Personally knowing an actor that has played the race card to exit a soap, this doesn’t surprise me in the slightest about Ellen. When you can’t accept blame or accept the truth it’s easier to try to throw someone else under the bus, and Erika is much too classy of a woman and a human being to do such a thing.

If Erica says she it never happened, then I believe her. I enjoyed Ms. Holly as Carla Hall. I’m sorry she left. However, blaming Erika for that departure is wrong!

I guess she didn’t know Erika at all, & needed someone to blame. How sad…

I can’t see Erika Slezak EVER saying or doing such a thing. She seems like a woman of immense integrity.

I find it hard to believe Ellen Holly’s accusations. I don’t know why she would make such claims, but they go against everything I have ever heard or read about Erika Slezak.

As we all have said it before.she is a classy lady i do not believe she would. ever do any thing like that sorry i dony by it .

Erika Slezak is a class act and would never have said that! I think Ellen Holly is deluded in her thinking. I have the book and did not believe it when I read it. Hoping to see One Life To Live back for a second season.

I believe Erika

Erika Slezak has spent her entire life in the spotlight. If there is anyone who would know how to keep her mouth shut, it’s her. I don’t for a second think ES is racist or homophobic or anti-Semitic, and I certainly don’t believe for a second that she said those things, or was instrumental in the actress losing her job. What a shame Ellen Holly put that out there. Bravo Erika!

I have heard that story about Ellen Holly in the past. I never believed it. The remarks attributed Erika Slezak were inconsistent with any of the comments I’d read and/or heard her make during interviews. Perhaps there is a third party involved, someone who lied to Ellen Holly about what Ms. Slezak said.

Erika is one classy lady and I don’t believe she would ever say that. She is a class act more women should be like her! I want my OLTL back once again!

I’ve never believed Ellen Holly’s account of her firing but I’m confused as to why Erika Slezak would be surprised by the comments. What she said is essentially a reiteration of the story Holly told in her own autobiography and I’ve love to know what prompted ES to comment now when she didn’t previously.

I think this is total bullshit. I get tired of accusations toward so many famous people on this issue, that issue, etc. etc. etc. IF Erika Slezak actually had the power to have an actress fired, I would be surprised. Actors and Actresses rarely have that kind of power. Hiring and firing is not done by on-air talent but by the Executive Producer. I know an actress from a soap who was on a show for at least 26 years and even SHE didn’t have power to get any actors fired or protected. It’s more likely that a POWERFUL actor… Read more »

I have been a long time fan of Erika’s since 1972 when I first began watching OLTL. Erika is the reason I have been watching all these years but I also enjoyed so many of the actors from those early years. That includes Ellen Holly. She played an important character on the show and was brilliant at it. That said, I am so disappointed in how she has characterized Erika in Jeff Giles’ book. Never once did I believe her misrepresentations of Erika and Agnes Nixon. I have had the opportunity to meet Erika throughout the years at Super Soap… Read more »

Well, she knows how to get people talking about her book. I’m guessing someone, maybe an agent or someone who didn’t want to hurt Ellen’s feelings regarding her work, told this to her and she repeated it in her book. Easier on one’s ego to think you we’re let go because people were conspiring rather than just that they didn’t want you anymore.

Possibly in the golden age of soaps the press was more apt to bury stories about actors behavior & some of their secrets. However, in today’s climate of “shock” journalism I don’t think many of these behind the scenes stories would be hidden. And, with an actress of Erika Slezak’s stature and regard in the industry I am sure that had she ever made these types of remarks or generally behaved in a derogatory manner it would have made its way out by now. From several things I have read it seems that Ellen Holly has bitterness and to a… Read more »

It’s very apparent to me that much in this book was fabricated in order for it to seem more tantalizing. Ellen Holly was/is not only a desperate, B rated actress, she is also a person who has obviously allowed anger and envy to dominate her life. Sad Sad excuse for a woman!

Ellen Holly belongs in St. Ann’s. Disregard anything she says.

All too common nowadays….don’t like something…don’t get what you want…something doesn’t go your way? RACISM….very disappointing to hear that Ellen is no better than Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

I doubt ANYONE would believe Ellen or Giles. They have zero credibility and Erika has 100% credibility. From how Erika has always conducted herself in the spotlight, from what her castmates have said of her over many DECADES and from the tiny, tiny dealing my family actually had with her in the past she is really, really a person on honor, dignity, thoughtfulness, and true kindness. I would say Ellen picked the wrong person to blame things on. Hey, maybe she should have blame it on Mitch, lol (just kidding) and that actor wasn’t on the scene back then. In… Read more »

Sounds to me like Ellen Holly has been conversing with the bitter yet talented Victoria Rowell from Y&R. Erika is a class act and these other women are sad in being so petty!

Miss Slezak has responded in an intelligent, thoughtful and I believe to be honest manner. It is clear Miss Holly has become increasingly unhinged by bitterness over the years, this is not the first time she has made such inflammatory and inaccurate remarks. There is a way to be forthright and contribute to making changes in the still horrible inequities of the world, and a way to lose your grace or maybe even your mind, trying to right the wrongs of the past…with fabrication. I feel Miss Holly is actually sullying the memory of not only Carla Grey, the character,… Read more »

Check this out…about 5 years ago, I read Ellen Holly’s autobiography. NOT ONCE did it say ANYTHING about Erika Slezak getting Ellen fired from OLTL. None. At all. In her book, EH stated (more than once) that then-Executive Producer Paul Rauch was the one who fired her. Miss Holly needs to get past all of this pointless and unnecessary bitterness and move on. And, I APPLAUD Miss Slezak for coming forward, speaking out about this and setting the record straight. BRAVO, Miss Slezak!!!!!

Until next time…PEACE.

Just another problem caused by TPTB at ABC!

I have read Ellen Holly’s book, maybe 15 or 20 years ago. It was a pretty decent book until she referred to Slezak as a ”no-talent actress who rode on the coattails of a famous father.” Thereafter, I had less respect for Holly after I had finished that autobiography. Paul Rauch fired her in 1985 and then the actress who played her mother, months later. No soap actress, not even Susan Lucci or Charita, has ever had any power to fire a performer on their soap. Ellen Holly needs a good shrink and Slezak might be well served to get… Read more »

Erika is a beautiful woman inside and out , and I for one would never believe that she would be mean to anyone. Its so sad that people have to make up things in order to make a dollar.

I just don’t believe that of Erika Slezak – she’s a total class act.
I’m sorry Ms.Holly is so embittered.

Because of all the other statements from, and stories about, ES, I was taken aback when I read EH’s statements in the book, and never believed them. The soap world, and all acting gigs, are very cut throat. You’re a big star one day, and kicked off a show the next, with no warning; in fact, blatantly lied to that rumors of your demise are false. EH seems very bitter and although I don’t blame her for feeling that way, she needs to stop blaming those who aren’t even connected.

I don’t know who Ellen Holly is,but I know Erika would never say such a thing.. She is a classy lady..

Great publicity to get a book sold, im just saying!!!

Ellen Holly may have been treated shabbily by TPTB of those days. In fact, there’s little reason to doubt that part of her story. But her accusations against Erika Slezak don’t pass the smell test and never have. People who use the language or have the attitudes she attributes to ES don’t have those attitudes only once, or indulge in such language only once. Yet NEVER has anyone else ever said such a thing about Ms. Slezak, or even intimated that she was ever less than accomodating in every way in her professional life. Ellen Holly lashed out at her… Read more »

Well.. if you ask me… Ellen Holly is being a bit too adamant about this to be telling a 100% lie all of these years later. So what… Erika Slezak might have said something salty back then… people were different back then.. i can imagine it…she should just admit it. I don’t know why no one is hearing Ellen Holly out, instead of just attacking her. I don’t believe that she is making up all of this…just to be spiteful. Too much effort… so there must be a middle ground to the story… I don’t believe Slezak is innocent completely..just… Read more »

I don’t believe for one minute that Erika would speak that way. It’s totally out of character for her as a human being according to everything she’s ever said or written or been quoted as saying.

Erika Slezak is too classy for this!

Actors come and go from jobs all the time. Most handle a job loss with class and dignity. Occasionally someone will lash out and try to finger a third party for blame. God help the third party when a racial accusation is made. Poor Erica Slezak.

ERIKA SLEZAK HAS TO MUCH CLASS TO EVER SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT AND THE SAME WITH AGNUS NIXON, LIES LOOKING FOR ATTENTION, IF SHE HAS TO VENT SHE SHOULD HAVE BLAMED HER BOSS AT THE TIME ABC.

ellen is full of bs. i believe erika, she is a classy sassy lady. why blame erika slezak?. she did nothing wrong. ellen please shut up and your 15 minutes of shame is over. how dare you in lying this bs story. i hope erika sues your ass lady. erika we all love you very much.

I do not believe Ellen Holly’s story at all. She is jealous of the most successful actress on OLTL, and therefore blames her for her own lack of a career. This must have happened over 30 years ago. What a bitter, pathetic woman Ellen sounds like. In the book, she also places blame on the actor who portrayed Ed Hall for her firing. ES probably was hoping that this false story would go away. Now that it is published in this new book, she is obligated to respond. Erika Slezak’s honest, articulate response says it all. This never happened…I hope… Read more »

I was really sad to see Carla and her mother leave OLTL but I’ve always had the feeling that EH was a bit of a handful. Not to say she wasn’t mistreated by ABC–that’s pratically a given!

I took Ellen’s comments about the Tavern on the Green incident to be what SHE (Ellen) thought Erika would have said to Agnes, given the honor bestowed upon EH and Lillian Hayman. I wish Ellen had been more clear that it was her opinion only that that’s what occured. That being said, Ellen Holly’s Carla was a marginalized character for years before she was fired. Carla’s 1st wedding to Ed Hall had the black characters being ignored at their wedding while the camera panned to the white guests, and voice overs about their personal problems, like Alice Hirson’s Eileen Siegel… Read more »

So sick of racial politics and race baiting.

Wow there’s no way saint erika would say something like that, LOL. I believe Holly because I’ve been around a lot of saints who are nothing but hypocrits.

I love this story because it brings up the fact as viewers we don’t personally know these actresses. All we know is their public personas. I don’t want to believe that Erica used racially slurs. But again I don’t know her. I do believe that Ellen Holly suffered discrimination. I’d love they know the truth about the allegations. This is juicy lol.

i’m way to young to remember this part of oltl history, but i don’t believe that ms. slezak would say somethng like that. of course i don’t know her yet its an awful thn to say especially if its not true because once its out there most people beleve it.

I say why waste time debating it? None of us will ever know the truth. Only those two
Know what happened. And what does it matter to us anyway? We don’t know these people.

EH had more senority than ES at the time and it was totally a network desision Thay have white wahed soaps for years.

I loved Ellen Holly on the show. I didn’t know she was let go. I wonder why they did that? She was really good and a big part of the show. However, I doubt it was because of Erika. I also think it is a bit “low” to say that in a book. She is not showing her better side. She should never have said bad things about anyone. Makes her look bad. I am glad that Erika is allowed to state her own side.

Sounds like jealousy and resentment to me. The now 82 year old Ellen is bitter and looking to blame someone else for her failures.

Havent read the book yet… but would have been startled to hear that Erika said anything detrimental about anyone. She has been around the industry for 40+ years
and you would have heard about other incidents if this was her nature.

Love you Erika (Viki).. Thanks for all of the years of enjoying the show.
I will miss OLTL and you the most.

As always Erika is nothing but a Class act and a very special lady. I don’t believe for one minute she would ever slander anyone. I remember the soap back then and Ellen Holly’s storyline just came to an end, plain and simple.