GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Tamara Braun ponders Kim’s possibilities

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Twitter Handle: @TamaraBraun.
Audience Participation: Braun says daytime fans, “never cease to amaze me. They’re always rooting for me!”
Wish List: Braun wants screen time with Max Gail (Mike). “He blows my mind!”
Woman’s BFF: This dog mom loves all animals but reveals, “I am quite allergic to cats, so I can’t have one.”

Over a decade after her run as GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Carly, Tamara Braun is back in Port Charles, having a blast playing the hospital’s new OB/GYN. “Kim’s great,” grins the actress, who returned to the ABC soap last fall. “She’s kind and fun, has spunk, has heart and is strong and independent. She’s a great mother, a fierce protector of her son and has a great relationship with him. He is a teenage boy, so that’s very positive! And she helps to bring life into the world. What’s not to like?”

What Kim Sees In Julian
Julian would certainly agree. “Wait, who’s Julian? Don’t you mean Charlie?” Braun laughs, referring to Kim’s special name for her pal. “The writers have done a really nice job with this friendship. Kim is very playful with Julian. They smile easily together, and have from the fi rst time they met. They both needed a friend, and it’s a lovely connection, don’t you think?”

While Kim enjoys teasing Charlie, she can also see the good in the former mobster — unlike those who knew him when! “From Kim’s perspective, he’s a good guy who is trying to deal with heartache over Alexis and his poor choices in the past and make amends,” Braun contends. “Kim can relate strongly to that… or maybe she just knows he has to stop beating himself up so he can have some joy.

“Life is better,” she adds, “with joy in it!”

The Drew Factor
While Julian offers a mature, honest relationship, refound baby daddy Drew is Kim’s long-lost one and only. “Deep love experienced through youth is magical,” Braun sighs. “It cannot be duplicated. From what I know of their relationship, Kim was her most free and open with him. Kim and Drew’s romance was a whirlwind love affair but intense.”

Now that Drew’s back in her life, Kim can’t help but pine for what they had and all that she’d dreamed of sharing with him. “But Drew doesn’t look or act like he did when she knew him,” Braun reminds. “He doesn’t remember her or the love they shared, so she is alone in those memories” of their time together.

Could Kim Be Henrik’s Sister?
Speaking of Kim’s memories… when the good doctor lectured Julian on redemption early on in their relationship, we couldn’t help wondering what she herself might be hiding. And even now, we still don’t know! “I would love for Kim’s past to be brought to the surface — or at least some of it,” Braun says enthusiastically. “It would help us get more layers to her.

“We have all done things in our lives we regret and would do differently today if we could,” she continues. “Ultimately, we have to learn to forgive ourselves and learn from our mistakes.”

As for those fan theories that Kim might actually be Peter/Henrik’s secret twin, Braun is certainly aware of them.

“I obviously got the short gene… but I love that theory,” she says. “I mean, to play Anna’s daughter? Work with Finola Hughes? Um, yes, please.”

Family Matters
With Kim caught between her mysterious past, her sexy present and her uncertain future, the most important man in her life is still and will always be the adorable son she’s raised on her own. “I love Kim and Oscar,” Braun cries. “There is a respect between the two of them. A playfulness, honesty and deep love. They have a very special mother/ son relationship.”

And like any kid, Oscar wants nothing more than to see his newfound father folded into their small family — which is totally believable. There’s just one thing: “What that family looks like may be different to a child who’s dreamed of some traditional family,” Braun cautions. “What’s beautiful is that, in our time, ‘family’ isn’t strictly defi ned as a mother and a father together with their kids.

“And hell, this is a soap,” she adds. “Family has never been mom, dad, 2.5 kids and a picket fence!”

Comeback Queen

While recasts are common in daytim , its less common for actors to be invited back to play entirely new roles — but Braun has done that on both GH and DAYS OF OUR LIVES, where she earned a 2008 Emmy for her run as Ava and then returned in 2011 as Taylor. “It’s very nice to be asked back,” demurs the actress. “I suppose it means they like what I do. Of course, there are challenges. There is always comparison.” But there’s also fun to be had! Braun got a kick out of sharing Kim’s first scenes with Carly and Sonny, and would love to cross paths with her former on-screen hubby more often. “I think it would be fun for the fans, don’t you?” she grins. “How do you think they could interact? Through Joss and Oscar? Or he can get pregnant. Let’s have Sonny get pregnant!”