Valerie Spencer (Paulina Bugembe)

Officer Valerie Spencer is a fictional character on the ABC Daytime soap opera, General Hospital. She is the daughter of the late, Pat Spencer and an unknown man. She is also a member of the Spencer family and the niece of legendary characters, Luke and Bobbie Spencer.

She has been portrayed by Brytni Sarpy since the character's debut on March 20, 2015.

Casting
Head writer Ron Carlivati revealed to Soap Opera Digest that Sarpy initially auditioned for the role of Jordan Ashford (Vinessa Antoine) but she was too young for the role.

Sarpy made an impression the producers and she was later offered the role of Valerie and is under contract.

Her first appearance was on March 20, 2015.

As of the end of 2016, Sarpy was dropped to recurring status.

Background
Pat and Valerie's father broke up before she was born, so for as long as Valerie could remember it was always her and her mom.

Storylines
On March 20, 2015, Tracy Quartermaine and Lulu Spencer-Falconeri are looking to find Pat Spencer, and instead find her daughter, Valerie. Lulu reveals that she the daughter of Pat's brother Luke and that they are cousins. Lulu and Tracy explain that Luke is in trouble and that Pat may be the only one who can help him out of it. However, Valerie claims her mother is dead and it is revealed that Valerie is being held hostage at gunpoint by Luke himself. It is later revealed that Valerie told Lulu and Tracy that her mom was dead because she is trying to keep Luke away from her. When Valerie doesn't change her story, Luke ties her up to keep her from escaping. Valerie eventually lets it slip that Pat is alive but she refuses to give up her location suspecting that Luke will kill her. Just as Luke is about to kill Valerie, she escapes and they struggle over his gun. Under pressure, Valerie tells Luke where her mother is, knowing Luke's plans were to kill her.

On March 27, Dante and Lulu arrive at Valerie's and find her unconscious on the floor. When she comes to she meets her cousin-in-law, Dante. She then tells them that Luke did this to her and that he was in the closet when Lulu and Tracy were there. Valerie also reveals that Pat is very much alive, but she has Multiple Sclerosis and is in a convalescent home. She then tells them that she had to tell Luke where her mother is or he would have killed her. Valerie is worried about her mother so she tries to get up to leave but is too weak. Dante and Lulu try to calm her down and get more information. Then Valerie passes out in Dante's arms. While Lulu searches for Oakhill Valerie regains consciousness only to pass out again. When she wakes up she finds out that Lulu went to Oakhill.

When Valerie finds out that her mother went after Luke with Bobbie and Tracy, she's not very happy. Valerie finds her mother in Port Charles but their reunion is cut short when Pat suddenly dies of heart failure, which devastates Valerie. Valerie is so upset that she tried kill Luke, who she blamed for her mother's death, with a scalpel but is stopped Dante and Lulu. She and Dante start to become closer and she cries on his shoulder a lot about losing her mother because they were both raised by single mothers and he gets it. She also starts developing a crush on him.

Months later, Valerie and Dante end up sleeping together when Dante thinks that Lulu is having an affair with Dillon but it turns out that Lulu was out rescuing her brothers. Once Dante found this out he swore Valerie to secrecy saying he wants to work things out with Lulu. Soon after Valerie starts dating Dillon. Eventually, Valerie admits to Nathan that she does have feelings for Dante. The truth about the one night stand came out on November 2, 2015. Later in the month they sleep together again after Valerie attempts to seduce Dante after finding him alone in the loft. She finds a distraught Dante grieving over separation papers and takes advantage of the situation. Valerie agrees to enter a secret dating situation with Dante after Dante establishes that the best he can give her now are clandestine hook-ups. After Christmas, Valerie asks Dante for a secret hookup when Dante tells her he's busy, informing Valerie that over the Christmas holidays he and Lulu didn't fight so much and implying that there may be a chance for Lante to reconcile. Valerie ends her secret relationship with Dante, which produces a palpable look of relief on Dante' face.

In late December, Valerie meets Johnny Zacchara but she does not know it is him. Unknown to her it is part of Lulu's plan to run her out town. Johnny kidnaps Valerie and she ends up in a cabin, which ends up engulfed in flames. Lulu shows up and saves her life but Valerie puts two and two together and realizes that Lulu was part of this and they get into a fight.

On February 4, 2016 Valerie and Dillon go to the Floating Rib and she end up playing pool with Curtis Ashford and she kicks his butt. Later on, Lulu comes up to her and apologizes but she doesn't accept it because Lulu crossed a line. Afterwards, Curtis asks Valerie out on a date and she accepts. Valerie meets Curtis at the Floating Rib for a date. While there she briefly talks to Nathan and Maxie, while Jordan is talking to Curtis. Later, Valerie re-meets Curtis' nephew T.J.. Later that same night Jordan tells Valerie that she should leave Curtis and forget that she ever met because he's trouble. Jordan tells Valerie to ask Curtis if he has a cocaine addiction. Later, when she continues her date with Curtis, he asks her if Jordan was bothering her. She tells him no but that she does have a training test the next day. Then she asks Curtis if he has a cocaine problem and he tells her that he use to but not anymore.

Crimes Committed

 * Bit her uncle, Luke Spencer on the hand in self-defense [Mar 26, 2015]
 * Fought with Luke for a gun [Mar 26, 2015]
 * Went into Luke's hospital room with the intent of harming him [Apr 7, 2015]
 * Held a scalpel to Luke's throat and almost killed him [Apr 8, 2015]
 * Adultery: Valerie had two sad fornications with Dante while married to Valerie's cousin, Lulu. He stated that he wanted to be with Lulu during both of them. (@ July 4 and then again on Thanksgiving of the same year. On both occasions, Dante believed his marriage was over).
 * Accidentally knocked over a candle which started a fire in a cabin [Jan 2016]
 * Slapped Lulu and it turned into a cat fight in which she tried to strangle her after threatening to kill Lulu. [Jan 19, 2016]

Health and Vitals

 * Held hostage at gunpoint inside her own apartment by her uncle, Luke Spencer [Mar 20-26, 2015]
 * Tied to a chair all night with a piece of duct tape over her mouth and threatened by Luke [Mar 25, 2015]
 * Rendered unconscious by Luke (suffered a cut to her forehead as a result) [revealed Mar 27, 2015]
 * Passed out multiple times [Mar 30, 2015]
 * Suffered emotional anguish after the death of her mother (she tried to kill Luke) [Apr 7-8, 2015]
 * Attacked and abducted by Johnny Zacchara [Jan 14, 2015]
 * Held hostage by Johnny (she was tied to a chair in a cabin) [Jan 15-18, 2016]
 * Trapped in a cabin that was engulfed in flames [Jan 18, 2016]
 * Suffered from smoke inhalation [Jan 18, 2016]
 * Slapped and almost strangled by Lulu after initiating a violent cat fight. [Jan 19, 2016]
 * Knocked unconscious from behind by Paul Hornsby (aka Angel of Mercy Killer) [Aug 18, 2016]