A spiteful and vengeful Las Vegas stripper, a mysterious bag of blood, and the shocking revelation by the woman you truly love that you have been duped, set the stage for One Life to Live’s Stacy/Rex/Gigi storyline to explode!  For months fans of the show have been very vocal about their feelings towards the character Stacy’s airtime, and her machinations of favorite Llanview couple, Rex and Gigi.  They want her to get caught!

In a brand new interview with John-Paul Lavoisier, “OLTL’s” Rex Balsom, we discuss the normally street smart private investigator’s fall from grace, and how John-Paul navigated through this difficult storyline, which has included his on-screen son, Shane’s battle with leukemia.  Yesterday, Rex and Stacy finally did the deed, but Gigi was on her way to tell Rex the sordid truth about her duplicitous sister, Stacy.  Will Rex finally believe Gigi and be reunited with his sweetheart? John-Paul fills us in.

One of daytime’s most talented younger actors also chats about working with his other favorite scene partner, Robert S. Woods (Bo). John-Paul or “JP” (as many know him by), also details how girlfriend Farah Fath (Gigi) and he became an “item”.  Charming, unpredictable, witty and funny… here is JP!

Listen to the audio:

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MICHAEL:

Rex has been involved in this heavy story with Stacy, played by Crystal Hunt. Fans have been upset that Rex seemingly has had no clue that he is being duped.

JOHN-PAUL:

Rex is the dumbest he has ever been.  He’s confused, he’s weak, and he will pull at any line that has food on it at this point.  He’s a starving little fish just swimming around.  Gigi dumped him.  She made it look like she was with two guys. He had to walk in on her in bed with another guy.  Even though it was staged and it was all lies, in Rex’s eyes, it’s all been the truth.  So, the family he never had that he always wanted, he had.  It was stripped away from him, and he is getting over his son having leukemia.  Rex is coming off this huge storyline where Rex, Gigi and Shane all were brought together as a close family and everything like that, and it’s ripped away.  Stacy is manipulating her way into his life and it’s like he has these blinding goggles on.

MICHAEL:

Rex is usually a smart private investigator and a guy who is very street smart!

JOHN-PAUL

I would never hire Rex as a private investigator. (He laughs) I just got done filming a scene today, where another big character on the show hires me to be their private investigator down the line, and do some PI work. I laughed, going “What is this person thinking?  I should be giving you a discount.”

MICHAEL:

Has this storyline with Stacy been hard for you to play, JP?

JOHN-PAUL:

It’s incredibly hard for me to play because it’s far-fetched.  Rex sleeps with Stacy and it’s such a mistake, and it’s what’s written.  It’s where Rex’s head is at the moment.
So, I have to commit to the material, but it is hard to play.  I want Rex to see through what Stacy is doing, but right now the way it is being written,
he is not.  Stacy is winning and Stacy is able to fake him out at least for a moment.  It probably is going to ruin his life down the line, and even more so with the aftermath of the sex.  I am doing my best.

MICHAEL:

You are aware at how upset the fans have been about Stacy machinations of Rex and Gigi?

JOHN-PAUL

Everything I read on the Internet and talking to fans on the street, all the fans are saying the same thing, “Somebody needs to kill Stacy.  Why can’t Rex see through Stacy? Someone needs to kick her to the curb.”  Everybody is on the same page, except Rex.

MICHAEL:

You and your on-screen love interest Farah Fath (Gigi) are a couple in real life. During the storyline, were there times when the two of you were at home together, when you were just like, “Now what can happen with this story?”

JOHN-PAUL:

It’s gotten to the point where we look at each other and give, “I know, I know” looks, and we make a drink and play poker. (He laughs)

MICHAEL:

Rex comes up with a plan to nail Stacy.  But he sleeps with her first, and then he sets out to really…nail her?

JOHN-PAUL:

He sleeps with her and then he nails her. (He laughs) Gigi is literally like three minutes too late to the party that Rex and Stacy have.  She finally comes to Ultra Violet to tell him the truth about how she was never with Schuyler or Brody, and how they find out that Stacy was not the stem cell donor, and everything like that.  But literally, he has just slept with Stacy. Nailing is involved, and funny enough, we do it on dance mats. (He laughs) We do it on the dance mats from a dance class that are left on the floor of Rex’s nightclub Ultra Violet.  While they are doing it, Gigi is trying to call Rex, but he’s not picking up the phone.  Later, we find out that after they get off the mats and collect themselves, and pull their clothes back on, and Stacy leaves, Rex finds his cell phone wedged under the mats.  So the mats muffled the ring tones, and he could not find the phone, and so Gigi decides to just come over.  She tells him everything, and he is very happy, and has an “Oh, my God” moment, but inside he is just flushed.  He is like, “Oh, my God. Why could you have not gone through those red lights on your way here?  You almost got here on time, but three minutes too late.”

MICHAEL:

Now that Stacy has slept with Rex, is Stacy going to gloat about it to Gigi?

JOHN-PAUL:

There is a huge up moment with Gigi and Rex coming together, and their plan to nail Stacy. Then, Rex tells Gigi that we have to lie and play to Stacy, to make her think that Rex is still into her, because if she is not the bone marrow donor, then she must be hiding an extra bag of blood from the actual donor.  She must be hiding it somewhere.  We might need that, in case Shane needs another transplant.  So, Rex has to continue to live with Stacy and pretend that he is into her until he can find the bag of blood.

MICHAEL:

Since Rex is on to Stacy, he won’t soon fall back into Stacy’s grip?

JOHN-PAUL:

I think there might be forced kisses along the way, but there is not a sexy time that I know of.

MICHAEL:

I love your work with Robert Woods (Bo).
Will there be more interaction and upcoming scenes between Rex and Bo?

JOHN-PAUL:

Yes, there will be.  I loved the show that aired recently where Rex and Stacy were at the country club and charging things, and they get arrested.  After they get arrested and taken to Bo’s police station, Rex is handcuffed wearing only his bathing suit in the police station, and its fantastic! (He laughs)

MICHAEL:

You are wearing fewer clothes now than ever?

JOHN-PAUL:

I know.  In the script it said, “Rex wears Speedos,” but it ended up being shorts. Look, if I had to work with Bob Woods’s everyday, I would never complain.  It’s great!

MICHAEL:

Why does it work so well between the two of you?

JOHN-PAUL:

John-Paul likes working with Bob.  I guess, if you like each other in real life it can roll over. Also, Bob is the older guy and I am the younger guy.  Rex is like this little spitfire and Bo is very professional.  Bo has things in his past that draw them together, like his son Drew.  Bo can see where Rex is coming from, and Bo is the father Rex never had.  Rex actually listens to Bo and takes advice from him. Yet, every now and then, Rex screws up along the way, and Bo has to slap him a little bit and go, “What the hell did I teach you all these years?”  It’s just fun stuff, and they write it so well.

MICHAEL:

Is Rex’s dad in room 302 in the Boutet Clinic?  That’s the room where the guy Roxy pulled the plug on inhabited, who seems to be Shane’s real blood donor. Isn’t it time we find out who Rex’s dad truly is?

JOHN-PAUL:

I know nothing.  I just know that something is trying to be worked out and something has to be coming.  It’s been discussed so much, and too many fans have wanted to know who it is, and all the actors want to know who the hell it is.  So, I can promise this ball will not be dropped.  But, I just don’t know when or who it will be.

MICHAEL:

There have been some red herrings along the way.  But Roxy keeps changing her story!

JOHN-PAUL:

Finally, he will get answers out of Roxy. It’s like “Is my dad dead or not?” T hen he believes her, and then he finds out she has been lying.  Like at one point, Charlie Banks was supposed to be the dad. T here have been so many ups and downs with his father thing that to finally get the answer and to move forward with Roxy, and to give Shane a grandfather, will be interesting.  So many people on the canvas will be affected.  I have heard people thinking it could be Mitch Laurence, and recently I heard Spencer Truman on the Internet. This is on fan boards and stuff, not from anyone here.  So, I don’t know.

MICHAEL:

Farah and you met originally in the hallway at One Life to Live.  When did you know, “I am really attracted to this girl?”

JOHN-PAUL:

We hit it off right away.  Fortunately, I think what was on my side was that Farah did not know anybody in New York, and I know everything about New York.  I feel if she had more friends in town, or knew the town better, I feel we probably wouldn’t have hung out.  So thank God she was from Los Angeles.  Sparks flew right away.  Farah worked here for a while in the first two months, mostly with Erika Slezak (Viki) in scenes at the Bon Jour Café. We would only see each other in the hallway from time to time. The first day we worked together we had two full shows running lines, and from that moment on was when the attraction really started.  Yes, there was that funny run-in in the hallway.  I was in body make-up.  She was cute and had noticed me.  She said to herself, “I need to introduce myself to this guy.”  And she goes, “Hi. I am Farah and I play Gigi.”  I go, “Hi. I’m JP.”  First of all, she felt it was weird because she loved my name John-Paul and when I said my name was JP, she was like, “Oh, I like John-Paul. Why does he call himself JP?”  She only likes to call me John-Paul, by the way.  She said she walked away from that introduction thinking, “I bet he thinks I am an under-five or a day player.  Maybe, he did not know that I am going to be working with him, and that we have a storyline together.”  But I knew, but she felt maybe I didn’t.  But, I thought that was cute!

MICHAEL:

At ABC Super Soap Weekend, you had been the host of The Colgate Triple Play Game Show. Would you ever emcee a television game show, because you were so good at it and very comfortable?

JOHN-PAUL:

I loved doing that.  I would have done nothing but the Colgate Triple Play that weekend. I would have done 12 a day and lived in that theatre the whole time, like Bob Guiney lived in his theatre.  It was so much fun, and the fans were great.  I could have kept going and I throw my voice out every year!  For some reason, I don’t get used to the fact that I am mic’d.  I keep thinking I have to reach the back of my house with my formal voice. Like Deal or No Deal. If Howie Mandel’s ever sick I would fill in,
in a minute.

MICHAEL:

In closing, it’s going to be one hot July for Rex.  What can we expect from Rex in the month ahead?

JOHN-PAUL:

In the future, he will be fathered, be intelligent, and be a husband to Gigi….that would be great.  Hopefully, I will become Mr. Morasco soon! (He laughs)