Interviews

THE SHARON CASE INTERVIEW – THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS

Published

17 years ago

February 25, 2009

Michael

Poor Sharon Newman Abbott! It’s been a series of devastating events that have led one of Genoa City’s heroines to begin acting out in ways we have not seen before.

I mean, what would you do? The love of your life rekindles your relationship with a night of passion, only to go back to the woman who stole him from you in the first place. Your best friend professes his love for you and you send him away into a snowstorm. He ends up dead by saving your son who has fallen through the ice and almost dies, too. Your second marriage has fallen apart through a series of lies and manipulations and you realize everything you touch… you lose.

Well, Daytime Emmy Award winning actress Sharon Case, tells me what’s behind Sharon’s emotional turmoil. As many “Y&R” fans know, just this past week she spent a drunken night of passion
with Billy Abbott and has begun to steal
items and put them in her purse. Hmmm…

MICHAEL:

Many fans were overjoyed that Nick and Sharon finally reconnected and made love in the cabin! What are your feelings on the story?

SHARON:

I loved the storyline because it has so much conflict in it. I can speak for the actors that nobody wanted to see Nick and Sharon get back together and live happily ever after in one episode. Our audience wants to see them together, and so do we, but not all in one episode. It misses the point. I love that Nick and Sharon slept together and they are playing Sharon and Nick’s feelings for each other. Because for years, where was Sharon and Nick’s feelings for each other? Why weren’t they ever in the same room with each other? What happened? Well, we are back, and that does not mean Sharon and Nick should get together tomorrow, but we should be in the same room together, because there is conflict. In my opinion, this is what should have been playing out all along.

MICHAEL:

They have their son, Noah, but it seemed like over the past few years the show was not playing those storyline beats as parents. Not until recently, however.

SHARON:

We have a son! Where has this storyline been for the past two years? Thank God, we are back and Nick and Sharon had sex together. One of my favorite scenes was when we ran into each other in the office and Nick told me he wants to stay with Phyllis. Oh, my word, after everything we have been through and Sharon’s hopes were high, this was tragic! She has already filed for divorce from Jack and she is thinking, this is it. Once again, he says he is going to stay with Phyllis. He cheated, and now to hear this, how do you ever get past this?

MICHAEL:

Obviously, Phyllis’s manipulations made an impact on Nick.

SHARON:

When Sharon spoke with Nick in the office, he did not come out and say it. Sharon dragged it out of him, and pressure-cooked him into talking, and he was wondering what is going on, and not saying anything. So, I don’t know how you overcome that. I don’t know how any one gets over that. I guess you get over it by doing exactly what Sharon is doing… having a nervous breakdown and acting very unlike her.

MICHAEL:

She is acting so bizarre!

SHARON:

It’s stress that causes her to do weird things and panic. These are really extreme circumstances, where people can blank out or do things unlike themselves, or freak out. They even could go blind, temporarily.

MICHAEL:

Yes, hysterical blindness!

SHARON:

I heard someone who was having a nervous breakdown got hysterical blindness in real life. I know of people who have gone blind from stress or illness, and things can happen temporarily to you. With Sharon, she does not remember moments of time, here and there.

MICHAEL:

I remember after my major back-surgery and the stress of the recovery, I was forgetting things and I didn’t know why, but I think it was because of the stress it put on my mind and body.

SHARON:

People think it’s the illness or surgery, and it’s really the stress that’s connected to the illness or surgery or personal loss, or things like that.

MICHAEL:

So, it makes perfect sense. Sharon had lossed so much. Here she slept with Nick. He does not go back to her. Noah almost died, and Brad’s dead!

SHARON:

Can you imagine? Her child is saved and Brad dies, and she had sent Brad away! She was not that nice to him leading up to that day. She had to stop him from having any hope, but that does not matter now because he is dead. She feels bad about that. It’s awful! Jack was another horrible loss, a tragic loss. She tried everything she could possibly do to make her marriage work. She said, “Jack you are a liar, and I am going to have to adjust myself to live with that.” She tried to deal with Jack’s broken promises again and again. One thing is for sure; a promise from Jack doesn’t mean anything. How do you live with that in a marriage? It’s so disheartening.

MICHAEL:

And, Phyllis is just so mean to her!

SHARON:

She is a mean girl and she does not like Sharon, and she is mean to her.

MICHAEL:

Do you think Sharon can handle Phyllis’s machinations?

SHARON:

Look at the things that Sharon has handled in her life. Of course she can!

MICHAEL:

So, with all of this heartbreak the time was ripe to break her to pieces. It’s very interesting how they are taking apart Sharon’s spirit and mental stability.

SHARON:

I am interested in how they are doing it, too. One thing about Maria Arena Bell’s (co head-writer, “Y&R”) writing is that when you have a breakdown, it’s not only for an hour in a day you have a breakdown, and then life goes on. This is something that happens here and there a little bit each day, over periods of time, and over weeks. That’s how breakdowns happen. I think when people talk about a nervous breakdown they say, “I had a nervous breakdown between 12 noon and one, and now I am all better.” (She laughs) It does not also mean you are in a straightjacket full time. It just means you are going to act bizarre and you are going to have panic attacks at different intervals. It will be hard to deal with.

MICHAEL:

So, what is going on in Sharon’s mind? How are you playing this?

SHARON:

It’s a loss. This is the second marriage she has lost. She has almost lost her second child, which reminds her and reactivates Cassie’s death for her. Then, Nick does not want her and her friend has died. So, every time she thinks, ”Now I have my life together and now I can see a vision of where my future will lie.” You can see the future and it gives you hope. Every time Sharon has mapped it out it has been torn to pieces. She has to overcome it, restart it, and redraw it, not only with her first marriage, but her second, and also with her child, Cassie. That’s why Sharon is in this place right now. It makes you so fearful that you are going to be alone for the rest of your life; that no matter what you go out in life to create, it’s going to be ruined anyway.

MICHAEL:

Will there be a ‘night in shining armor’ along the way?

SHARON:

Isn’t that the hope in life that we all have? I hope so, and I don’t know who it will be.

MICHAEL:

Nick!

SHARON:

What you hope is that Nick will come around and be a good man. What you want to have happen is Nick to snap out of it one day and be the man he needs to be, and who Sharon wants him to be, so they can live happily ever after.

MICHAEL:

As the character of Sharon, what would you still love to do with her, or get a chance to play that you haven’t had in all of your time here at “Y&R”? I mean, Sharon has been through almost every soap storyline imaginable.

SHARON:

You know what I wanted to do? This will probably never happen, but before I knew Brad’s character was dying I did not know where they were going with Sharon and Brad’s storyline. Recently before he died, it looked like they might put us together again because Jack and Sharon were getting a divorce, and Brad was sneaking into my world with Phyllis’s assistance. I thought, “Huh, maybe they are putting us back together. If we were a couple, what kind of couple would we be?” I had this idea that Brad is this dual personality, or dual person assassin guy. What if we had this very cool, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” relationship, and I get involved as an action hero. If you ask me, anything I would like to do with the character that I haven’t done? It would be “Sharon Action Hero”. I would have this matrix and dominatrix outfit and I would be really good at firing weapons!
(She laughs)

MICHAEL:

Have you noticed a difference in the writing, now that Maria Arena Bell is heading up the team?

SHARON:

Absolutely, and stories are better. Maria is just amazing. It’s got a bit of the old days in it, and every one of the actors feels like it’s the old days and everyone is happy. It’s so nice, and we deserved this. The cast and the show have been through a lot, and I am so happy for everyone here now that we have Maria. It’s what we needed and what we are looking for, someone who is a talented writer and knows the backbone of the show.

MICHAEL:

I know many of your cast mates who I have interviewed and posed this question to have responded the same way. Tell me a few words about working with Joshua Morrow (Nick).

SHARON:

I feel most comfortable when I am working with him. We have worked together for so many years, and even if I have not worked with him in a long time, I go right back into a groove with him that’s familiar and easy.

MICHAEL:

How about working with Peter Bergman, as Jack?

SHARON:

Peter is great to work with. He is very professional and always prepared. He has brought a lot to the scenes. He had a lot of great creative ideas, and a lot of what he brought to it was what that marriage was about. I feel like that marriage was really an awesome representation of modern marriage today. You don’t see a lot of that on soaps; it was not that thunderstorm marriage where kids were dying and house burning down. These were representing every day real problems that marriages have, such as dishonesty and how that whittles away at the marriage, and what that does to two people. It was a different story of marriage, and I really liked that. I liked that Sharon ran into Jack after her marriage to Nick fell apart. She lost her entire identity after that happened, and needed a new one.

MICHAEL:

How is working with your on-screen SORAS’d son, Kevin Schmidt as Noah?

SHARON:

He is a very talented actor. As a guy, he is silly and funny. When I look at him, I can’t believe I have an older son now on the show. I guess in reality, I could have a son that age, I think. No! I could have a son Noah’s age, but not like the actor’s age. He is so great and with Camyrn Grimes (Ex-Cassie) we did not age her. She was a very talented actress and we just watched her grow up. I have been lucky with the casting of my on-screen kids.

MICHAEL:

How was seeing your friend Don Diamont (Brad) depart the show? Have you spoken with him since he left?

SHARON:

No, I haven’t, not since his going away party here. It was hard for me. Everyone was sad. Don was great through it. He went through every different kind of emotion at the party, and he gave a very moving speech.

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Interviews

‘The Young and the Restless’ Eric Braeden Talks Daytime Emmy Nomination, State of Nikki and Victor’s Marriage, and His Co-Stars (Exclusive)

Published

4 days ago

July 30, 2026

Michael

Eric Braeden has been playing Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless for 46 years. The iconic star of the #1 rated daytime drama series has thus far won once for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Daytime Drama Series back in 1998 in a ceremony he did not attend. Fast-forward to 2026 and the 85-year-old Braeden is once again nominated in the category for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Earlier this month, Eric, along with 4 other actors learned they were going for gold at the ceremonies on October 30. In a twist of fate, fellow co-star and also Lead Actor nominee, Christian LeBlanc (Michael, Y&R) and Braeden submitted the same scenes which centered around Victor firing his longtime attorney and friend, Michael Baldwin.

In a new interview, now on You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, Braeden shares: his thoughts on the nomination, if he will attend daytime’s biggest night of the year, what he thinks will happen with the current cracks within the relationship of Y&R’s Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Victor, his reaction to the heartbreaking scene where Nick (Joshua Morrow) admits to Victor that he has a drug addiction, and much more.

Photo: JPI

VICTOR NEWMAN AND MICHAEL BALDWIN EMMY SCENES

On his Lead Actor Emmy-nominated reel, Eric recalled, “The show submitted it for me and I said, ‘Yeah, go ahead.’ Had I known Christian was part of it, I would’ve said, ‘No!’ I’m kidding. It’s difficult to do a scene with Christian without beginning to laugh in the middle of it. Anyway, he’s wonderful to work with and he did a wonderful job, and I’m grateful for the nomination.”

Braeden also shared plans for attending this year’s Daytime Emmys with his granddaughter making it all the more special, “I will go this year. You know why? It’s an honor first of all, and secondly, my granddaughter, when she heard about it, she says, ‘Opa, can I go? I already know what dress I would buy.’ I mean, it was so sweet. But you bet. Now, I’ll really go to the Emmys!”

Photo: JPI

CAN NIKKI AND VICTOR’S MARRIAGE SURVIVE?

Over the past year, Nikki and Victor’s marriage has been on shaky ground, especially after Victor caught his nemesis, Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) alone in a hotel room with his wife. Nikki went on a bender and Jack was her AA sponsor, but in order to help her, he almost OD’d himself. Victor believes the two hit the sheets.

Now in 2026, Victor was there after Nikki woke up after surgery to save her eyesight, and she has yet to see post-procedure. However, Braeden notes ‘not so fast’ on a reconciliation.

“I would say it will be a rocky road, because you don’t get over these things so quickly. You don’t,” teased Eric. “It’s jealousy and it’s a very, very deep emotion, and every time there’s something that reminds Victor of that incident, he will feel that emotion. It’s an emotion that is not taken seriously enough by people. Relationships are very difficult because of that sometimes.”

Photo: CBS

JOSHUA MORROW DOING THE FINEST WORK OF HIS CAREER

Back in March of this year, in one of the most unforgettable in this, or any soap season, Nick Newman accompanied by his brother Adam (Mark Grossman), came to see Victor where Nick admitted he now has a drug addiction to fentanyl and how he is so ashamed of himself. In the scene, Victor goes to comfort his son, calling him, “My boy” while broken-hearted.

Eric recalled the taping of the scene: “It touched me deeply and it was one of those moments that a father and son don’t want. They’re horrified by that. I think Joshua made an enormous leap in acting in that scene. He showed what he is capable of. It was a very, very touching scene. We had some scenes after that, again, about the same thing. Now, there’s a whole deeper connection between father and son. Any father would almost have a breakdown knowing that his son is on drugs or his daughter. It was a very well-written scene.”

Photo: JPI

ERIC BRAEDEN AND MICHELLE STAFFORD MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY

The Young and the Restless led the 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Nominations with 18, more than any other series or programs. One of the nominations belongs to Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) who nabbed another Lead Actress nod.

Recently, Eric and Michelle have shared much screen-time since Phyllis took Victor’s company from him. During the Michael Fairman Channel’s Daytime Emmy Nominations Special 2026 Live!, Stafford she loved working opposite Eric in the storyline, to which Eric has now responded.

“It’s mutual because I love watching her work,” exclaimed the TV icon. “I just don’t know what she’s going to do in a scene and I love spontaneous moments. I don’t like it to be set and adhered to. I like it to be improvised as much as possible. Michelle is just so facile, so quick, so smart as an actress. She’s wonderful.”

Check out the full conversation with Eric below.

Now weigh-in: are you happy to see Eric receive a Lead Actor nomination? Do you think Nikki and Victor will continue to have issues in their marriage? Did you like the scenes with Michelle Stafford and Eric, and of course the hankie-inducing moment between Joshua Morrow and his TV dad? Weigh-in via the comment section.

Interviews

‘The Bold and the Beautiful’s’ Scott Clifton Talks His Lead Actor Daytime Emmy Nomination, and the Omission of His Scene Partner, Annika Noelle (Exclusive)

Published

1 week ago

July 25, 2026

Michael

Less than two weeks ago, The Bold and the Beautiful’s Scott Clifton (Liam Spencer) received the news he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor category at the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Clifton delivered what may have been the best work of his career in 2025; in a heartbreaking story arc where a believed-to-be-dying Liam tries to come to terms with his fate, and what his exit from the land of the living means, and what it would do to the daughters he leaves behind, the women he’s loved, and his father.

Going into this year’s Emmy race, Scott is already a three-time Daytime Emmy winner and a record holder for being the only actor to have won in the three acting categories throughout his career: the now defunct Younger Actor, Supporting Actor and Lead Actor.

Shortly after receiving the news of his latest nomination, Scott shared his reaction and what scenes he decided to include on his now Emmy-nominated reel when he participated in the Michael Fairman Channel’s Daytime Emmy Nominations Special 2026 Live!

During the conversation with Scott, it was very apparent that he feels his on-screen partnership with Annika Noelle (Hope) was a key to his success in 2025, and one of the reason for a key scene he chose. However, Annika’s name was left off the nomination list which disappointed Clifton as he shared below.

Photo: JPI

HOW SCOTT CLIFTON WENT ABOUT CRAFTING HIS LEAD ACTOR REEL

“They got a lot of reels to watch. So, I just picked three scenes. It’s important to create a context so that people aren’t completely lost,” explains Clifton on his best practices strategy. “I picked the scene where Liam found out the diagnosis (about his inoperable brain mass), where Finn (Tanner Novlan) and Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) tell him which sets the stage. And then, there is a scene where Liam is saying “don’t tell anyone.”

Next, there’s the scene at Il Giardino between myself and Don Diamont (Bill) where Liam is telling his father without telling him, by saying, ‘I just want you to know how much I love you, and how grateful I am to you.'”

Then, the final scene, and I owe it all to Annika, was between Liam and Hope. This is where Hope kind of says, ‘I know,’ and then they just have a conversation about their lives and their daughter. Liam also talks about his mom. It just seemed real to me and the best way to close it out. That was it. That was the whole reel about 11 minutes long.”

Photo: JPI

ANNIKA AND SCOTT’S BITTERSWEET EMMY MOMENT

When Scott connected with his on-screen wife, Annika Noelle, following the news of his nomination, which actually came on the Monday before the full nominations were revealed on Tuesday via Extra, there were a rollercoaster of emotions.

Scott detailed, “Annika sent the most beautiful congratulations, and I was trying to figure out if they had announced her category. However, it was in the middle of that conversation that she said. ‘no.’ And then, the conversation turned into my rage for her not being recognized because that whole story was just as much hers as it was mine.”

“My, God,” Clifton continued. “The way that she had to downplay so many things and keep the secret that she knew, that I knew, that she knew. The end of that scene, I couldn’t not include it. It’s more a scene about her and how hard this is for her than it was about Liam. It blew me away that she wasn’t recognized for it this year, but she will next year.”

You can check out Scott’s segment on the Daytime Emmy Nominations Special 2026 Live! below at roughly the 25:46 mark into the show.

So, were you happy to hear what scenes Scott submitted that earned him a Lead Actor Daytime Emmy nomination? Do you think he’s one of the frontrunners to take home the gold when the Daytime Emmys are handed out on October 30? Do you feel as Scott does that Annika Noelle should have been a nominee for her work in 2025? Let us know via the comment section.

Days Of Our Lives

‘Days of Our Lives’ Christopher Sean Opens Up About His Daytime Emmy Nomination to Honor His Late TV Father, Drake Hogestyn (Exclusive)

Published

2 weeks ago

July 18, 2026

Michael

There was not a dry eye in the house when in June of 2025, Paul Narita (Christopher Sean) gets up to eulogize his father, John Black (Drake Hogestyn), after the iconic character passed away and his funeral brought Salem together for one last goodbye.

In real life, Drake Hogestyn had passed away of pancreatic cancer at the age of 70 back on September 28, 2024. When DAYS taped the funeral episode, Drake was still alive and had given his blessing to the series longtime executive producer, Ken Corday, that it was OK with him to kill off his character and to have a memorial. Sadly, shortly after the cast filmed the scenes, Drake died leaving a lasting legacy on DAYS that will never be matched.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, Christopher Sean received the bittersweet news that he had received a Daytime Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Guest Performer category for the upcoming 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards for his performances. Christopher appeared shortly after the news of his nomination on the Michael Fairman Channel’s Daytime Emmy Nominations Special 2026 were he shared his emotional reaction. Here’s part of what he expressed below.

Photo: JPI

WHAT DID CHRISTOPHER SEAN SUBMIT?

“I submitted Paul’s lowest moments in his life, and Paul’s highest moments, meaning the eulogy with John Black, his father, and for my hero, Drake Hogestyn, and Paul getting married to Andrew (Colton Little). So it was two very opposite ends of his life. But what a great culmination of 12 years of being on Days of Our Lives it was.”

ALWAYS BEING GRATEFUL TO DRAKE HOGESTYN

“Even talking about it now, I have so much love for Drake. I’ve got him here on my wall and I wake up every day and I try to make him proud. It’s hard to talk about it, but I feel that my life is on the path that I am because of him, because of him being my role model, because of him loving and guiding me, because of everything that he has taught me on and off the set.”

Photo: JPI

THE EARLY STRUGGLES WITH PAUL’S EULOGY AND HEARTFELT ADDITIONS TO THE DIALOG

“I had been texting back and forth with Drake and I was actually pretty angry, because I felt that we shouldn’t exploit this, but Drake was so attached to the fan base that when Ken Corday spoke with him and gave him the permission to allow the fans to grieve with us, that’s when I said, ‘OK, if that’s what he wants, then I’m going to go full throttle with it.’ In Paul’s eulogy and monologue I’d read it and without asking the writers, I added a few lines and they allowed me to keep them.”

Christopher continued, “One of the lines was, ‘anytime I see a rainbow in the sky’ and I said, ‘and a baseball up high, or a rainbow in the sky,’ because I wanted to attribute it to baseball and to Drake. It was already perfect the way it was written, but that was my nod to Drake. We all loved him and there’s not a person I know who didn’t love him. Drake lit up any room he was a part of. I would not be here, again, without Drake.”

You can catch Christopher’s conversation on the Daytime Emmy Nominations Special at the 2:14:25 mark below.

The 53rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be handed in a ceremony on October 30 from the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood California. Current plans are for the event to stream live on the National Academy Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), watch.theemmys.tv and associated apps.

So, will you be rooting for Christopher to take home the gold for his heartbreaking performance of Paul’s grief over losing John and then marrying Andrew? Were you touched by how much Drake Hogestyn had meant to his life and career? Let us know via the comment section below.