On The Campaign Trail
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.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Soap Opera Digest does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.