Why General Hospital's Nina Once Thought Sasha Was Her Daughter
Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) and Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattsson) are great friends on "General Hospital," but that wasn't always the case. Nina was devastated when she emerged from a 20-year coma and learned that the child she had been carrying at the time of her injury had died. That, of course, wasn't true, and it later turned out that Nina had bore twin daughters, which her mother subsequently gave up for adoption. She had a hole in her heart as a result and longed to be a mother. Nina and Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart) were an item for a time, but when they were on the outs because she'd learned about some of his past crimes, he put a plan in motion that he thought would be sure to reunite them.
He met with Nina's mother, Madeline Reeves (Donna Mills), who was in prison for murdering Nina's ex-husband, Dr. Silas Clay (Michael Easton). Valentin bartered with her: in exchange for her telling the truth that Nina's baby had lived, he would pull strings to get her out of jail. She lied, saying that there was only one child, but truthfully explained that she'd illegally sold the baby because it was in line to eventually receive Nina's fortune as an inheritance, which Madeline wanted for herself. However, shortly after, she had a heart attack and died in prison.
Valentin tampered with Sasha and Nina's DNA test
Among Madeline Reeves' personal items was a heart pendant that Nina Reeves had as a kid. It had been split in half, and she felt that finding it was a sign that she had a daughter who was still alive somewhere, with the other half. Meanwhile, Valentin hired private investigator Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) to locate Nina's long-lost daughter, and he paid Sasha to come to Port Charles in 2018 to pretend to be her. She accepted because she desperately needed cash to care for her ill grandmother. When Madeline's funeral was held, Valentin secretly secured some of Sasha's DNA which he later used to make it appear that she was Nina's biological daughter. Meanwhile, Nina was skeptical because Sasha had never even seen the other half of the heart-shaped pendant in her life.
Then, Nina's aunt, Dr. Liesl Obrecht (Kathleen Gati), discovered what Valentin was up to and blackmailed him into convincing the dastardly villain Peter August (Wes Ramsey) to drop charges he had filed against her after she tortured him. Valentin had planned to have Sasha simply meet with Nina, then leave Port Charles. However, after a time, Sasha liked the idea of being her daughter since she didn't have much family of her own and decided to stay. When the DNA test that Valentin had tampered with proved the two women were mother and daughter, Nina accepted Sasha and was thrilled to finally have a child.
The truth almost destroyed their relationship
Sasha's supposed father was the late Silas Clay (Michael Easton), making her Kiki Jerome's (Hayley Erin) half-sister. As the secret of Sasha's true identity came dangerously close to being revealed, Kiki was murdered by serial killer Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom). Sasha fled town for fear of being killed herself or her secret being unearthed. She eventually returned, causing concern for Valentin because he had smoothed things over with Nina and didn't want to risk the truth being revealed. Sasha and Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell) became an item, and when she almost perished from the bird flu, she reevaluated her life and spilled the beans to him. Michael forgave her for lying, and things were looking up when she was asked to be the face of the cosmetics company, Deception.
Lulu Falconeri (Emme Rylan) then overheard a conversation between Sasha and Liesl Obrecht and learned about the secret. On Valentin and Nina's wedding day, Lulu revealed that Sasha was a fraud, and Nina was livid. Sasha felt horrible and apologized profusely to Nina, who wouldn't listen to her. However, over time, Nina was able to accept her apologies and eventually forgave her. The two became friends, and Nina was there for Sasha through many of her personal crises, including the loss of her baby and the murder of her husband, Brando Corbin (Johnny Wactor).
To this day, Nina and Sasha have a pseudo-mother-daughter relationship and look out for one another.