General Hospital Bio: Sonny Corinthos’ History Explained, A Mobster With a Heart

Michael “Sonny” Corinthos, Jr is of Greek, Irish and Cuban descent and was born in April 1965 making him a Taurus. This brooding sexy mobster certainly lives up to the stubborn traits associated with his Zodiac sign. His birth year was later revised to 1969 as shown on a 2012 Port Charles arrest record. His father is Michael Corinthos, Sr who later changed his name to Corbin and now goes by the moniker Mike Corbin. Mike is Irish and Greek and Sonny’s mother Adela is Cuban by birth.

Sonny was raised in the mostly-Italian neighborhood of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn. When Sonny was young, Mike abandoned the family and Adela began a romance with Trevor Lansing, her employer. She had a child out of wedlock with Trevor and named him Richard “Ric” Lansing. Trevor wanted to marry her but also wanted Adela to ditch Sonny because he accidentally made his mother fall down the stairs when she was pregnant with Ric.

Adela refused to abandon Sonny and she signed away rights to Ric and Trevor took his son away. When Sonny was just seven, Adela married NYPD officer Deke Woods but he turned abusive and was known to beat both Adela and Sonny including locking Sonny in a closet leading to his crippling claustrophobia as an adult. Sonny attended Catholic school and was raised in the faith. When Sonny began fighting back against Deke, Adela asked him to leave home when he was 16.

Sonny lived on the streets for a while but then was taken in by mob boss Joe Scully. After a particularly brutal attack on Adela by his step-father, Sonny’s mentor Scully had Deke killed. Adela passed away when Sonny was just 19 and he then embraced his life of crime. Scully put Sonny in charge of his Atlantic City strip joint The Sea Breeze in place of Joe Scully Jr who was running the business into the ground.

Sonny then came to Port Charles in 1993 to run The Paradise Lounge for mobster Frank Smith and came into his own right as a mob boss taking over Smith’s territory after Luke Spencer killed Frank to protect Sonny. Luke and Sonny then opened a blues club together called Luke’s Place but it was blown up by rival mafioso. Sonny’s career in crime evolved further when he teamed up with amnesiac Jason Morgan (nee Quartermaine), made him his enforcer and formed the Corinthos-Morgan crime syndicate.

Over the years, Sonny occasionally tries to go straight, but it never works out. Sonny is bipolar (as is the actor that portrays him, Maurice Bernard). When he goes manic and off his meds, Jason took the business away. Once Sonny recovered, he fought to get the business back. Sonny tried to go straight again to protect adoptive son Michael III, but turns back to crime when Michael is shot. Most recently, he turned the reins of the family over to Duke Lavery when he was sent to Pentonville on a murder rap.

Sonny has been a ladies man since his teens and has married multiple times and fathered a handful of children with different women.

Spouses
Lily Rivera – Married then widowed when she died in a car bomb explosion
Carly Benson Corinthos Jacks – Married and divorced three times
Claudia Zacchara – Married then widowed when she was beaten to death
Brenda Barrett – Married then divorced from his on and off again flame

Romances
Olivia Falconeri – As teens and again as adults
Connie Falconeri – Also known as Kate Howard, they dated as teens and then engaged as adults
Karen Wexler – Stripper that Sonny got addicted to drugs, she later died
Hannah Scott – Undercover FBI agent Sonny fell for while she was investigating him
Alexis Davis – Sonny’s attorney who he had a one night fling with resulting in a pregnancy
Samantha McCall/Sam Morgan – Affair and pregnancy prior to her involvement with Jason
Reese Marshall – FBI agent who solved the kidnapping of one of Sonny’s kids and then fell for him
Emily Quartermaine – Fell in love after her rape, his bipolar disorder did them in as a couple
Ava Jerome – Enemies who had a one night stand resulting in a pregnancy

Children
Dante Falconeri – son by Olivia Falconeri
Michael Corinthos III/Michael Quartermaine – adoptive son by Carly Corinthos
Morgan Corinthos – son by Carly Corinthos
Kristina Davis – daughter by Alexis Davis
Avery Jerome – daughter by Ava Jerome