Interviews
The Peter Bergman Interview- The Young and the Restless
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Ten days ago on November 27th, 2009, Peter Bergman celebrated his 20th anniversary on the number one daytime drama, The Young and the Restless. The actor, who has won three Daytime Emmy Awards for his portrayal of bad boy Jack Abbott, is one of the most respected actors of the soap genre. Bergman first came into prominence as one half of Pine Valley‘s “super couple”, Cliff and Nina (Taylor Miller) on All My Children. After a twist of fate that had the actor being let-go by the soap, Bergman came kicking and screaming to Y&R where this stalwart performer set up new digs to take over the coveted role of Jack, played originally by the late Terry Lester.
Bergman met the love of his life Mariellen on a blind date, set up by his former AMC cast mate Michael Minor (Ex-Brandon) who happened to be going out with her cousin at the time, and she has been with Peter every step of the way during his soap career. In this revealing interview with On-Air On-Soaps, Peter discusses his beginnings on Y&R, favorite moments, favorite leading ladies, and the heart and soul of a veteran actor in daytime, who has been through and seen it all… including the notorious real life fight with his co-star Eric Braeden (Victor Newman). But it is Victor and Jack’s on-screen rivalry that has lit up the television screen for decades, thanks to the amazing performances by Bergman and Braeden. And as we head into 2010, Jack may be getting a new lady love and Victor will be on his way back to town to reignite the feud. Here’s Peter on his journey to Genoa City and much more!
Listen to the audio:
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MICHAEL:
Peter, you just celebrated your 20th anniversary as Jack Abbott. Do you feel old? I feel old knowing this! (Laughs)
PETER:
It’s funny. The first time anyone mentioned this 20th year thing, I thought, “Geez, it felt like yesterday.” Then when I thought about it, when I started on this show, my daughter was four weeks old. My daughter is now a sophmore in college. So, I guess 20 years is a long time.
MICHAEL:
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What did your wife, Mariellen, have to say about this accomplishment? We all have watched Mariellen’s reactions on-camera during your Emmy wins, which have been so touching.
PETER:
It kind of went unnoticed in our home, and what I think is interesting again is; Mariellen and I were only married five years when I started on Y&R. We had new kids. We were just starting our lives together and it will be 25 years together this coming March. So, I have been here along time.
MICHAEL:
When you took over the role from the former Jack Abbott, actor Terry Lester, were you familiar with his work?
PETER:
No. I had seen so little of Terry Lester’s performances. The Young and the Restless was opposite All My Children in New York. So, I never really got to see what he did. He certainly was a prominent member of the daytime community. We knew who he was, but I did not know his work that well, and that probably was to my benefit.
MICHAEL:
Right. So you could make this your own. Do you remember the events that got you to this coveted role in Genoa City?
PETER:
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My job at All My Children came to a sudden end. I think everyone was as surprised as I was. The best monitor of that is the fact that every soap magazine had me on the cover that week saying, “OMG! OMG! All My Children let Peter Bergman go!” Now, Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki, Y&R) was traveling with her husband Ed Scott, who was our executive producer at the time, in Canada. She pulled out an issue of Soap Opera Digest with me on the cover of it saying, “We let Peter Bergman go,” and she thought, “We have been looking for a Jack Abbott. This is Jack Abbott,” she said to Ed. So Ed came back home and the first I heard of it was through my agent. He said, “We just heard from Y&R and they wanted to know how tall you are.” And I said, “That is insane! Don’t even return that call. What do you mean how tall I am? They can figure that out.” It really bothered me. Then they called another time and asked if I would be OK replacing someone. I was on All My Children and replacing someone was shear death, and it never worked on All My Children. We have never had a recast that really sustained and frankly, I was just finishing a soap and my wife was eight months pregnant. I thought, “No, I do not want to do this!” Y&R called a third time and it kind of coincided with some bad financial news I got. I thought I should at least go out to LA and audition for this thing. So, leaving my wife behind, her due date was a week away, I thought, it would be just my luck. I will be in Los Angeles where I don’t want to live, and replacing somebody which I don’t want to do, and it’s on a soap, and I don’t know if I want to do another one. So, I audition on a Friday, and they said they were going to get back to me within the next two weeks. On Monday, Ed Scott called to say I got the job. Then Maryellen and I sat there and literally wept. We loved New York! We just bought the apartment next door. We were going to adjoin the two as we were expecting a baby any minute and this was going to be cataclysmic in our lives. It was all the wrong things. So the answer to your question is; I was dragged out kicking and screaming to the best thing that ever happened to me.
MICHAEL:
Once you finally got here to Y&R, and you were figuring your way through the character of Jack Abbott, was there a point where you knew, “This is such an amazing role”?
PETER:
Everyone told me, but the person who told me the most was Debbi Morgan, who plays Angie on All My Children. Debbi caught wind that I was auditioning for the role on my last day at AMC, and the following morning I was heading to Los Angeles. I told her, and only her and I did not know she was a mad Y&R fan. She said, “OMG! Peter this is one of those roles. This is Erica on AMC. This is Viki on OLTL, and this is a giant role, Peter.” So she convinced me that, “Well, maybe this will be a good thing.” I got the job and I was grateful for it, but once I got here, every prop guy, every camera man knew more about Jack Abbott than I did. It was a lonely first few weeks. I knew I’ve got to make it my own. The assumption was we bring all those Cliff Warner fans with us to Y&R, and all the people who were used to Terry Lester would eventually be OK with me in the role. Well, oddly enough the people who were used to Terry Lester got used to me pretty quickly. It took about six months and they forgot what he looked like. But the people from All My Children, OMG, it was two to three years later! They were saying, “He used to be so nice….” It took a long time to bring them around.
MICHAEL:
So, was there any trepidation for you with the success of playing Dr. Cliff Warner, who was the leading man and a goody-goody, with now coming over to Y&R and playing a rather bad and caddish character? Was there any thought of, “I don’t know if I should play this,” or did you look at it as an actor’s dream to play Jack?
PETER:
Frankly, I have been doing daytime television for 30 years and it has never crossed my mind what the audience likes or what the audience wants of me. I just want to tell the story like it’s written. I come to this dressing room as these scripts are sitting here now, and I cannot open them fast enough. I don’t want to write it. I want to play what they wrote and it’s worked for thirty years.
MICHAEL:
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Ok! So of all the storylines and plot points of Jack, which stick in your mind as some of your most memorable?
PETER:
The ones that really move me….the ones I have trouble watching without getting emotionally upset….Nikki spirals into this alcoholic mess and in his effort to help her Jack cannot do it, and in his frustration he comes that close to punching her. It was a giant moment and I went to tell my father, John, “Dad, I almost hit her in the face!” Giant moment! Jack is in Victor’s office and Victor has what appears to be a coronary episode. Victor is left on the floor and Jack has two choices…. call for help or walk out of the room. On his way out of the room, I decided Jack would kick Victor’s hand out of the way. To Eric Braeden’ credit, his body was limp. I kicked his hand and I thought, “The cameras are probably not going to catch this.” Boy, did they catch this!
MICHAEL:
He did not move his hand…..his hand…..
PETER:
…..his hand flopped. He looked like a dead guy. Giant moment! Nikki and Jack lose a baby and a woman comes to my office one day. We had donated the baby’s’ organ’s and she wants to introduce me to her son, who would not be alive without my child’s heart. Giant scene to play! Finding out about Nicholas and Phyllis! It went on forever and finally Jack finds out. Frankly, my latest favorite is the day that Sharon finally tells Jack everything that is going on with her and Nicholas, and Jack knew every single thing she is telling him, but she is telling him. It was a giant moment to play. I had no words and you could just watch Jack’s face and know what he was thinking. This is what he has been waiting for: Sharon to tell him and to be this honest with him.
MICHAEL:
In all the interviews I do with the soap actors, everyone tells me the same thing: “Peter Bergman is so professional!” How does it feel to be so well regarded by your peers?
PETER:
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It does feel really good. I would love to be able to tell you I am the consummate professional because I know things and it firms up my powerbase. But frankly, I have nightmares about coming to work and being unprepared. I have nightmares that our cameramen get frustrated and are taking their headsets off because Bergman does not know his lines. I also lost my job and did not expect it to happen and no one expected it to happen. And, when it came to an end I promised myself, if ever I lost this job at Y&R or any other job, I would never look back and wonder what more I could have done. So frankly a lot of it is paranoia and it’s not being a bold egalitarian.
MICHAEL:
I think it’s very human and honest of you to say that, because who wouldn’t feel that way given those circumstances.
PETER:
I am amazed that people will come to work and not know their lines for the day and be able to come out on set. I would be a nervous wreck! So it’s probably by needs that I have to be really, really professional.
MICHAEL:
Eric Braeden and you had a much-publicized fight many years ago and a stormy relationship. I was reading recent articles and interviews and people still bring it up. What do you think about the situation now? It’s part of the history of your time on Y&R that people tend to focus on.
PETER:
It is part of our history here. Eric and I had a number of problems when I first came here and they climaxed in an ugly situation that Eric wished would never had happened and I certainly could have done without it in my life. But Eric and I worked together for 20 years, and we have this enmity that the audience clearly loves. It’s a crazy rivalry and it still has legs, and I am very grateful for It.! We work together just fine.
MICHAEL:
I loved, True Soap Stories of Mr. Kitty… the cleverest and original video of the year, bar none! You were the on-camera host of the video parody. How did that come about where you ended up in that position?
PETER:
Greg Edwards, (content manager, Y&R website) who put the whole thing together, came up to me and said, “Hey, Peter, would you be the anchor on this thing?” I said, “Sure!” Anyway, it was an improv thing. We did it really serious and it was really funny. Everyone in the cast was so great in it. And if people have not seen it on the CBS website, it’s quite, quite funny.
MICHAEL:
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How has it been working with Stacy Haiduk, who now plays dual roles as Patty Williams and Emily Peterson?
PETER:
Stacy Haiduk (Patty/Emily) has been one of those wonderful stories, where she is a generally trusting actress. I have talked to her a lot in all of this. When she got here I said to her, “If you are willing to go there and I know it seems like the audience is not going to like you or deems your character unlikable….” I said, “Stacy run with it. We can redeem you in two episodes. I don’t care! Just don’t kill anybody and we can redeem you.” Anyway, this actress came in and gave everything and just threw herself at the madness of Patty Williams, and now she is playing Emily, the psychiatrist who has to be very different than Patty Williams. Stacy brought a whole new bag of tricks and she is terrific.
MICHAEL:
Is Jack truly falling for Emily or using her?
PETER:
Oh no! Jack is falling for this psychiatrist. Jack is at a funny place in his life where he is coming to the realization that he is the head of the Abbott family now. John is gone and he is not coming back. Somebody has got to anchor this family. Jack has long aspired to be like his father, and it’s kind of hard to do that without a woman of the house and someone in his life. Colleen’s death reminded him to do what you want to be doing; be with somebody and share a life. So Jack is going through a whole new phase, and the moment he is in this searching mode in walks Emily Peterson, this gorgeous woman who he is really quite taken with!
MICHAEL:
I am sure though, there is a twist… on a twist…. on a twist coming!
PETER:
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Well again, sitting in an actress’s dressing room and saying, “If you play this other character really different from Patty, then down the road imagine how fun it would be to play Patty Williams playing who she thinks Emily is.” It’s a treat most actors would kill to do. I have never done it and those actors who have done well are legends in daytime television.
MICHAEL:
Let’s talk about a few other former leading ladies… Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) and you!
PETER:
Michelle Stafford…. when they first told me I was going to be working with her she was coming back to the show, and all we had seen of her was crazy Phyllis. She was Danny Romalatti’s crazy woman with the lying about the birth certificate and all the crazy shenanigans she had done. So they told me, “We are going to put her with Jack.” I thought, “Well, this is crazy!” Well, it was just crazy enough. These two were perfectly wrong for each other. These two people cared about each other and wanted this to work in the worst possible way, but just couldn’t make it work. That is not normal for soaps. It was fun to play and for the audience to watch, because these two people were desperately loving each other and they are destructive of each other, and someone is going to hurt someone here. These are two type “A” personalities!
MICHAEL:
How about Sharon Case (Sharon) and you?
PETER:
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Sharon Case is my new favorite thing to talk about, because when they put Nick and Phyllis together, I thought it was clever as can be, and hotter than could be. It was a great hot secret that they had. I played the cuckold and Sharon played the cuckold fool, and I think the writers perhaps did not have a plan. So I guess they thought, “Let’s throw Sharon and Jack together.” Sharon Case and I knew this. So we sat in this dressing room and said, “How about we make it work for them?” So every opportunity we had to make it as real as possible, we jumped all over it. We sat in this room and ran lines like crazy. We tweaked scenes and fixed scenes and changed the pace of scenes; until suddenly it turned into a three-year storyline and was one of the most realistic couples on the show. I think Sharon changed Jack in a major way. There was goodness and honesty about Sharon in her general approach to life. She was not a manipulator. She challenged Jack to be an honest person, and he wasn’t up for the task. He has never forgiven himself for that. So honesty now becomes a very important part of Jack Abbott’s life? It is now, thanks to Sharon!
MICHAEL:
In closing Peter, after 20 years, what do you want people to remember most about your portrayal of Jack Abbott?
PETER:
I would love for people to say, “He was fun to watch and he did not hold back. When a scene called for something, he never phoned it in or dialed it in. He always was there and always found as much emotional weight as he could find.”
Good interview. Really good actor
What a great interview, Michael. Peter was so honest, and you can’t help but like and respect him. He has kept those of us watching his prowess as an actor constantly delivering his character, and we wait for the shoe to drop as to what he will do that is nasty. We wait in anticipation…..
Peter Bergman is right, it did not take long for us to forget Terry Lester whom I loved very much as Jack Abbott. It’s true that those 20 years went by so fast and thank you Peter Bergman and all the other wonderful characters to have helped me and I guess so many others, to have helped us go through the ups and downs of this wonderful life by being part of our life for those 20 wonderful years. Long live the Y&R and Peter Bergman.
I am so glad to know that Peter loves his character Jack, cause I’ve been a faithful viewer for over 20 years, and I just love, and I mean love me some Jack. He’s sophisticated, and a bad boy, and I love bad boys. Thanks for the wonderful interview it makes me love him more knowing that he has a beautiful wife of 25 years, and has been able to be a loving husband and father in real life while being the bad boy of Y&R for over 20 years. We love you Jack! I love to hate Victor, but you’re the man Jack.
I like Jack. I would have to say that he’s undoubtedly my fav. male actor. He reminds me of someone I dated a long time ago and I think he’s one handsome dude !! : ) It would be fun to meet him for real. I guess I can only hope about that one.
Hey Peter Bergman!!
Good Job!!!
Days Of Our Lives
Days of our Lives’ Conner Floyd Talks Dominic Marino Mystery, Chad and Belle, and Susan Seaforth Hayes (Exclusive)
Fasten your seat belts Days of our Lives fans, as the mystery of Dominic Marino continues to unravel on all-new episodes of the Peacock streaming soap opera. Last week, Chad DiMera (Conner Floyd) learned that he may have a half-brother, who may be the biological child of his father, the late Stefano DiMera (the late Joseph Mascolo) and Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall), giving him great pause, because he knows Stefano had kidnapped Marlena for four years back in the late 80s and early 90s.
Chad has already been hunting down clues with his current girlfriend Belle Black (Martha Madison) in Italy and Salem, which revealed a photo of a young boy with Stefano with the date 1992 on the back of it, hidden inside Stefano’s chess set. So, what’s next?
Conner Floyd chatted on the Michael Fairman Channel in a new virtual interview released on Sunday, October 18, where he spoke on what the new addition to the DiMera family could do to the already dangerous sibling rivalries, the state of Chad’s relationship with Belle and much more.
Photo: JPI
DIMERA RIVALRY
After finding out from EJ (Dan Feuerriegel) that Dominic Marino could be the never-before-heard-of child of Stefano and Marlena, Conner Floyd explained, “I think it blows Chad’s mind a little bit. I think there’s a lot of things working there with old Chad. Obviously, bringing in another DiMera could cause some noise and the whole situation with Marlena’s a little awkward as well because he’s dating Belle, so this could cause a little tiff there. I think his head’s spinning and he does not know what to expect, but I also think he kind of expects that from Stefano, for sure.”
As to how this will change and color Chad’s relationship with EJ, Floyd responded, “Chad knows EJ’s not happy about it and I think he’s going to be real upset if this gets in his way of doing what he wants to do with the DiMera legacy and all that. However, for Chad, I think he’s just going to keep a sharp eye, see what this guy’s about, see if he’s here to cause some trouble or here to be a friend and kinda play it by ear.”
Photo: JPI
BELLE OF MY HEART
With Chad and Belle already being sleuths, Floyd says, you can look for the duo to continue getting to the truth. “I think Chad and Belle are committed to this. They’re going full National Treasure, Nicolas Cage,” says Conner. “They’re going to follow the clues. They’re going to get some answers.”
Since beginning in the role of Chad in June of 2025 and debuting on-screen back in April of 2026, the former Y&R star (where he played Chance Chancellor), says it was Madison who helped him get comfortable in his new surroundings.
“Martha is phenomenal. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to get tagged up with when I started here, just because she knows everybody,” shares Floyd. “She knows where to go, who to talk to. She’ll get the tea if you want, and so it was kind of cool. Martha took me under her wing, showed me the ropes. She’s a sweetheart. I love working with her too. She’s a great actress.”
But, is Chad in love with Belle after such a tortured past with his beloved Abigail Deveraux DiMera? Floyd thinks so! “I think he’s into it. They’re such good friends and they have such a rich history. I think he’s in for the ride. You know, it’s one of those things you probably overlook at first and then they reconnected, and it feels easy and they’re going on these fun adventures.”
MAKING CHAD HIS OWN
Conner had the arduous task of being the successor to Billy Flynn in the role of Chad.. Flynn had played the part for 12 years before deciding to exit and head to Y&R. So, how did Conner approach learning the ins and out of Chad? Floyd shared, “I really dove into Chad when I first got this job. I liked that he kind of walks this tightrope of DiMera and not DiMera, you know. He want to so honor his family roots and really do something for the DiMera family, but he doesn’t want to fall into that trap that all the other DiMera have found themselves in. Chad is a DiMera at heart. He’s got those demons, but he’s just trying to keep them contained.”
Photo: JPI
ICONIC
When Floyd got to DAYS, it was none other than Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie Williams) who most surprised him in the most delightful way, given that he knew Hayes was a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and the current longest-running cast member on the canvas.
“I love working with Susan Hayes! I love her. She’s a sweetheart. Susan is one of the nicest people there. I just thought she was cool and it’s Susan Hayes, you know? We’ve had a lot of scenes together, which is nice,” explained Conner.
“We’ll go to her dressing room, we’ll run our scenes, and then we’ll spend about an hour just talking about life and she’ll tell me about a book she’s reading. She’s such a history buff, which blows my mind. She’ll start dropping all these historical facts on me. I learn something new by the time I walk out of her dressing room every time!”
Now below, check out the full conversation with Conner Floyd via the Michael Fairman Channel.
Weigh-in: Do you like Chad and Belle as couple? Do you think Chad will get to the bottom of the Dominic Marino mystery? If so, do you think Dominic is truly Stefano and Marlena’s son … and what about Rita (Maggie Carney) in all this? Let us know your theories in the comment section.
General Hospital
‘General Hospital’s’ Tabyana Ali Weighs In on Who She Thinks is Trina’s Stalker (Exclusive)
On General Hospital, as Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) has launched a music career alongside Gio Palmieri (Giovanni Mazza), it was recently revealed that she actually has what seems like an “obsessed” stalker! How do we know? Well, there is a collage of the young woman that said person is continuing to add more photos to as the weeks and months roll on.
There have been several obvious suspects in the way GH has presented the characters. Chief among them music executive, Simon Craft (Grady Eldridge) who continually has made statements and has been shooting daggers at anyone getting in the way of his prized recording artist.
At the same time the stalking started, Kai’s friend and former college football teammate, Quinn (Jequan Jackson) showed back up who previously had a falling out with Trina. Might he be playing nice, but wants revenge on Trina?
Photo: ABC
KEPT IN THE DARK
Fast-forward and now General Hospital fans learned that two-time Daytime Emmy winner, Alley Mills is on her way back to the show as Heather Webber, who previously was known as”The Hook” killer at one point, and is the biological mother of Trina’s sworn enemy, Esme Prince (last played by Avery Pohl).
Esme perished went she went overboard with Trina’s boyfriend, Spencer Cassadine (last played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez) a few years ago into the steely waters below. Could Esme be the one obsessing over Trina, or could it be someone else completely?
In a brand new video interview out on Tuesday, September 29, Tabyana Ali visited You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel and weighed-in on who she thinks could be the culprit! However, Tabyana shared she actually has no idea who it actually will turn out to be.
“The crazy thing is that everybody knows who it is except for me! They’re keeping that secret from me,” revealed Ali. “They want me to be as oblivious as Trina.”
Courtesy/ABC
THOSE WHO WENT OVERBOARD AND PRESUMED DEAD
After looking over the potential suspects and with all the theories that have floated about, Tabyana had her top picks! “I would love for it to be Spencer. I would love for it to be Esme. Mostly because I also just want my friends back on set, too. I would love to just see them and hang out with them. I think it definitely could be one of those two,” speculated Ali.
“I think everybody thought it could have been Quinn, or could have been Simon. I think we were all pointing in that direction for a minute, but I thinks that’s too easy”, declares Tabyana. “I think they’re just trying to throw me off, and trying to make it seem like it’s one of them. Now, nobody told me one way or the other about them.”
As soaps go, it’s usually not the first string of suspects who turn out to be the actual person behind the stalking. Tabyana agreed, “If you just know writing in general, if you just know TV in general, if you know soaps in general, you know that’s a game. You know, they set up, set up, set up, and then they really show the reveal. So. I was like, ‘This is just the setup to the reveal, right?'”
As for it being Spencer, it may not because his motives are bad. Ali shared, “It could be Spencer trying to fight his way back to Trina, or Heather trying to get revenge for her dead daughter Esme, or Esme herself. Those are all good ones, I was also playing around with what if it’s Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober)? That would be kind of fun. Don’t know what his motive would be. I know he passed away. He’s dead because of Joss (Eden McCoy), but it’s like everybody comes back alive on soaps, so…”
Photo: ABC
FROM KAI WITH LOVE
Some fans theorized it could be Trina’s boyfriend, Kai Taylor (Jens Austin Astrup) or one another option being that the real stalker takes him out. “I think that’s kind of happened to all of Trina’s boyfriends,” lamented Tabyana. “They’ve all kind of gone that way. So, hopefully it doesn’t happen that way. Would it be easier if Kai was the stalker? Okay, yeah, maybe. He’d go to jail for a couple months or whatever. Come on out and then what? He would had to have had a brain-eating amoeba that made him do it. Who knows?” (Laughs)
In the end, are Trina and Kai truly in love? Ali shared her viewpoint and gave a tease, “I think they have love for one another, but to love someone it does take gradual time. I think it’s getting to that point. I think with this music situation as well, it is really proving to Trina that Kai is willing to be there with her every step of the way.”
She continued, “He is supporting her 10 toes down, making sure that she has everything that she needs, to going to every live show. I think this portion of their lives will definitely guide them somewhere else. I think, an ‘I love you,’ might come just around the corner.”
You can check out the full conversation with Tabyana now on the Michael Fairman Channel below.
Then weigh-in, after hearing Tabyana’s thoughts on the matter, who do you think will be proven to be Trina’s stalker? Let us know via the comment section below.
Interviews
‘The Bold and the Beautiful’s’ Heather Tom Talks Daytime Emmy-Nominated Scenes and What’s Behind Katie’s Deep-Seated Issues with Dylan (Exclusive)
The Bold and the Beautiful’s Heather Tom (Katie Logan) is heading into the 53rd annual Daytime Emmys next month with a chance to win not one, but two gold statuettes to add to her collection of six!
Heather is once again a nominee for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series, and for the first time a nominee as part of B&B’s writing team in the Outstanding Writing for a Daytime Drama Series category.
Currently, Heather is tied with One Life to Live icon, Erika Slezak (Ex-Viki) as the actresses with the most wins in Daytime Emmy history. An acting victory by Tom would break the tie, although Slezak’s wins have all been for Lead Actress, while Tom literally grew up before our eyes over 35 years in daytime, and has won in all three actress categories: Younger, Supporting and Lead.
Photo: JPI
Whether Tom wins the gold this year, next year is looking even like stronger lock with Heather delivering some of the best work of her career, over the last several months. Who can forget Katie’s showdown with her sister Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) over the creation of her own fashion house named Logan, that slap from Brooke, and eventually being disowned from the Logan family by Brooke and their sister, Donna (Jennifer Gareis).
This fall, Katie is in full momma bear-mode and being overprotective of her son Will Spencer’s (Crew Morrow) heart and pocketbook. In story, Katie has a massive distrust of Melissa Dylan, who has made her move on her son, while Will is still trying to deal with the break-up with the love of his life Electra Forrester.
During a live chat this week on the Michael Fairman Channel, Heather opened up on a myriad of subjects, including why Dylan gets under Katie’s skin in such a major way, and what scenes earned her a shot at Lead Actress gold at the October 30th Daytime Emmy ceremony.
Photo: JPI
HEATHER TOM’S DAYTIME EMMY SUBMISSION
In daytime, Heather Tom does it all, she acts, directs and writes for The Bold and the Beautiful. When deciding what material to submit for Emmy competition with its eligibility rules of episodes from 2025, it relayed heavily on scenes with her longtime B&B scene partner, Don Diamont (Bill Spencer).
“I submitted material having to do with the Luna (Lisa Yamada) storyline and having to do with Katie and Bill. I love that Katie and Bill have been really trying to find their way back to each other for, honestly, five years. He’s been trying to woo her back. Katie’s been like, ‘No.’ However, they come together, especially over their son, Will (Crew Morrow) and they have a very real relationship-type of discussion. It wasn’t an argument. It was more about, ‘I know you. Don’t do this.’ That’s always kind of been Katie’s relationship with Bill. The scenes with Don Diamont were about Katie and Bill’s history, the pain, and the drama, and especially about their son, seemed very familiar to me.”
Heather added, “There’s also a couple scenes with Will and Luna, when Katie finds out that Luna is pregnant. Katie was like, ‘Nope! Our son is having a baby with somebody, and we’re going to figure this out. We’ve got means and the ability to do this. I don’t care if we have to take this baby away from Luna because she’s crazy, we’ll figure it out.’ They were some really good scenes that I felt very proud of. I thought to myself, “OK, this is Katie really taking a stand for her son, and having these conversations with Bill where I just felt they were real and honest.”
In conclusion to standing by her choices of scenes, Heather explained, “It was nice to see Bill and Katie operating as a parental unit and have her be like, “Yep, we’re not doing this. You know, you can’t force Luna to do anything, so let’s just figure out how we’re dealing with this.” Katie was kind of the adult in the room. Then, the scenes where Bill says to Katie, “You have to come back to me and I need you,” while Katie shed a few tears, she still didn’t take him back, not yet.”
Photo: JPI
DYLAN BROKE THE ‘GIRLFRIEND CODE’
There are specific reasons why Katie has it out for Melissa Dylan. In fact, Dylan went so far as to get her mother Darcy Dylan to town to shut down Katie’s suspicions of her, but it still isn’t swaying Katie away from her stance on the matter. Heather revealed how she is playing the scenes.
“So, here’s the deal. It’s multifaceted,” began Tom. “This girl pushes Katie’s buttons. She reminds her of her sister, Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang), and what Katie’s going through with her sister right now is very unpleasant. I think she looks at this girl and says, “This girl is going to crawl over anyone to get what she wants. And right now, she wants my son, and she’s willing to throw her best friend (Electra) under the bus.”
Heather also said, “Honestly, there’s something known as the ‘girlfriend code.’ Would you like to know what the girlfriend code is? ‘The girlfriend code’ is if your girlfriend, who is also your best friend, dates a guy and is especially in love with him, it doesn’t matter if you break up, that guy is off limits. You need to find yourself another guy.”
KATIE’S TROUBLES WITH BROOKE AND DYLAN MAKE HER TAKE A STAND
Katie clearly draws a similarity to her sister Brooke and Melissa Dylan which is also driving her attitude, which Heather confirmed. “So to Katie, it’s like Dylan broke that code. She is someone who follows her heart just like Brooke and leaves carnage in her wake,” said Tom.
She continued, “I think Katie looks at her and goes ‘Okay, one, you were living in your car. You didn’t call your mother who clearly loves you and ask her for help, but you were more than willing to take help from this, lovely rich guy.’ I think Katie feels like the fact that Dylan has been so expressive of how in love she is with Will, I think she finds that a little weird. She’s telling him that she’s e in love with him, and he doesn’t say it back to you. So, clearly he’s in not in love with you.”
In story, Katie can’t trust a young woman, who knows her son doesn’t feel the same way about her and yet is still hanging around. Heather shared Katie’s viewpoint to Dylan: “He’s clearly in love with your best friend. So, isn’t it a little unsettling that she kind of keeps saying she’s in love with him? So that’s my multifaceted reason why Katie doesn’t like her. It really has nothing to do with the fact that she came from humble beginnings because Katie did too. That being said, the Spencers are billionaires, so she would have to also look out for that. However, I don’t think that’s the main reason why she doesn’t like this girl or doesn’t trust her. I really don’t.”
You can check out the full conversation from our livestream conversation on the Michael Fairman Channel below.
Now let us know, are you rooting for Heather Tom to win the Lead Actress Daytime Emmy? What did you think of the scenes she submitted? Will Katie be proven right about Melissa Dylan, or will her distrust blow up in her face and she will wind up respecting Dylan when all is said and done? Weigh-in via the comment section.
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