Robyn Bernard's sad downfall: General Hospital star was homeless and addicted to alcohol and meth when she was found dead in a field behind 7/11 gas station aged 64

General Hospital star Robyn Bernard spent her final years railing about how her Hollywood career ruined her life while also struggling with addictions to alcohol and meth and serious mental health issues, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The actress, 64, was discovered dead in a field behind a 7/11 gas station in San Jacinto, California, at 4.08am on Tuesday morning.

Although toxicology tests are pending, friends who knew the actress well in her final years said the area of scrubland was a popular meet-up spot for the city’s homeless population – of which Bernard was a part during her final 12 months.

Close friend and former neighbor Norma Teyechea, 74, told DailyMail.com: ‘She used to drink a lot and take drugs.

‘I’m surprised she made it this far to be honest with you. She would drink neat vodka – it will get you in the end.’

Robyn Bernard fell from soap star diva to a life addicted to alcohol and meth before her death aged 64, according to friends 

‘She used to talk about Hollywood – she said she was abused in Hollywood a lot,’ her former neighbor Norma Teyechea told DailyMail.com. She is pictured at a 2014 General Hospital reunion with actor Guy Mack

Bernard's character (second left) was featured in a major murder-mystery plot in her time on General Hospital 

The actress was found in a field behind this 7/11 in San Jacinto, California early on Tuesday

She added: ‘She used to talk about Hollywood – she said she was abused in Hollywood a lot, and that just destroyed her pretty much from what I heard.’

Bernard’s lonely death in a field flanked by trailer parks and a gas station, and seen in exclusive DailyMail.com photos, marks a sad end to a life that once held much promise.

The daughter of Texan televangelist Jerry Wayne Bernard and his teacher wife Gaylon, Bernard was the eldest of four girls: the others being Crystal, a successful actress herself who starred in Happy Days and Wings, and youngest sisters Scarlett and Angelique.

She got her break in television in the 1980s when the pretty brunette gained occasional guest roles on shows including The Facts Of Life, Simon & Simon and Whiz Kids.

They led up to her biggest role as Terry Brock, the daughter of one of General Hospital’s villains during that period – D.L. Brock, portrayed by David Groh.

She appeared regularly on the show for 145 episodes over six years, before moving on in 1990.

Later, she took small roles in a succession of French movies, most directed by the late Jean-Jacques Beineix, including Diva (1981), his 1986 international hit Betty Blue and 1989's Roselyne And The Lions.

Betty Blue would go on to secure nominations for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and a Bafta.

Her final credit was in the 2002 direct-to-video adaptation of the play Voices From The High School.

 She got her break in television in the 1980s when the pretty brunette gained occasional guest roles on shows including The Facts Of Life, Simon & Simon and Whiz Kids

 As well as working on General Hospital, Bernard appeared in the French Oscar-nominated movie Betty Blue

Her biggest role was as Terry Brock, the daughter of one of General Hospital’s villains – D.L. Brock, portrayed by David Groh

 Friends Norma Teyechea, 74, Dan Berlin, 62, and Robert Berlin, 61, stand in front of the plot where Bernard's trailer burned down in 2015

But behind the scenes, friends said, Bernard had long struggled with alcohol addiction and had also been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Former boyfriend Dan Berlin, 62, said: ‘This had been going on a long time. I have happy memories of her. Some. But she was difficult to be around.’

Bernard’s troubles accelerated in 2014 after she moved to San Jacinto, a small city of 45,000 approximately 85 miles east of LA.

Bernard’s troubles accelerated in 2014 after she moved to San Jacinto, a small city of 45,000 approximately 85 miles east of LA

There she moved into a trailer park for senior citizens, becoming part of the community and impressing fellow residents with her incredible singing voice.

‘She loved to sing,’ Teyechea told DailyMail.com. 'She was a good singer. We used to go to karaoke together.’

Margot Nichols, another close friend, added: ‘She was something else. She was a sweetheart. But what can you say?

‘She had addictions and then if you're schizophrenic and you don't take your medication…’

A year after she moved in, tragedy struck when her trailer home burned down in April 2015 killing seven of her eight cats and destroying all of her possessions.

According to Berlin’s brother Robert, 61, the eighth cat died four days later from smoke inhalation – leaving her distraught.

Robert added: ‘She stayed in the park here with different people for quite a while after that happened.

‘But our old management that we had here, when she'd come in, they'd run her off. She was some kind of pariah really. It was sad. And it used to make me really upset.’

At the same time, according to Teyechea, she had fallen out with her family and her relationship with Berlin was also in trouble.

Bernard then moved into her final home – a small trailer in a community called Parkview Estates, facilitated by Riverside County’s Adult Protective Services Department – where her addictions continued to spiral.

Bernard was the daughter of televangelist Jerry Wayne Bernard and sister of Wings actress Crystal Bernard

Bernard originally lived in this mobile home park in San Jacinto but her trailer burned down in 2015 killing her eight cats

Toward the end of her life Bernard had been living rough and had become a familiar sight outside grocery store Stater Bros where locals would see her pushing her meager possessions around in shopping carts

The patch of land where Bernard's body was found was known as a hang-out for San Jacinto's homeless

Court records seen by DailyMail.com show repeat arrests beginning with one in November 2017 for driving under the influence of drugs and being under the influence of drugs in public.

In April 2018, she was arrested for being on drugs a second time and then in October 2018, Bernard was collared for being drunk in public and for stealing a shopping cart.

She was arrested again on identical charges in February 2019 and for a third time, on the exact same charges, in May the same year.

None of the cases had made it to trial by the time of her death, although a hearing in for the May 2019 case had been scheduled for next month.

According to Teyechea, Bernard would purchase vodka from the local branch of RiteAid in large bottles and would drink it straight day and night.

Although she did make attempts to clean up, she invariably relapsed and had been living rough as a result – becoming a familiar sight outside grocery store Stater Bros where locals would see her pushing her meager possessions around in shopping carts.

Joni Woods, 66, lives opposite the empty space where Bernard's trailer used to be. She told DailyMail.com: ‘I used to see her around town all the time pushing her shopping carts. She always had four or five of them, and I always felt so bad for her.

‘She was pretty weathered. She'd been in the sun a lot, and she always had four or five shopping carts full of stuff that she took with her everywhere she went.’

Berlin says he last saw his ex-girlfriend around two years ago. He said: ‘At that point she had just let herself go.

‘She was out there, talking to herself in a nonsense way. She was a schizophrenic.’

Richard added: ‘I don't know if it was the drugs or the alcohol that did it, but she was pretty mentally unwell – she used to say that Hollywood screwed her over.

‘They did her dirty and that's why she ended up living in San Jacinto of all places.’

Of all her friends, Nichols was the last to see Bernard, just six months ago outside popular local diner J&J’s.

‘It was me and William [her husband] – we saw her walking past and went outside to speak to her,’ she told DailyMail.com.

‘She did recognize us and remembered our names.’