Soap Opera Weekly: So tell us about your experience.
Renee Goldsberry: Oh, my gosh, it was amazing! It's called Women on the Move for Kerry. The Democratic National Committee put an e-mail out to the different publicists to invite anybody that wanted to join to come on the campaign trail. I had the opportunity to go to New Hampshire for the day and I spoke at some rallies at colleges.
Weekly: Were other celebrities there?
Goldsberry: Deidre Hall (Marlena, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) was there. She was amazing and wonderful. I've seen her and met her briefly a couple of times, but to hear her speak and meet her more intimately was really a gift,as was meeting Sharon Stone and Ellen Tauscher, she's a congresswoman from California. And I met Alex Kerry and Peggy Kerry, John Kerry's sister.
Weekly: Were you a little nervous?
Goldsberry: It was really scary, I must say. It was definitely one of those moments where I felt like, "What am I doing here? I can totally imagine sitting out there and listening to them speak, but what do I have to say that's going to mean anything to anybody?" I haven't been that scared in a long time. But I was blessed at the last minute with something to say. Deidre Hall finished talking and she looked back at me, and said, "From ONE LIFE TO LIVE..." and I was like, "Oh, my god." But I got up and I talked to young people about the importance of voting and the first time I had ever voted and how awesome it was.
Weekly: This is obviously something you feel strongly about.
Goldsberry: I believe there's no more important right that you earn just by turning an age than the right to vote. I was really preaching to the choir because these kids were like paraphernalia-ed down. They had T-shirts and stickers and everything. They were really, really excited about voting, but I encouraged them to get out there and to distinguish themselves as independent-thinking adults by using their right to vote. It went over really well and I had an awesome time listening to these women and meeting them.
Weekly: Did it make you want to get into politics?
Goldsberry: I don't know, maybe one day. I got the bug. I'll do anything if I feel like I can be helpful. So once they convinced me that I had something to say, I would go anywhere to do that. Sharon Stone said something interesting. She said, "I'm not here because I'm a celebrity. I get to be here because I'm a celebrity." And I felt that way to. I felt like, "What afforded me the opportunity to be standing on the stage with these women that are so intelligent and so passionate and so civically-oriented?" I was so impressed and blown away by them and I thought, Thank God for ONE LIFE TO LIVE, that it would give me an opportunity to do that. I felt so overwhelmingly blessed. It was a wonderful day and I encourage everybody to be that involved with whatever they believe in.
