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Y&R’s Michelle Stafford Clarifies Backstory of Emotional Acceptance Speech Moment During the Daytime Emmys

Photo: NATAS

When General Hospital’s Steve Burton (Jason) and Laura Wright (Carly, GH) opened the envelope to reveal the winner of the Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner, during the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards broadcast, they called Y&R’s Michelle Stafford’s name.

Now, a three-time Daytime Emmy winner, Stafford took to the microphone to address the viewers at home, her Y&R family and her own family. During her acceptance speech, Michelle mentioned a moment “crying” in the office of the series executive producer and head writer, Josh Griffith.

While people were spinning their own stories of what went down, Michelle decided to nip that in the bud, by taking to her Instagram and explaining what she meant, and what has been going on in her life, which includes the death of her stepfather, Ed Lee, who she lost back in March of this year.

Photo: JPI

Michelle wrote: “Need to kill this weird narrative that’s seems to be catching fire regarding the thing that I said to Josh Griffith on stage “thank you for letting me cry in your office.” I usually wouldn’t give a sh*t. But I think actually sharing the story with you might be helpful to anyone who is experiencing grief.  I lost a parent recently. It was devastating.  But you must carry on with life. You go to work. You take care of your kids….And life does in fact move on.”

“About 10 days or so after his death I had already had a meeting planned with Josh about some questions I had in my story. We were discussing a couple things and every time I talked about my character’s relationship with her children and aspects of how it would play out… this surge of emotion came over me. Have you ever been there? After a loss you move on and you’re fine but then maybe you’re talking to, I don’t know, a co-worker or you see something at the market and something triggers some memory and you fall apart? The more you try to stop it the worse it gets. Oh man, it’s horrible. That’s what happened,” Stafford explained.

Photo: JPI

Stafford continued, “I found myself weeping in Josh’s office. Like an idiot. Something about talking about Phyllis’s relationship with her kids just did it. I was so embarrassed. I apologized profusely. He did the most human thing. I won’t get into what he said and did but it was quite human. Yes, it’s a workplace, our set. For sure. We’ve all been working together for a long time. It’s a professional environment, but we all really care about each other.”

Clarifying that this wasn’t about her crying in the bosses office to get a storyline out of it for the future, Michelle added, “Sometimes that’s hard for people to understand if they don’t have that kind of work life. Maybe folks out there who are trying to spread a rumor that I ‘cry to get a storyline’ maybe they have a bad work situation. Or a boss who doesn’t even care to listen to them. I don’t know…. ”

In closing, the award-winning actress shared, “All I know is that I’m very honored to work with people I also care about and who I believe care about me. What a gift. What I said on stage was a spontaneous comment to my boss who did something very kind for me. Very human for me. My wish for others is that one day they actually experience a working environment that’s similar.”

You can watch Michelle’s acceptance speech from the 51st annual Daytime Emmy Awards below.

Now, let us know, what did you think about Michelle taking the time to explain what she meant, and how grief, as with anyone else who has had a major loss or losses in their life, comes in waves and can affect you seemingly when you least expect? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

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Michelle and Melody are the only reasons I watch y and r. Love you Michelle cry all you want.

Her character is a 1 trick pony.

I would like to know who she was referring to at the end, when she looked up and said ” Thank you Joe”.

General Hospital

John J. York Returns as General Hospital’s Mac Scorpio and Shares, “Expect The You-Know-What to Hit the Fan”

General Hospital fans were overjoyed when John J. York (Mac Scorpio) revealed he was back on set and taping all-new episodes of the ABC daytime drama series.

The beloved GH star was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and multiple smoldering myeloma, two blood and bone marrow disorders, back in 2022.  Later, he underwent treatment for the cancer in September of 2023, which took him off the show while he went through a blood stem cell transplant and the recovery.

Now, those who have waited for Mac to finally get to the truth – that Cody Bell (Josh Kelly) is his biological son – may finally get their wish!  Speaking with TV Insider on his imminent return (he is back on-screen this coming Wednesday, June 19th), York shared on what’s about to go down, “Expect the you-know-what to hit the fan and let the dust come down and settle where it will, so get ready.”

Photo: ABC

York also prepped viewers that he will look a little different when he first seen back in Port Charles, due to his cancer treatments, “My hair grew back nice. I was not sure how my hair would look because I was bald. Now it’s short, like a military cut.”

Photo: JYorkIG

Speaking on his own health and life, John shared, “With the MDS, if everything goes well with the bone marrow transplant, that should be handled. With the multiple smoldering myeloma, smoldering being the key word, it just kind of stays there in my system. There is a small chance that it could turn into full-blown leukemia at some point, but the goal is for me to die of old age before I die of any kind of blood cancer. I feel fantastic and all the blood tests that I take once a month have all pointed in the direction that things are all going in the right direction, which is really good.”

Photo: ABC

Are you looking forward to the moment that Mac realizes Cody is his son? What do you think his reaction will be as he has been duped all this time? Happy, as we are, that John is back on-screen on GH? Comment below.

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One Life to Live Alum Jonathan Groff Wins First Tony Award For ‘Merrily We Roll Along’

Finally, in his third Tony Award nomination, the multi-talented Jonathan Groff, was named the Tony winner in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his work in the Broadway revival of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along at the 77th annual Tony Awards broadcast on CBS.

In one of the hotly contested categories of the night, Groff bested Brody Grant for The Outsiders, Dorian Harewood for The Notebook, Brian d’Arcy James for Days of Wine and Roses, and Oscar and Olivier Award winner Eddie Redmayne for Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club.

Many thought Groff should have won a Tony back in 2007 for his performance in the original Broadway cast of Spring Awakening, but ‘Merrily’ was the ticket to victory.

Photo: CBS

One Life to Live fans may remember Groff played the teenager Henry Mackler back in 2007, in what was to be a long arc of a storyline involving a school shooting, but his role as cut short after 11 episodes, due to the real-life Virginia Tech school shooting in April of 2007.

Delivering the most emotional and heartfelt acceptance speech Tony night, Jonathan began. “I grew up in a house surrounded by cornfields in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I was raised by my parents, Jim and Julie Groff, and my brother David, and the three of them were sitting right there. Thank you for letting me dress up like Mary Poppins when I was three. Thank you for letting me act out scenes from I Love Lucy on my 10th birthday. Thank you for always allowing my freak flag to fly without ever making me feel weird about it.”

He added, “Even if they didn’t always understand me “my family knew the lifesaving power of fanning the flame of a young person’s passions without judgment. I walked through life with an open heart because you let me know that I could. Thank you to all of my teachers back in Pennsylvania, especially Sue Fisher, who told me I could do this for a living.”

Speaking to how Broadway has impacted his life, Groff further teared-up and expressed, “I moved to New York exactly 20 years ago this year and I got a job waiting tables and became a volunteer for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. All I wanted was to be a part of this community. A thank you to everyone involved in Spring Awakening who not only made that dream come true, but also inspired me to come out of the closet when I was 23. I’m now 39 and musical theater is still saving my soul.”

“Maria Friedman, thank you for letting me be your Franklin Shepherd in this production of Merrily and allowing me the chance to accept respect and express both the lightest and darkest parts of myself,” Groff continued. “Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, you are more than old friends, you are soul mates, and I’m looking forward to watching each other change for the rest of our lives. Thank you to every member of the extraordinary cast for lifting this Merrily into the spiritual stratosphere.”

Photo: CBS

Groff concluded with, “And finally, I just want to say that when I was a kid in Pennsylvania, I used to record the Tony Awards on a VHS tape and watch the performances over and over again. And to actually be able to be a part of making theater in this city and just as much to be able to watch the work of this incredible, incredible community, has been the greatest gift and pleasure of my life. I thank you and thank you so much for this honor.”

So were you happy to see Jonathan Groff win the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical? What did you think of his acceptance speech?  Watch it below, then Let us know in the comment section.

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General Hospital

Bryan Craig Wishes General Hospital’s Maurice Benard ‘Happy Father’s Day’; Is He Trolling Us … or is This the Ultimate Return Tease?

Sunday is Father’s Day, and it’s the time when many soap stars and celebrities take to social media to give love and shout outs to their dads.

In an another post that got General Hospital fans to take notice, two-time Daytime Emmy-winner Bryan Craig (ex-Morgan Corinthos) dropped a blast from the past photo of himself alongside Maurice Benard (Sonny). Accompanying the photo, Bryan wrote: ‘Happy Father’s Day” Maurice Benard.

The post on X comes on the heels of a previous response by Craig to a post on Frank Valentini’s (executive producer, General Hospital) comment to On the Red Carpet, where he revealed that this summer, “A former cast member is coming back. And I think that the audience will go crazy for HIM.” In response, Craig teased, “Who could it be…”

Photo: ABC

Now on Sunday responses to Craig’s post were met with varied responses from GH fans from “Stop playing with us” to “Now you’re just trolling us, lol. We really need you back right now.”  Still others took it as a potential confirmation that Craig is the mystery man on his way back to General Hospital stating, “I hope you’re going to back to GH!” to “Can’t wait!”

Craig last appeared on GH from 2013-2016 and made a brief return in 2018. Since departing GH, Bryan has appeared in numerous TV and film projects including: Freeform’s Good Trouble and ABC’s Grand Hotel.

So, is Bryan Craig yanking GH viewers chain, or is he slyly teasing us, because he knows he is the one returning to the ABC soap opera? Weigh-in on your theories below.

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