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THE HUNTER TYLO INTERVIEW – THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

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Listen to the audio:

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TV SOAP:
In your current “B&B” storyline, Taylor is involved in her first younger man/older woman romance with Rick Forrester.  How do you feel about the subject?  And how did you feel about tackling this type of relationship on-screen?

HUNTER:
You could be 30 and dating 20-year-olds, as long as you are over 18, that’s what is important.  When I got my divorce, my husband, Michael Tylo, was 15 years older than me.  I had been married to my husband for 18 years and when we got divorced I knew I would be dating again.  I had always dated older men when I was younger, and with my ex-husband, he was into the fifties music and we just blended our musical preferences.  I had my thing with music in the 70’s, and here I am listening to Jim Hendrix, and he was listening to Buddy Holly.  So, it was always like a ‘Clash of the Titans’.   I did try to date men around his age range.  I think women take good care of themselves these days.  I noticed that the kind of things I like to do are still pretty energetic things.  At that age, most guys are ready to chill-out, and it’s the guy in his cave who just sits and watches football and just chills.  I am still pretty energetic.  By chance, I met a young man who was four years older than my son, and he was running lines for me. (Sometimes I hire actors to do that.)  This young man was very cute, and it’s nice to see a young man quite taken by you.  You go, “Oh wow!  I’ve still got something… OK!”

TV SOAP:
So you obviously enjoyed that.

HUNTER:
It was a feeling of, “Oh, even this young man can be interested in me.”  I had not looked at a young man, and it was a new thing.  It was becoming very flirtatious, and one night he said, “I wanted to show you some clubs.”  It did not start out as a date, but it turned into one, and I had fun.   I knew that I wasn’t going to get serious with this young man, but we enjoyed each other’s company, and it was romantic and flirty.  In the last year, I would say I met another young man, but his age difference was about 8 years, and I think about 8 to 10 years is comfortable.  This young man I have been going out with, has the right mix of going to have fun, but was settled enough.  And that’s the other thing… you have to look at it as to where you are in your life cycle.  All the women his age wanted to have kids, and I am like… done!  So, it depends on other factors of your life.  I have no problem dating younger men.

TV SOAP:
Who are you dating now?

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I am dating different people.  When I had the loss of my son this year, I realized I need to take my time with everything, and women should, anyway.  We don’t have moms and dads married for 30 or 40 years anymore.  Unfortunately, our culture is about: if its not working for you get out, otherwise you are going to fall apart.  I don’t think people give relationships enough of a chance, on the other hand, they don’t date long enough to know.  I have been trying to get rid of two mindsets that have been put out there by society.  I have full intention to get to know someone for two years and find out what they are really like, day in and day out, before moving forward with any more definitive plans.

TV SOAP:
Because you are Hunter Tylo, and one of the most famous and beautiful women in daytime and are a celebrity, I would think some men would be intimated to come up to you or to go out with you.  Do you find that to be true?

HUNTER:
There is an additional problem and that is that they surf the web.  They know who I am, and may have read stuff, and there is a lot of inaccurate information out there.  There are the “Haters” and the “Pro-Taylors”, and there are people who overrate me to death.  So yeah, someone would be scared.  Then, there’s the “Haters” who could be sitting there, going, “I wonder if that’s true?”  I have the double-edged sword.  When I was in my twenties, and before I married Michael, I dated men who were horrified of a woman who is self-confident, who knows how to carry herself, and looks attractive.   It does not mean beautiful, it mean attractive.  There are beautiful women who send out a different message that guys will go to.  If you are a woman who is classy and has manners, it can be intimidating to men! (I am from Texas so I was drilled with this stuff from my upbringing.)  So, when I started dating again, I had the double-edged sword.  A guy might say to me, “I recognized you when I first met you, but I didn’t want to say anything.”  I am like, “Oh great!”  Sometimes, the conversation goes to everything about the show or the business.  They are just trying to find out who I really am.  You can’t really find out that kind of information unless you have gone out with someone for a long time.  The whole first few months of dating is all about making you believe you are 100% not mental and all of that.  (She laughs)  It’s an interesting thing, this dating deal.

Audio

TV SOAP:
So, you are enjoying being single and putting yourself out there again?

HUNTER:
Yes, I am enjoying it.  This is another thing that is kind of funny, seeing the difference between when I was 24 and 25 years old and dating, as opposed to now.  We are two different generations.   Now on top of it, older women are dating younger men.  I have no trouble dating younger men.  I dated a 38-year-old black guy. (She laughs)  I am dating different people, but we are very close.   I am not going to get serious right now, but I have known him for a long time.
It’s just cool when you really let yourself take time and get to know somebody.  It’s really much better than doing that whole storybook romance, and getting married after three months.  I know people do it, but generally it doesn’t work!

TV SOAP:
Many of the actors on “B&B” have commented in past TV SOAP interviews, how detailed you are to your rehearsal process and you take a lot of notes.  How do you work?

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I try to look at it from: “Ok, I am not really this character, but what would I do if I were in this position?”  Especially, if I need to get the specific direction that the writers wrote for Taylor.  So, sometimes I have to push it, when we only have one or two takes to figure it out.  We don’t have the time to feel it out and feel what’s right.  I already have to know the intention of what my character is saying, as if it was a feeling I would have, and it naturally makes a scene work.

TV SOAP:
How is working with Kyle Lowder (Rick)?

HUNTER:
Kyle is adorable!  I drew on those same feelings that unexpectedly happen when I was running lines with my acting friend, and it was very cool, because I do see that in Kyle, too.  Kyle can be kind of shy.  It’s great when you can get a guy to the point where he is admiring you and looking up to you.  Kyle is already that way.  He is a sweet person, so it’s nice when all of that attention gets directed at you.

Audio

TV SOAP:
All the recent emotional courtroom material and scenes were so hard to watch, as Taylor was suffering from losing her child.  It did seem to be playing out just as you were grieving from your own personal tragedy, with the untimely death of your son Mickey.  How did you do the scenes?  Personally, I was very worried about you.

HUNTER:
I did get a lot of emails from people worrying.  They would go from worrying about me to saying, “Was I okay with those scenes and after them?”  They would say, “You know it’s so weird, that the storyline is mirroring Hunter Tylo’s life!”  Other people would go, “How dare Brad Bell (exec prod and head writer, “B&B”) write that, when we all know what she is going through!”  But the reality is, and I don’t know if any other actress ever said it, but there was a thing I found on a blog over the weekend and it was frustrating, because someone said, “Hunter Tylo is letting her professional business life as Taylor spill over into her personal life,” when in fact; it’s just the other way around.  Brad and any other producer, always make a point to get to know their cast.  They get to know who you are, and they mold the character to your personality, and what’s going on in your personal life.  It actually gives them an idea.  I mean, why do you think Marcus is dating Stephanie right now?  (She laughs) Hello!  Because I know when I brought this person to a couple of show related events, Brad was like, “Huh?”
At first, they thought he was my bodyguard, they did. (She laughs)   It’s great to look at real life.  I know Bill Bell Sr, (creator, “B&B” and “Y&R”) once amazed me when he had these cookouts for our birthdays.  He would find out about us, and one of the things he revealed was that he listened to talk radio all night long.  It would give him amazing ideas of how people acted around each other, depending on what the stimulus was and why they had the problem they had.  I thought that was great.  Believe me, real human behavior is more interesting than art. (She laughs)

Audio

TV SOAP:
But, when you left the set after a hard emotional day, and dealing with the loss of your son, weren’t you just drained?

HUNTER:
Well, because of the acting technique I use when I did those scenes, I had to go back and allow my self to feel what I feel all the time.  It’s the feeling that will never go away which is, “It’s not fair,” and that line I added.  Once I added it and we did the rehearsal, I thought, “I am going to say this, because that is how I feel!”  After that, it just kept coming out.  I had those days. I don’t know if I would have collapsed on the floor with a small spotlight on me.  That’s the artistic stuff, and the feeling is what the audience should be left with, and it’s cathartic.  Taylor and Ridge got divorced after Hunter Tylo did, and so did Ronn Moss (Ridge).  So, we have already felt those things just recently and that’s a smart thing to do, and we are going to access those feelings even faster.  It’s hard sometimes, but you have to be willing to go there as an actor, anyway.

Audio

TV SOAP:
You are one of the most courageous people I know and you have endured so much.  All of your fans want to know how you are doing.  So, how are you now?

HUNTER:
I am doing better.  I had to get through April, which was really hard because that would have been my son’s 20th birthday, and it’s a milestone for your child.  I am a mom.  I plan birthdays around the year, and it was hard not to be able to plan his.  It would sneak up on me.  At the beginning of April, I was planning on going to a birthday party that had been planned for a long time, and it was like no big deal till the day I started getting ready for it, and that thought kept coming back: “It’s not fair, Mickey should have had one.”  It comes back, and that was the hardest time.  I am in this place now where I have some footing, and if I can get through that I can get through the rest.  I feel peaceful, and I am at a place I can talk about it.   I am at a place where I would want to write another book about these things.

TV SOAP:
Your first book, “Making a Miracle,” provided an interesting moment during your grieving process over the death of your son.  Is that true?

HUNTER:
One day I was crying, and I go to the closet and get my Bible, and just pray.  I was there a lot.  I had words with the man upstairs… real serious words, and a copy of my book had fallen on the floor or off the shelf, or something.  I pick up the book and say to God, “Are you going to give me a message now?”  I am all ‘attitude city’ and God knows we are like that.  I turned to the last chapter and read what I had said: “Through everything that happens to Katya, I have learned to face the ultimate question, what if I lose her?”  This question in turn leads me to another: “To whom do our lives belong?  Is Katya’s life mine or her own?  Is my life my own?”  I do this passage out of Psalm139, which I also had forgotten, that I had used part of the same passage in my son’s funeral bulletin.  Then I go on to say, “What if I had lost Katya or lost my oldest son Chris, who is just now leaving the nest, or Mickey, Isabella or my husband, Michael, or my own life for that matter?”  The irony of choosing to bear my own child and then praying for my youngest child’s life reminds me, I didn’t give life to myself, God did.  Life is not in our control and it’s not meant to be, it’s in God’s hands.  So in your face, this is God words.  I am not perfect.  My own words out of my own mouth got used on me.  That’s what was beautiful, and I had learned this a long time ago.  Here I had been pitching this fit and getting mad at God.   I was stuck in that place spiritually, and I said, “Thank you for having me answer myself.”

TV SOAP:
How is your faith after this recent tragedy?

HUNTER:
Interestingly enough, this whole last year I have learned so many things, such as: because somebody is a certain color, they are a human being, too.  They are beautiful in every single way, and have the right to be who they are in every single way.  Just like people who are in different kinds of relationships: man/man…. woman/woman… whatever!  People are people and we are not perfect.  That is what I believe Christianity is about.  Sometimes, I get posts from the “haters” going, “Who does she think she is?  She is a hypocrite!”  Well… we all are!

TV SOAP:
You have become very active and involved in The American Epilepsy Outreach Foundation, because your son died in part from a seizure.  Tell us about your involvement?

HUNTER:
You can support and bring awareness to different dangers that are very under publicized for children and adults of epilepsy.  You can go to www.epilepsyoutreach.org, and see all the information and PSA’s (Public Service Announcements).  I did.  We are doing a 5K run in Chicago.  We are going to get Oprah Winfrey out there with us, running in the streets, hopefully, and I am going to hand her a pair of shoes and tell her to get her butt out there. (She laughs)  I will get back to everyone out there with the confirmed dates.

Michael “Mickey” Tylo passed away on October 18th, 2007 at the age of 19. Mickey suffered from Partial Complex Seizures.  His first seizure happened at age 15.  Mickey was at the Tylo’s family home in Henderson, Nevada when he walked outside near the pool to possibly receive better reception on his cell phone, when he experienced a seizure and fell into the pool.  Tragically, Mickey did not survive.

Hunter Tylo has now joined forces with the American Epilepsy Outreach Foundation to raise public awareness regarding the truth about epilepsy.  For more on the organization and how you can become involved log on to www.epilepsyoutreach.org

For more on Hunter Tylo, log on to www.myspace.com/homepagehunter and www.theboldandthebeautiful.com

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i for one think hunter is an amazing woman and i loved her since i was 12 when i started watching the bold in the 90’s. i especially love her role as ridge’s beautiful doc. and i hope they will get back together again as for her personal life i think she is smart ,strong and capable to overcome anything that comes her way. she is my role model and always will be no matter what the haters say.

hunter you go girl >>>>>>>

Interviews

The Young and the Restless’ Michael Damian On Christine/Danny/Phyllis: “It’s a Fun Triangle Story That They’re Having Us Do, Because It’s Very Retro”

This week on The Young and the Restless, while Danny (Michael Damian) and Christine (Lauralee Bell) hit the sheets, and Phyllis (Michele Stafford) sets off an alarm as payback (literally!), the top-rated CBS soap opera continues to weave the tale of these three characters decades later, finding themselves in very familiar territory with each other.

We know that Christine and Phyllis are basically, mortal enemies, while Danny, who has been the man in the middle, has had a past with both women. However, it is Christine who has been, for all intent and purposes the love of his life.  But, will Phyllis’ machinations make it near to impossible for Danny and Christine to be together? Stay tuned.

Last week, Michael and his real-life wife, Janeen Damian visited the Michael Fairman Channel promoting their #1 streaming film on Netflix, Irish Wish starring Lindsay Lohan. The film was produced by the Damians, while Janeen directed it and co-wrote the romantic story. Michael is featured on the Irish Wish soundtrack performing his track, Wild Irish Heart.

Photo: Netflix

During the conversation, Michael shared what it has been like revisiting the Christine/Danny/Phyllis triangle years later. Damian addressed the fans on the livestream, who inquired. “It’s a fun triangle story that they’re having us do, because it’s very retro. And I think it’s fun to bring that nostalgia, retro thing back.”

Photo: JPI

Recalling a tender moment between Danny on the piano alone with Christine (during the standalone episode which honored Lauralee Bell’s 40th anniversary with Y&R), Michael expressed, “I think what they’re doing is so smart, and they’re reconnecting a lot of the fans to a lot of the story. I mean, we’re talking years and years of story.”

Photo: JPI

The longtime Y&R fan favorite, added, “I’m really glad they did the thing on the piano because people have been asking, ‘Why are you not doing any music? Why are you not singing? Where’s your band?’ You know what I mean? Janeen is asking the same thing, ‘Why aren’t you singing something on the show?’ The last time I sang on the show was when we thought Phyllis was dead. So, you know, that didn’t count. (Laughs)

One of the funniest moment in the revisiting of the triangle occurred when Phyllis and Christine were arguing over Danny, and he was right there in the room with them. The two women got so engrossed in their fight, they forgot he was there, and thus he walked out of the room.

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Michael revealed, he liked that scene too! “They’re fighting. They’re arguing and Danny’s like, ‘Listen, I’m over here. Please stop it.” And then they don’t stop,” Damian recalled. “And so Danny just grabs his coat, picks up his sheet music, because he was working on a song. He goes to the door. In the scene, I even look back to see if they are even noticing me leave, and then I just left. That one was pretty funny. I’ll be honest. I was laughing out in the hallway when I left. I was thinking, ‘Should I slam the door? But then if I slam the door, they still have dialogue.’ They’re still talking and they would’ve turned, and then it would’ve ruined it. So, I just gently closed the door and left.

Photo: JPI

During the livestream, Damian teased he has some upcoming scenes with longtime Y&R co-star Beth Maitland (Traci), “I just worked with Beth Maitland actually the other day, and that was really fun. I can’t wait for people to see that show.”

Check out the the Michael Fairman Channel chat with Michael and Janeen Damian below.

Now, let us know, are you rooting for Danny and Christine? Do you think Phyllis will continue to be a disruptor in this relationship and somehow worm her way back into Dannys good graces? Share your thoughts in the comment section. But first check out this sneak peek for this week’s Y&R featuring the trio.

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Days Of Our Lives

Days of our Lives Star Blake Berris Chats On the Everett Lynch/Bobby Stein Mystery, Working with His New Co-Stars, and the Last Christmas Episode with Bill Hayes

On Days of our Lives, the return of Blake Berris is making for some very intriguing drama, with the audience guessing just which way the story will go.

When Berris arrived back on Days of our Lives, after previously playing Nick Fallon, he was taking on the new role of Everett Lynch, who has a past with Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein) and Jada Hunter (Elia Cantu). Only, as it has been revealed, the past he had with Jada was under the name “Bobby Stein,” who from what we can tell was far from a nice guy.

Blake visited the Michael Fairman Channel for a livestream interview this week, where fans in the live chat were weighing-on what could be the truth about the guy – is he a split personality suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder? Did the accident that cost him a year of his life in a coma, never happen? Recently, someone set fire to the beloved Horton house. Fans are suspecting it would have been “Bobby” who is working for Clyde Weston (James Read). Others believe that Everett/Bobby could actually be Clyde’s son. With upcoming therapy sessions with Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) about to start, things are about to get more juicy in Salem.

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Here are just a few excerpts from our conversation with Blake on a myriad of Everett/Bobby subjects. Make sure to check out the full interview for more.

Did you know that they were going to make Everett Lynch a Jewish character? This is only the second time in the history of the show that they have even had a Jewish character on the canvas. Didn’t they reveal this at the Horton family Christmas episode?

BLAKE: No, they never asked me. I am half-Jewish on my dad’s side. There was never like, ‘You’re Jewish, right? We can call you Jewish on the show?’ At the Horton Christmas, “They made a real point of it, yeah.”

And now the new ‘character’ is “Bobby Stein” …

BLAKE: “Right, and that suggests more Jewish, and then Lynch must be coming from somewhere else, maybe the mother. I was so curious because I think the show has been historically, I’m gonna say, Catholic more than like Wasps. With the Bradys there’s this sort of Irish influence, and then the DiMeras, that’s Italian. So, we’ve got Catholics sort of on both sides that are dominant. Now I, “represent”.

Photo: JPI

What has it been like working with Abigail Klein?

BLAKE: I think she is extraordinary. We start off sort of frosty, or she’s frosty with me, like she doesn’t want to let me in. And then, for a while things are going really well. I just could not adore Abigail more. She’s such a good actor. I could always rely on her to bring me back into a scene and be there in this emotionally, supportive way.

Photo: JPI

Everett and Chad seemed to be becoming friend-ish, when all went awry when at the PCPD interrogation room, Everett let him know about Elia and Bobby Stein, and Chad let him have it for worming his way back in to Stephanie’s life.

BLAKE: Billy would call us the ‘disgusting brothers’ and that’s a reference from Succession, because all of a sudden they’re just so chummy with each other. It’s like all of a sudden we just had this like ‘Bernstein and Woodward’, sort of dynamic duo. I think that Everett really started to think of Chad as a friend and feels sort of disappointed, and he feels, “Oh, it’s that easy? I just needed to have some other identity and now you’re a fair-weather friend?”‘

Photo: JPI

In recent scenes, Jada sees Bobby Stein for the first time, and we see you and Elia Cantu share scenes with each other for the first time. What is it like working with Elia?

BLAKE: She’s fire, man. She comes in hot and she tells you the way it’s going to be. I think early on, we were trying to suss each other out and the more we worked together, the more comfortable you get with somebody. I think actors do this sometimes with each other; if there’s spice on screen, you like to keep some of what you have on-screen in your (real-life) interactions because it helps … it helps the work.  Eventually, we just sort of wore each other down and we’re like, ‘I actually totally get you, and you’re great.'”

Did you know that they were going to make Everett Lynch a Jewish character? This is only the second time in the history of the show that they have even had a Jewish character and didn’t they reveal this at the Horton family Christmas episode?

BLAKE: No, they never asked me. I am half-Jewish on my dad’s side. There was never like, ‘You’re Jewish, right? We can call you Jewish on the show?’ At the Horton Christmas, “They made a real point of it, yeah.”

And now the new ‘character’ is “Bobby Stein” …

BLAKE: “Right, and that suggests more Jewish, and then Lynch must be coming from somewhere else, maybe the mother. I was so curious because I think the show has been historically, I’m gonna say, Catholic more than like Wasps. With the Bradys there’s this sort of Irish influence, and then the DiMeras, that’s Italian. So we’ve got Catholics sort of on both sides that are dominant. Now I, “represent”.

Photo: JPI

You were on set and in the annual Horton Christmas episode which sadly marked the last for Days of our Lives legendary Bill Hayes, who passed away in January of this year.  What do you recall of that tape day?

BLAKE: It was the Christmas episode when we were watching Susan (Julie) and Bill, say ‘Merry Christmas.’  And there was something about it that just felt like it could be the last time. I mean, it wrecked us all on set. Bill gets so choked up and there was something really profound about the moment. They kiss each other as they have so many times before on the show. It was just beautiful. It felt beautiful to be there for that last Christmas. He’s just such an icon. Every time I’d see him, he was so with it … he knew my name, he knew his lines. What an incredible, incredible man.

Photo: JPI

Fans will get to see Everett in therapy sessions with Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall)? Would you say she is helping the guy?

BLAKE: Deidre’s always making jokes about Marlena, ‘She’s the worst therapist in the world’ (Laughs) I remember in the first therapy session, we almost couldn’t get through the scenes because it’s just so clear that Everett has a litany of very profound psychological issues that he is going to have to work through. He’ll keep coming back. This guy’s gonna pay the bills!

Photo: JPI

Viewers are waiting to see how they mystery of Everett Lynch/Bobby Stein plays out. What can you say as a tease for what’s to come?

BLAKE: As far as a tease, I would say, you have all these characters sort of, trying to wake up the ‘sleeping giant’ in a way. I think it’s safe to say that like if you poke a bear, the bear might wake up.

Watch the livestream chat with Blake in full below.

Now let us know, what do you think is going with Everett/Bobby? What has happened to him in his past? Share your theories in the comment section below, and make sure to catch Days of our Lives next week on Peacock for more to his story.

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Interviews

Y&R’s Melody Thomas Scott Talks on 45 Years as Nikki Newman, the Keys to Playing Drunk, And Those Genoa City Relationships

February is ‘Nikki Newman Month’ in soapland as the The Young and the Restless iconic Melody Thomas Scott celebrates her 45th anniversary in her leading role.

My how time flies! Nikki has had numerous marriages, and some to the same man, battled her addiction to alcohol too many times to count (and we loved it all), and faced so much heartache in the process.

Currently, on all-new episodes of the top-rated CBS daytime drama series, Nikki can’t quite get a grip as Jordan (Colleen Zenk) is out there and in the middle of her next master plot to make Nikki suffer, all the while Nikki is drinking again. Thanks to the heinous plot concocted by Jordan and Claire (Hayley Erin) that revealed itself last November.

Photo: JPI

In a special conversation for You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, Melody shared her thoughts on a myriad of subjects including: her current story, those long tape days at Victor and Nikki’s weddings, why she plays drunk better than anyone on television, plus we take a mini-deep dive into Nikki’s past.

Y&R fans were stunned when the powers-that-be had Nikki kidnapped and then hooked her up to an IV of booze. Just how much did Melody know of the story going in? She elaborated, “I knew Nikki would be terrorized. That’s all that I knew. I thought that sounded like great fun. I didn’t know for a little bit that she was going to fall off the wagon in the process of it. And then when I heard how it would happen, I was thrilled to bits. I did kind of want to have a little leader (or crawl) down at the bottom of the screen saying, ‘Hey, people don’t put an IV with vodka in your arm because that will kill you.’ But, poetic license, I suppose.”

Photo: JPI

Melody also weighed-in on if she thinks Nikki will stop drinking anytime soon, expressing, “She just can’t get out of this. Then of course, Jordan’s not letting her out very easily. Just when Nikki thinks she is mentally strong enough to never take another drink, well, of course she does, because something else happens. I think it’s also a learning point for people who are watching the show who may have an addiction problem. Now, I could be wrong, but I think it’d be highly unusual for somebody to be just mentally strong to be able to stop.”

If you wondered if Melody enjoys playing a drunk Nikki, look no more, “I do. That’s simply for selfish reasons,” she shared. “That’s for my enjoyment. I take great pleasure in it. It’s fun for me, and just the process of pretending to be drunk. I love the end result. I try not to do too much because there’s nothing worse when an actor is overplaying drunk. So you have to kind of keep it a little bit underneath (the surface). However, sometimes because of Jordan, Nikki does get much sloppier than I normally would play it.”

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In recent episodes, it seems that Jack (Peter Bergman) and Nikki are gravitating more to each other, as both are drawn together through their shared experiences with addiction. Victor (Eric Braeden) is not happy that his arch-nemesis is helping Nikki try to stay sober. Could Melody see Jack and Nikki becoming romantic again? “I love Peter. I mean, Peter was my second favorite husband on Y&R. It would be wonderful, but I don’t know if the fans would go for that,” she explained. “They’re so invested in Niktor that I think they would really be upset about that unless Victor did something really crummy, then I could buy that.”

Photo: JPI

One of the more ‘out there’ stories during Melody’s 45-year run, was when Nikki was paired with Crazy Edward, and he took her home to meet his mother … who was in an urn! You would think maybe Melody didn’t like the story .. but think again! “Bill Bell (co-creator, Y&R) was writing the show in those days, and Bill kept that information pretty tight. I don’t remember us knowing even a week in advance. Maybe, we would get our scripts, three or four days in advance and that was it. You knew nothing about future story, but I loved the story,” she raved. “It was almost Hitchcockian, shall we say. The actor who played Crazy Edward, Paul Tulley was so magnificent and such a sweetheart. We loved working with each other so much, but man, when that red light came on the camera, he scared the you-know-what out of me. He was absolutely terrifying. But then, the minute the scene was over, we’re fooling around and laughing and everything. He was so good. So good!”

Photo: JPI

According to Melody, the pairing of Victor and Nikki was not something she, nor Eric Braeden, initially thought would made sense: “I was a little terrified when I heard that he and I would be doing scenes. I thought, ‘What, what?’ He also wondered, ‘What am I going to be doing working with that young kid, that snotty kid?’ We had no idea what Bill Bell saw. He had a vision with us and somehow knew that we would have chemistry. It didn’t take Bill long to show us in the scripts why he put us together. Then, we started to see it. Although, it was hard to imagine at first, certainly we knew it worked by the time Nikki had baby number one during the ‘Who’s the father?’ storyline. Nikki and Victor weren’t even married yet. So, we did figure it out pretty early on.”

Photo: JPI

From her early years as Nikki Reed, Melody reflected back on some major story points in her character’s history, relating, “I actually did like her in the very beginning when she was just a little brat living with her sister and her father, who of course ended up trying to rape her…  and she had hit him over the head with a lamp … and he died. I did not care for the stripping storyline at all. Only because I knew that I didn’t have the natural dancing ability. I wasn’t fluid enough to really look good up there stripping. I know they hired wonderful choreographers and everything for me, but I just didn’t feel worthy of being up there … I guess is what it was. Of course, now I look back on it and I think, ‘Oh, I guess it wasn’t too bad.’ Later, there was a strip she did in the Colonnade Room. At the time, she was married to Jack. Victor’s sitting there with some other woman and she’s drunk. I saw that scene recently, and I thought it was great. I didn’t at the time, but looking back, I thought, ‘Wow, that was good.'”

Photo: CBS

Watch the full 45th anniversary conversation with Melody below.

Now let us know, are you enjoying Nikki being back on the bottle? Would you want to see Jack and Nikki try their relationship one more time? What has been your favorite storyline of Melody’s over the last 45 years on Y&R.  Let us know in the comment section.

 

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