Beth Maitland on Traci’s Doomed Y&R Romance: ‘I Was Absolutely Not Surprised’
The Calm Before The Storm: Beth Maitland (Traci) on the Y&R set with leading man Christopher Cousins (Alan) last year.
What a difference a few months make. Last year, when Young and Restless‘s Traci Abbott fell in love with Alan Laurent, the romantic happiness that had so long eluded her finally seemed within reach — so much so that Digest named the duo as 2024’s Best New Couple. Nowadays, though, it’s just a matter of time before poor Traci puts together the pieces and realizes that her fiancé Alan is the mastermind behind Phyllis and Sharon’s kidnapping. This is sure to come as a shock to Traci, but her portrayer, Beth Maitland, admitted in a new interview that she’d been anticipating an implosion in her character’s picture-perfect relationship from the moment it started.
“I was absolutely not surprised,” Maitland told TV Insider. “I mean, you can’t be happy on daytime very long, or if you are, you’re relegated to go upstairs to wash your hair and never come back.”
She Will Survive
Despite the fact that her character’s dream relationship is about to take a nosedive, Maitland voiced her confidence that Traci will be fine. “The good news is that we start from the perspective that Traci already has a life she loves,” noted Maitland. “She has people that matter to her, she has purpose, and she has a career that she also loves.”
Of course, the many loyal Traci fans in the audience are bracing themselves to see the beloved character’s heart break once again. Maitland conceded this point, telling the outlet, “There’s a huge fan base of women of a certain age, and people who have watched Traci go through all of her four decades of pain, that want her to be happy, and we’re disappointing those people somewhat.”
For Maitland, it wasn’t hard to find the silver lining in the scenario, which is that the plot twist gave her something super-juicy to play. “I long for something to do!” the Daytime Emmy-winner admitted, adding, “Trust me, in the next couple of weeks, you’ll see I make the most of it.”
The actress gave a preview of what will go down after a chat with Sharon prompts Traci to begin connecting the messages on Alan’s phone with Phyllis and Sharon’s abduction. “This is the first time that she is suspicious of him,” revealed Maitland. “And being a writer, she has a very active imagination, sort of like Murder, She Wrote. Things click into place, and something just isn’t right…. Traci is starting to see some warning signs.”
As Traci’s suspicions about her lover mount, Maitland shared, Traci will be sent “into crisis mode, because not only is this late-in-life, absolute surprise of happiness being completely yanked out from under her, it also indicates that there are threats that she feels responsible for, to both Sharon and Phyllis, and to her sister Ashley,” said Maitland. Blaming herself for failing to see Alan’s true colors just makes Traci all the more determined “to put a stop to this and find out what the truth is,” declared the actress.
Maitland noted how grateful she was to play such an instrumental role in this front-burner plot. “It’s definitely a generous story gift to Traci to be able to be a part of unraveling all of this,” she smiled.
How do you feel about Alan turning out to be a nightmare for Traci, rather than a Prince Charming? Let us know in the comments below!
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