On General Hospital, Cameron Mathison‘s alter ego, Drew Cain, has been pumped with drugs by his not-so-doting wife, Willow (Katelyn MacMullen), resulting in him being unable to do much other than blink. But while the show enjoys a two-week production hiatus, Mathison has been keeping busy, and this week, he is appearing on Good Morning America, where he reflected on the highs and lows of playing such a lowdown, rotten character.

Naughty By Nature

Chatting with hosts Sam Champion, Robin Roberts and Michael Strahan, Mathison chuckled as a summary of Drew’s dramatic recent storyline was read back to him, followed by a clip of an upcoming episode of GH in which Drew blinks rapidly at Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) in a seemingly futile attempt to communicate to her about his Willow-inflicted distress. “I love that we got a clip of just me blinking,” Mathison teased. “You’re welcome, America!”

Acknowledging that Drew’s days as a hero were long behind him, the actor sighed, “He’s just not a good human,” adding, “I’ve never really played a character like this in 30 years of [acting in daytime]. And it’s been really fun, but at the same time, it’s bizarre being hated so much in America and in the canvas. It’s been wild!”

Roberts pointed out, “We’ve known you for a long time and you’re one of the nicest you’d ever want to be around — until this role!” “It’s very bizarre,” Mathison mused of the intense reaction he’s received from the GH audience since Drew took a decided turn toward the villainous. “I was telling you guys [during the commercial break] that, like, I’ve had apples thrown at me in the supermarket. I’ve had people roll up magazines and beat me. I’ve had a car almost run me over on the street…. I’m not used to these things happening!”

This August, Mathison will celebrate his fifth anniversary in Port Charles. “I think, ultimately, my favorite part of the whole stretch has been this transition into the demise of Drew,” he noted. “It’s been fun and challenging and bizarre and I just say, you know, bring it on!”

In a later segment, Mathison spoke with GMA correspondents Ike Eiochi and Elizabeth Schulze and agreed with Eiochi’s assessment that Drew “is in a little bit of a karma situation.” Nodded Mathison, “Drew has really gone through this transition into a very, very dark kind of just bad guy that is now having the repercussions of some of those actions, you know, lead him into paralysis and it’s just a mess!”

Offered Mathison, “It’s actually a very good, dark storyline as far as this character Willow, who plays my wife, who absolutely hates me like everybody else in Port Charles and has held me captive, almost like the Misery movie — remember Misery? — where I’m held captive by this woman who’s just injecting poison into me, keeping me in paralysis and I can’t do anything but listen and blink.”

After a clip was shown of Drew’s outburst on the stand during Willow’s trial, Mathison joked, “Take it easy, Drew! I mean, Drew needs to do a little meditation, maybe a little spiritual practice.” He reiterated that playing Drew’s fall from grace was “really fun. I’ve never played character this dark, this deceptive, this mean, this cruel [and] so in a way, it’s kind of like the one place I get to let it out a little bit … I get to go to work and just let it all out!”

Asked by Eiochi to name the absolute worst thing Drew has ever done, Mathison referenced the cruel maneuver the character made toward his grandnephew (and now stepson), Wiley (Viron Weaver). “He manipulated an 11-year-old kid into thinking that his father didn’t love him anymore just to get something that he wanted — like, he had a selfish motivation,” the actor shuddered. “When I read that, I went to the producer. I was like, ‘Can we tweak this a little bit? This is too much.’ As a dad, like, it was horrible. The kid’s devastated and [as Drew] I’m like, ‘Get over it!’” He concluded, “It was pretty low, pretty dark.”

Finally, Mathison tackled Schulze’s query about what advice he would give to his character. “Stop taking yourself so seriously. Stop being so selfish,” Mathison rattled off. “Just be kind and stay away from Willow, who keeps trying to shoot you and stab you and things like that!”

But the actor was quick to point out that Willow’s extreme actions could be traced back to Drew’s unsavory behavior. “I think, really, you can blame Drew for most of that, to be honest … She’s only reacting to a whole bunch of horrible, horrible things that my character’s done to her.”