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Daytime fans can’t wait to see what and how Days of our Lives Kate Roberts Dimera is going to take on her sworn enemies and rivals, and balancing that with being married into one of the most powerful families in Salem, and helping her children, all at the same time!  Last week it looked like Kate may ally herself with Quinn (Bren Foster) while trying to find ways to tear down her latest rival in Salem, Madison James (Sarah Brown).

On-Air On-Soaps had the opportunity to catch up with Lauren Koslow (Kate) to find out what is going on in her on-screen alter-ego’s head, how is working with Patrick Muldoon as her new Austin, if a return by Lisa Rinna as Billie is imminent and most important of all, details on the fabulous blue streak in Lauren and Kate’s hair!

Here to fill us in is one of daytime’s most entertaining, talented, and glamorous performers … Lauren Koslow!

What is going on with Kate and what is her problem? (Laughs) Why was she so mad and outraged at Madison James from the get-go?

LAUREN:  I don’t have the whole story.  The only thing I can go on is that Kate was initially betrayed by Victor and Brady. So that is what initially pisses her off.  She goes to them with a plan and she thinks they have a deal, and all of a sudden they go with what seems to Kate as her rival in this business. So I think it’s that first betrayal, and then some attitude and snarkiness along with it, and so I had to kind of just go with that because I don’t know the back-story.  So they seem like oil and water between them, and I of course am meaning Kate and Madison. So for that, I just have to go from script to script.  From there you have to think that something pretty big must have happened in their past.  I guess it’s working towards finding out what that is, which has to be really big!

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Stefano had a scene with Kate where they hatched a plan. The viewers never knew what that plan was. They clinked glasses a few months ago and had a deliciously devilish moment.  What was the plan? And, will the audience know soon? 

LAUREN: I don’t know, but I hope so. (Laughs) There is nothing I like better than a big plan, and I don’t want it to backfire on her this time!  And you know, it’s really funny because when this first started to air, on Twitter there were a lot of people on my Twitter feed who were going, “Oh Kate is finally getting her comeuppance.” And I tweet back, “Really? That’s all that Kate gets is comeuppance!” (Laughs) She has a lot of blowback in her life, always, always. She has suffered a lot! And I don’t know why people say she has not suffered. And so that is why I always say, “C’mon! When has something ever really gone right for her?” She never gets away with it all and she has had a hard time. Personally, I think that is why people love/hate her.  She had a lot of pain in her life and she keeps going!

 … And a lot of babies and a lot of children!  Speaking of that, how is it having Austin back in the form of the original Austin, Patrick Muldoon?

LAUREN: Well, this was my first time working with Patrick, because I just had worked with Austin Peck.  Meeting Patrick Muldoon I thought, “What a great guy … what a hot guy … and what a really good actor.”  And it was different for both us, because I am a different mom and he is a different son.  It is always fun for an actor to find out new things about their character just by interacting with someone new.  This Austin/Kate relationship is a little different because it’s a different chemistry between us.

Photo Credit: Wire Image

Right! Austin Peck’s Austin was very different than Patrick Muldoon’s interpretation.

LAUREN: Totally different! And I have to say, in our first scenes together, I was coming from a place of where I was with this when I worked with Austin Peck, and what was going on then in my head. Patrick was so sweet. He said, “Well, what was going on between the two of you?” And I go, “Well I had heavy story…” And Patrick goes, “Really? Last time I played the role it was really light, and I had just found out that Kate was my mom.”

When was the actual switcheroo of Kate’s and Austin’s?

LAUREN: According to Patrick, the last time he had really worked with Kate was with Deborah Adair, and he just found out in story that she was his mom.  He thought it was really cool.

Then, when did you start?

LAUREN: I started a year later, because that was when Deborah Adair was off the show and Patrick was off the show.  Kate was not seen for awhile. When she came back it was played by me, and she came back from being on that fishing trip where Vivian Alamain had tried to kill her. (Laughs) And when I came back, Austin Peck had just joined the show as Austin.  I believe he started maybe six to eight months before I did. So I was the only on-screen mother he had ever known.  It was interesting because Kate and Austin were just really close at that time, because Lucas had all this animosity towards Kate. So it was really interesting, and a very complicated relationship with real strong ups and downs and a lot of emotional stuff in it. Well, Patrick comes in and he had never experienced any of that. So we had to really go to a different place with it. So it’s a challenge and kind of cool to have happened after all these years of playing a character, and to get to do that.

Word is that Lisa Rinna is also on her way back soon as the original Billie Reed, your on-screen daughter.  And you had a chance to work with her previously, yes?

Photo Credit: Photorazzi

LAUREN: I don’t know if Lisa coming back is completely confirmed. But, my first Billie was Krista Allen, and then Lisa Rinna came back for awhile, and then Julie Pinson played her. So I have had three different daughters.  So I worked with Lisa for a brief moment between the other two Billie’s. (Laughs)

I would like to see Kate really involved in her children’s lives in a good way, not just manipulating them, especially if she could have Austin, Billie and Lucas around. Now there is “word” that Bryan Dattilo might be back soon as well!

LAUREN: I would be very excited with that as a possibility because this is a different Kate.  What I love about the character now is that she has evolved and that she is in a different place. She is not the same Kate who was uber-controlling of Lucas and Billie and wanting to rule their lives. She is different. But it is all about family for her. So for her to be with her very adult children and have this very adult family, I see it more like “The Ruling Class!” She would like to rule Salem with her husband and her children like “The Tudors”! (Laughs)  That is what I see, and it would be really exciting stuff and it does not have to be the way she was before.  I think it has changed, and it makes it very exciting. We will see what happens and I am really looking forward to it.

What did you think when they told you that Sarah Brown was coming on and playing Madison? Did you know what “A Sarah Brown” was? Three-time Daytime Emmy winner, and all of that?

LAUREN:  I did not know what “A Sarah Brown” was. (Laughs)  I was excited about getting back into the workplace for this character. That is where Kate came from and that is what we have always seen her doing. So I thought that was great. It is interesting to have a new rival in business and the complications that will arise from it, and because of that. I am curious to find out what the animosity between the two characters stems from though!

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How is Sarah to work with?

LAUREN: I have not worked with her a lot. We have not had that many scenes together which is funny, because everybody keeps asking me about that. So far, so good. I am looking forward to seeing what happens and getting the viewers feedback.

We always look to you for fashion advice and tips. In fact, you have been On-Air On-Soaps fashion correspondent at the Daytime Emmys previously. There is something we have always wanted to ask you about, and that is the very cool blue streak in your hair.  How did that come about? Did you want that for your own fashion statement and appearance in your own life and it rolled over into Kate’s, or vice-versa?

LAUREN: It is a complicated story and kind of happened when Kate went kind of rogue during her crazy period when she was going after Chloe, which really was such craziness. I was trying to rationalize it. I went and got a blue streak in my hair in real life. And Gary Tomlin (Ex-Co EP, DAYS) was pretty cool about it, and for me blue is symbolic for freedom and strength and new beginnings. And that is what it kind of was for me for Kate. Kate was now taking ownership of her life, especially after the marriage with Stefano, and all the things that could have extinguished her. She could have just become a victim. So for me it was, she is not becoming a victim, she is turning all of this around and taking ownership and taking control.  So to a degree, the blue streak is symbolic of that, and she is flying her freak flag! (Laughs)

Did the powers-that-be at DAYS try to make you get rid of?

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LAUREN: No! They have really been quite lovely about it and they haven’t asked me to get rid of it. We kind of kept it hidden in the beginning, because I had it for awhile and we used to hide it. And one day, I had my hair up, and I remember this day. Kate was visiting Stefano in the hospital and Joe Mascolo (Stefano) was so funny.  He was like, “Oh. I cannot believe you have that blue in your hair!”  And Gary Tomlin saw it and says, “What’s that?” And I thought, “Oh no. Here it comes.” And I said, “Oh, I have had it for awhile.” And he said, “Oh then we better add a line.” (Laughs) So they added a line from Stefano which was something along the lines of, “I married such a unique woman.” But I thought that was so cool, because they were acknowledging that Kate was very unique, and she is. She is her own person, and I thought it was symbolic of that.  It is interesting that especially women in my demographic go, “I LOVE it”! (Laughs) So, Lauren had it and Kate had it too. And it works for what Kate does! It’s edgy and it’s a fashion statement and God knows she likes to make edgy –fashion statements, and it does truly work for her being in the fashion business. At the end of the day, I truly love playing Kate no matter what, she is a fascinating character.