Soap Opera
‘General Hospital’ Fans Will Never Forget Ava Jerome’s Famous Alter Ego
Ava Jerome posed as fake twin Denise DeMuccio on ‘General Hospital,’ fooling Port Charles with a Brooklyn accent, dark wig, and bold nails after faking her death.
There was a time when all of Port Charles believed that shady art dealer Ava Jerome (Maura West) was dead. But General Hospital had a surprise for Ava’s family, friends, enemies, and frenemies when Ava’s long-lost twin arrived, wanting to get to know the family now that she knew she had a sister. However, Denise DeMuccio wasn’t Denise DeMuccio at all — and that’s where things got complicated.
Denise DeMuccio Takes General Hospital By Storm
Who can ever forget Denise? She barreled into Ava’s old apartment with her Brooklyn accent, heavy makeup, dark wig, and long air-brushed nails, ready to get to know Avery, her “late” sister’s infant daughter. She even brought Delia Ryan (Ilene Kristen) with her to tell the tale of giving birth to twins, but never mentioning a second child until now. And that’s because there wasn’t a second child. Denise was really Ava, who had faked her own death.
Ava thought that if she returned to town as a gum-chewing hairdresser who was related to Ava, Michael (who had custody of Avery at the time) would relent and let the baby see her “aunt” since her mother was gone.
She did get to hold Avery a few times as Denise, but the act didn’t last long. First, ex-lover Franco Baldwin (Roger Howarth) was onto her from the start. And second, “Denise” slept with Ava’s daughter’s boyfriend, the same way Ava had, which made keeping up the Denise persona a little more difficult. GH viewers even got a little taste of Denise in January of 2026 when an encore episode featured the character’s brief stint in Port Charles.
On social media, fans recalled Denise on the 11th anniversary of her arrival in May. You can see that moment here.
“This entire SL had me crying real tears!” one fan said on X.
Through the years, other fans have invoked Denise when characters from other soaps fool everyone with a silly black wig. “Why is Phyllis dressing up like Ava Jerome’s fake alias Denise DeMuccio from GH? LOL,” one fan asked when The Young and the Restless’ Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) faked her death in 2023.
Last fall, when Carly (Laura Wright) donned a black wig to sneak into Steinmauer and see Valentin, all fans could think about was Ava’s stint as a raven-haired brunette. As one fan put it on X, “I wonder if they repurposed Denise Demuccio’s wig.”
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC and streams each weeknight on Hulu.
