution high and dry while running from the law, per Celeb Dirty Laundry. Thus, Monica offered Britt the opportunity to become co-chief of staff with Dr. Terry Randolph (Cassandra James). Britt found this demeaning, was very antagonistic toward Terry, and almost quit. Ultimately, she decided it was in her best interest to work with Terry instead of against her, and the two eventually became friends.
Meanwhile, after bravely rescuing his friends from a fire in Nixon Falls, Sonny Corinthos was hit on the head by a falling beam and regained his memories, returning to Port Charles. Jason and Carly were about to consummate their marriage when Sonny walked in on them in his bedroom. Mixed feelings abounded as Jason and Carly were beyond happy to see him but had rekindled old feelings for each other in an effort to make the marriage more than one of convenience (via Soaps In Depth). Despite the fact that Sonny being alive nullified Jason and Carly's marriage, Britt decided that she and Jason were over and they would never be able to recapture what they'd shared while on the run.
Britt and Cody Bell started a brief romance
Despite Britt Westbourne and Jason Morgan's breakup, she turned to him for help when her half-brother Peter August kidnapped her mother, Liesl Obrecht. The two tracked Liesl to Cassadine Island in Greece. There, they rescued Liesl along with Jason's presumed-dead twin Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison). However, during their escape, Jason was seemingly killed when a cave collapsed on top of him, according to TV Insider. Britt returned to Port Charles and tried to come to terms with losing Jason.
Per Celeb Dirty Laundry, a dating app called Society Setups was having a soiree on the Metro Court Hotel's rooftop pool. Feeling that her love life was going nowhere and upset about having the markers for Huntington's disease, Britt attended and ended up going on a drunken tirade about relationships. Then, shocking the attendees, a man named Cody Bell (Josh Kelly) skydived onto the roof as part of a publicity stunt. He inadvertently caused Britt to fall into the pool, making her the laughingstock of Port Charles.
Afterward, Cody pursued Britt romantically, even going as far as to blackmail the creator of the Society Setups app into creating a match between the two. Although Britt vehemently resisted at first, she eventually agreed to a few dates, and the two had a brief and tumultuous romance. However, she quickly broke things off when she learned that Cody was only after a valuable necklace that Peter had left her when he died (via Soap Dirt).
Britt Westbourne dies a hero's death
Britt Westbourne became friends with fellow doctor Austin Gatlin-Holt (Roger Howarth) when he confided in her that his brother was on the autism spectrum. While the two never got romantically entangled, she eventually felt comfortable enough with him to reveal her Huntington's diagnosis. Austin then connected Britt with a specialist with whom it was usually hard to get an appointment. The specialist confirmed that Britt had advanced Huntington's disease and that she didn't have much longer to live. Having never had a birthday party in her life, Britt created what she considered the ultimate birthday bash for New Year's Eve (via Soaps Spoilers).
This gathering was Britt's way of saying goodbye to all of her friends and her mother since only Liesl Obrecht and a few others were aware of her condition. Her plan was to quietly disappear shortly after midnight. She had made a deal with mobster Selina Wu (Lydia Look) and agreed to stay away from Ms. Wu's nephew Brad Cooper forever, in exchange for a phony passport and driver's license, per Soap Hub. Sadly, things didn't go as Britt had planned. Changing her mind about leaving everyone so she could die alone somewhere in the world, Britt happened upon the serial killer, The Hook, attacking Josslyn Jacks. Britt stopped the killer but was scratched by the poisonous hook. Making her way back to where the party was, Britt died in her mother's arms (via Soaps).
Though actress Kelly Thiebaud has a bright future ahead, "General Hospital" fans will surely miss seeing the infamous "Britch" in Port Charles.