Nina Reeves on GENERAL HOSPITAL has been through quite a lot of ups and downs, so it’s understandable that some viewers might have a little trouble getting a handle on her character. So let us fill you in on the wild history that took her from baby-snatcher to magazine editor! Nina was first introduced to GH in May 2014 and was played by Emmy-winning actress Michelle Stafford. However, when she opted to leave the soap, the role was recast with another Emmy winner, Cynthia Watros, in June 2019, and she continues to play the schemer to this day.
Nathan West wanted to make Silas Clay pay for putting his sister, Nina, into a coma, but it was later revealed that her mother, Madeline Reeves, had accidentally done it when she gave her an overdose of antidepressants to cause her to miscarry Silas’ baby. Although Madeline then claimed her daughter had died, Nina showed up in Port Charles having awoken from her coma. She wanted things to go back to the way they were with Silas, but he admitted he was now dating Sam McCall. Nina pretended to be okay with it, but she secretly schemed to come between them, even pretending that she still needed her wheelchair when she didn’t.
Although Nina did win Silas back, he split up with her when he learned about her lies. Desperate to have his baby, Nina decided to force Ava Jerome to go into labor and steal her newborn daughter. She and Franco Baldwin went on the run, but the authorities caught up with them and Silas convinced Nina to give Ava back her baby. She pled not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed to Shadybrook where she met Heather Webber. Franco managed to get himself committed as well to protect Nina from his mother, and the pair bonded before they were eventually released.
Unable to access her trust fund, Nina went along with Franco’s scheme to blackmail Olivia Falconeri into giving them free room and board at the Metro Court Hotel. When Ava’s daughter was kidnapped again, Nina was hurt that Franco didn’t believe her innocence and then married Ric Lansing to hurt him. But Ric had only married Nina to help Madeline get her hands on her money. She was also the prime suspect in Silas’ murder when Franco found her holding the knife over his dead body. (Turned out Madeline was the one who killed him.)
After freeing herself from Ric, Nina wanted to make a fresh start and convinced Julian Jerome to give her a job so he made her editor in chief of Crimson magazine. She found herself drawn to Valentin Cassadine, and agreed to marry him to help his custody case for his daughter, Charlotte. (It didn’t hurt that Nina would finally get a child, something she’d always wanted.) Unfortunately, his continued involvement with Anna Devane caused Nina to grow jealous, and after she learned he’d known Peter August was really Henrik Faison, she dumped him, blaming him for being partly responsible for Cesar Faison killing her brother, Nathan.
Nina also helped Liesl Obrecht kidnap Peter for causing Nathan’s death, but when the doc wanted to kill him for revenge, Nina backed off and actually helped him get free. After learning of her mother’s death, Nina received a package containing a locket from her childhood and realized that the other half of the heart was with the daughter she had been told died while she was in the coma. Unbeknownst to Nina, Valentin was so desperate to win back her love that he got Madeline to reveal that the infant had survived and then schemed to have a young woman named Sasha Gilmore pose as her long-lost child.
