What is the best thing about playing Chelsea? “I love that Chelsea has lived many lives in the 11½ years that I’ve played her. I think she’s a really interesting, complex person. She goes through high highs and low lows and always tries. Even though she’s made her fair share of mistakes, she’s always trying to learn her lessons and be a good person and a good mom, which I can relate to more now as a mom myself. She’s gone through a lot and always survived it all. She’s a real survivor.”
What is the best way to describe your character to a non-soap watcher? “Believe it or not, people ask me that all of the time when I say that I’m on a soap opera. They ask, ‘Are you good or bad?’ and I think that’s a hard one to answer because all of the characters are a little of both. I always say my character started out as a con artist because that’s a big part of her. It’s her history and backstory and who she was for the majority of her life. It’s always fun to tell people that I’ve lied about my baby daddy, and I’ve had love affairs on the show. Chelsea’s lived a lot of life. She’s definitely a little bad, which is always fun, but she also has a good heart.”
What is the best thing about your character going from bad to good? “The best part of turning it around is that I got to keep my job, because if you become irredeemable, then that can lead to your character being written off the canvas for good. I’m glad and grateful the writers turned my character around to show that she actually has a good heart and soul with different layers to her so that she wasn’t just a one-note, one-dimensional bad girl. That allowed me to remain on the show and play all of these different versions of Chelsea. And let’s be honest, soap opera characters have to be flawed, they can’t be angels or it would be so boring. So I love when Chelsea’s done bad stuff, we see her struggle, because I think people can relate to that. You have to have multidimensional characters to keep them interesting, and I’m really grateful that the writers do a great job of keeping Chelsea that way.”
What is the best thing about working with Elizabeth Hendrickson (Chloe)? “Oh, so many things. I just love Lizzie. She’s so much fun and she’s a wonderful actor. We always laugh a lot, and there’s just a real camaraderie there. I adore her and we always have a blast together. I think the Chloe and Chelsea relationship is always well-written, whether Chloe is convincing Chelsea to lie that her baby is Dylan’s or when Chloe tried to kill Chelsea’s husband. They have gone through the gamut of different versions of their relationship — the happy stuff, the funny stuff, the very serious stuff, the forgiveness stuff and the best friend stuff.”
What is the best thing about working with Jason Thompson (Billy)? “Oh, he’s so wonderful. I worked with the other Billys a lot, but I never worked with Jason before. He’s been on the show for a long time but we really never worked together except for a scene here and there. I’ve always known what a great actor he is, ever since his GENERAL HOSPITAL days [as Patrick], so I’m really excited that we get to work together in such an important storyline. He’s an incredible scene partner and we also have a lot of fun so it’s been great.”
What is the best thing about working with Mark Grossman (Adam)? “Mark is a very talented actor and we love running lines over and over and over and over. We’re very similar in that way and he makes a great Adam. I love that Chelsea and Adam have reached this friendship and understanding. It’s a much different version of Adam and Chelsea. They’re not fighting or passionately loving. They can make peace and just care a lot for each other and who knows what can happen again in the future? Chelsea is really, genuinely happy for Adam that he’s having another baby and I think that’s really mature of her. This was the love of her life for a long time, so she’s grown a lot as a person that she can truly be happy and excited for Adam. In 11 ½ years, I’ve never seen Chelsea and Adam like this, so it’s a new thing to explore and experience, and Mark brings so much to it.”
What is the best thing about working with Amelia Heinle (Victoria)? “Oh, my sweet Amelia. My little sunshine! Again, someone who I don’t get to work with enough lately. We have so much fun and I’ve always adored her since day one. She’s my — well, not these days because I’m pregnant — wine-drinking buddy. After work, we’d go out and have wine together and laugh. She always puts a smile on my face.”
What is your favorite storyline? “The [current] mental health story because it dealt with so many issues that people are struggling with in real life and it affected the way the fans reach out to me. I still get messages from moms struggling with children with depression or this happened to their dad or their aunt or their cousin or their brother. Hands down, this has been my favorite story because it hopefully has helped and impacted people.”
What is your favorite scene? “I loved the scene when Chelsea realized Adam was alive and that he had been pretending to be Gabe the whole time. Justin [Hartley, ex-Adam] is one of my best friends and I loved working with him so much. That story was really well-written and so juicy, and the fans lost their minds over that episode. I also really loved the whole episode of Chelsea finding Adam’s wedding ring on Chloe’s wedding day and Chelsea realizing her best friend was behind his death, or when she thought he was dead at the time. That was years of buildup to that one huge moment. And, of course, I was also really moved by the writing with Billy and Chelsea on the roof [during her suicide attempt].”
What is your favorite set? “I loved Chelsea’s penthouse just because so much has gone down. She lived there for the majority of her time in Genoa City, so there are a lot of memories there. I also loved when Chelsea and Chloe had that fashion design studio. These days, I’m digging her apartment over the coffeehouse. It’s so cute and the set designers do such an incredible job, I want them to come decorate my house.”
What is your favorite memory of Billy Miller (ex-Billy)? “Billy is just such a hoot and he’s so much fun and, you know, we’d been friends years prior to Y&R because he played my brother [Richie] on ALL MY CHILDREN [where she played Annie]. We had so much history, we really were like brother and sister. He’s older than me, but I played his older sister. So I always joke that he’s my baby brother. We had so much fun together and he’s just such a good actor.”
What is your favorite memory of Justin Hartley? “Justin is just such a pro and we’ve had so many laughs. He’s such a star and was destined for all the amazing stuff he’s achieved so far and I’m so proud of him. We were lucky to tell such a great story for those years he was on the show.”
What is the best thing about having Daisy Duke, or Catherine Bach (ex-Anita), for a TV mom? “Catherine is just an angel. At our [recent 50th anniversary] party, a couple of my friends were nervous about meeting her because she’s such an icon. I said, ‘She’s so nice. There’s not one ounce of ego. She’s such a love bug.’ And, sure enough, everybody loved her. She’s a caretaker and nurturer and I love her so much. We’re very close outside of work and I feel so grateful that the show introduced us to each other. We’ll be family forever.”
What is your favorite way to learn lines? “I always study the night before on my own and just read the script and study it. Then the day of, running the lines with the other actor is everything. It helps so much just hearing how they’re going to say it, then toss it back to you; it just truly ingrains it in my brain.”
What is your favorite outfit? “There are so many! When Chelsea almost married Billy, when Burgess [Jenkins] was the actor, and Billy left her at the altar. I loved that dress and whole look.”
What is your favorite Daytime Emmy moment? “It’s really funny but the time I won when I didn’t really win [laughs]. I’ve been nominated six times and I’ve never won. Two years ago, there was no Emmy show because of Covid, so we all had to pretape our acceptance speeches. So that was cool because even though I didn’t win, I got to at least experience what it was like to win! Also, I brought my dad the first year I was nominated in 2009. That was really special and I loved having him as my date. My mom’s always like, ‘My turn!’ ”
What is the best thing about breaking into the Outstanding Lead Actress category? “You know, it’s just an honor to be in this medium as a working actor, so no matter what the category is, it’s always just humbling and such an awesome moment to get nominated at all. But yes, being in Lead felt pretty great.”
What is the best thing about being on Y&R? “The people, the cast and crew, are like family. And I love how the fans care about you and your life. When I was candid about, like, my miscarriages and fertility struggles, I got messages from people I’ve never met that cheered me up every time. I have such an amazing job and I’ve been so lucky. Josh [Griffith, executive producer/head writer] has always written amazing things for me and I’m forever indebted to him. Who knows what the future holds for Chelsea? I’m always pushing the evil twin thing on him, but I don’t think it’ll happen any time soon.”
