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Love on the Rox-y

It’s been a bittersweet end of the year for ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s Ilene Kristen: Roxy is flirting with a love interest, while Kristen is flying solo after a broken engagement.

Soap Opera Weekly: Is there going to be love with Roxy and Miles?
Ilene Kristen: I think it will be, but I’ve got to tell you, I don’t really know because we’re shooting a lot out of sequence. I’ve shot some stuff, but it’s hard to say where it’s exactly going.

Weekly: Do you like working with David Chisum (Miles)?
Kristen: I adore working with him, absolutely. We work very well together. He’s a lovely guy. He’s very good. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Weekly: Yes, it will.
Kristen: Well, yeah. Especially with the strike. I hope it gets settled.

Weekly: So do I, because the show has been so good.
Kristen: I know. (Head writer) Ron Carlivati has got such great ideas. It’s so unfair. We’re finally rolling along here, and he’s connecting the dots that haven’t been connected in years and staying with the history of the show. He really cares about the show.

Weekly: Anything else new?
Kristen: Brian (Sheridan, former fiancé) and I split up.

Weekly: How are you doing with that?
Kristen: I’m doing okay. It was a very amicable split-up. We could get back together again. But right now, we’re living apart. It’s very bittersweet to me, because I really care about him. And as I said before, it was totally mutual. We couldn’t seemingly figure out certain things. It’s difficult. I actually need to take care of some stuff for myself. When I get into a relationship, I end up taking care of everybody else’s stuff but mine. For right now, I really don’t want to do that. I don’t want to worry about someone else’s career. I do that with all of my friends. I have a lot of friends who are great writers. I’m constantly trying to figure out where I can play their songs, what they should be doing. It’s one of my better qualities, but it’s also one of my worst qualities. I need to reflect on myself right now. I think it’s important right now to be alone, almost. I rather like it at the moment. I grew up watching my parents. They’re very supportive of each other. Sometimes, when you’re from a good marriage — when you’ve seen that — you know what that is and you don’t want to take anything less. I don’t want to settle for a situation where I’m more concerned about what this human being’s future is than they are about mine, basically.

Weekly: Have you ever been married before?
Kristen: No. I’ve been in lots of relationships. This is my third time being engaged. It’s hard being with another actor; very difficult. I had not done that in a long time. I think it might be best not to. Unless you’re two extraordinary people, which I thought we were, there’s always going to be some jealousy involved. It makes it hard.

Weekly: So, any other plans for the new year?
Kristen: I’m not really looking to get seriously involved with anybody at the moment. I just want to work hard. I think I’ve got some storyline coming up. I seem to be working a lot more over the next couple of months. I have a new songwriting partner, so that’s rather nice. We’ve already created one song, which is a really good jazz song.

Weekly: Any singing engagements?
Kristen: I’ve been kind of under the radar. I’ve been doing these gigs at a place called The Society of Illustrators. That’s an old, venerable institution art school. The third Thursday of the month — we did one last month and I’m doing one this month, and maybe in January — they have jazz music, they serve a buffet, they have people bring their art pads, and they have nude models. This is all going on at the same time. The buffet, the nude models, the jazz music and me. It is a trip. It’s a blast. It’s bizarre. Only in New York — or in Paris. It’s fantastic. I heard — I haven’t seen him yet — that Tony Bennett shows up every once in a while.

Weekly: Wouldn’t that be great?
Kristen: Yeah, that would be fantastic. Every once in a while, when they get sick of sketching the nude models, they start sketching me. It’s so surreal.

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