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Interview

ICYMI: Billy Flynn Interview

How Billy Flynn (Chad) changed for the better in between DAYS stints

Looking back at being written off of DAYS in 2018, when Chad and Abigail remarried and were sent off to Paris, Billy Flynn now realizes it was a blessing. “It was a nice, needed break for my sanity, and emotionally and all that,” he reflects. “In a sense, I’d lived more as Chad DiMera than I had as me for four years. I came into the show and was kind of thrust into this main storyline and was shooting so much material. I think I was shooting 190 episodes a year. That took a bit of a toll. I just stopped taking care of myself.

“I don’t cope with things well,” Flynn continues. “I think I was really stressed out and I was kind of living in a lot of fear. I was worried, ‘Are they going to write me off? What’s going to happen? Is my work good? I didn’t get that take right. What do the fans think about the character and the story?’ This was my first job. I didn’t have a lot of experience with that kind of stuff and it really took its toll on me, mentally.”

On top of acclimating to the daytime world, Flynn’s personal life was undergoing major changes. “I lost somebody really close to me, my great-grandmother, two weeks before my wedding,” he confides. “And I just never really got a chance to grieve. I was dealing with things in a lot of unhealthy ways. I was drinking too much and that was affecting my work…. I was dealing with depression. I was coping with things [in ways] that weren’t healthy for me and it was taking a toll on my life.”

Once pushed out the DAYS door, Flynn was free and able to redirect. “I spent a lot of time with my wife. I relaxed. I got back in the gym and got back in shape,” he rattles off. “I was able to kind of process. I made the changes that I needed to make. It was nice to have that time to realign, focus, figure out what’s important in my life, and what I wanted to do with my career.”

Subsequently, the actor was properly poised to resume his role as Chad DiMera when he was asked to rejoin the soap soon after he last aired in 2019. “I kind of had my wits about me again after four years of multiple personalities and brainwashings and all the craziness that happens on DAYS,” delivers Flynn with a laugh. “Coming back felt like a choice, but my choice, as opposed to something I had to do for money or I had to do for ego or anything else. It was, ‘Okay, let me try this again and see what it’s like now that I have had time to step back and I’m not using things in unhealthy ways to cope any more. I’ve kind of grown as a person and now let me see what it’s like to step back into those shoes and that environment and see what it’s like to handle all that.’ ”

What’s Flynn’s assessment, so far? “It’s been a great experience,” he contends. “I’m having a blast. I don’t have the pressure that I had before. I’m still trying to do the best work I can, but I understand that there are limits. Before, I was trying to micromanage so many different things — the writing and my story. Now I’m just there to tell their story, in a sense, and that’s it. It takes a lot of the pressure off of myself as far as, ‘Well, this doesn’t make sense or that doesn’t make sense.’ Really, that’s all out of my hands … I know what I’m doing and I know what my purpose is. If I can’t control something, I don’t worry about it. I worry about the things I can control.”

Like making sure he stays true to the complex Chad. It’s a character Flynn believes is a tad different this time around. “He’s evolved,  in a sense, as much as I’ve evolved,” explains the actor. “What I mean by that is I take a different approach to how I handle things. It’s a more mature take. You’ll see a more present and centered Billy, so I think Chad will reflect a little bit of the same.”

That new-and-improved Chad will continue to thrive as part of the show’s popular Chad and Abigail supercouple thanks, in large part, to the special bond Flynn has with leading lady Kate Mansi (Abigail). “It’s always easy. It’s never hard,” says Flynn, referring to their connection. “I tested with her years ago, so we have all that history together. Kate and I have always had great chemistry. On-screen, it’s always … I won’t say fireworks but, you know. This time was no different. It was nice to see her, and it was really fun to find out where Chad and Abigail were in their life together.”

Behind the scenes, Flynn’s been happy reconnecting with many of his DAYS co-stars. “I love Thaao [Penghlis, Tony]. It’s been a real pleasure to see him,” notes Flynn. “Galen [Gering, Rafe] is always great to work with. I’ve grown to have a really good friendship with Lamon [Archey, Eli]. I’ve always been tight with Rob [Scott Wilson, Ben]. Sal [Stowers, Lani] is awesome. Camila [Banus, Gabi] and I get along really well. And Kristian Alfonso [Hope] and I talked a lot while I was out, all through that year I was going through what I was going through.

“The way I was handling myself and behaving before, I’m sure I wasn’t a pleasure to be around,” he admits. “It was nice to go back and rebuild relationships that I had with people … reconnect and have them see the difference [in me].”

The time and effort Flynn put into revamping himself during his break from DAYS has been well worth it. “I found a healthy way to live. I found some peace and kind of happiness again,” he says. “It was the first time since [my wife and I] got married that we got to focus on each other. We moved, we ended up finding a new apartment. We needed a bigger place and wanted a new start.”

The couple has even begun contemplating starting a family. “My wife and I have been talking about it for a bit,” reveals Flynn. “I think we’re maybe going to go for it in the new year. I love being around kids. I love my friends’ children. And one of my brothers has a kid now, which is crazy. My younger brother T.J. has a son named Liam, short for William. It was a pretty great honor to have my nephew named after me.” Flynn already has some practice playing a dad on daytime. “I’ve always loved hanging out with the little ones that come in. We’ve had a couple and they’re adorable,” notes Flynn, adding that he enjoys sharing screen time with them, too. “They’re really kind of special and always fun to work with. It’s impossible to lie when you’re working with them. Hopefully, they can bring out people’s best. Also, they’re probably the closest thing to my maturity level at some points,” he adds with a laugh.

Just The Facts

Birthday: May 29

Birthplace:
Minneapolis, MN

Dynamic Duo: Flynn wed Gina Comparetto on October 1, 2016.

TV Time: “My wife and I love FLEABAG on Amazon. It’s done really well, very well-written and hilarious. We also love THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, and we watch a lot of THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF.”

The Director’s Chair: “Kate [Mansi, Abigail] directed episode 4 of [‘Chad & Abby in Paris’], and I actually directed episode 5. We both directed parts if we weren’t in the scene. It was a lot of fun. I got to learn about the technical side of things of what we do. It gave me a different kind of appreciation for everything and it was a great learning experience. Greg [Meng, co-executive producer] offered me the opportunity because he knew it was something I wanted to do. It was a great incentive to do the app series.”

Sweater Boy: “I have a lot of cardigans. I like them. I love fall weather so I have a lot of sweaters and cardigans.”

Friends, Indeed: “Marci [Miller, ex-Abigail] was my homie and a good friend. We talk quite a bit. We keep in touch. I saw her a couple of weeks ago. My wife and I had dinner with her and her husband and a group of others.”

 

Keeping Busy

Aside from acting and debuting as a director on the DAYS app, Flynn’s been devoting a lot of his time to writing. In fact, he co-wrote a film called Willowbrook with his friend Tyson Sullivan, an actor he met while shooting the movie Dead on Arrival a couple of years ago.

“It’s a really beautiful story,” describes Flynn, who also stars in the project with his wife, Gina, and Sullivan. “It’s an indie sort of film, like The Place Beyond the Pines and Manchester by the Sea. It has that tone. It’s about people and the kind of story that I love to watch, a more character-driven journey film.

“We have the producer and a couple of people lined up,” adds Flynn. “It was supposed to shoot last winter. Then it got pushed because we kind of missed the timeline to shoot it with everybody. So it got pushed to this winter. We’ll be shooting it in February or March, I believe.”

Before the film starts production, Flynn’s set to take the stage in another project. He’s appearing in the play Disposable Necessities. “It starts December 14 and runs for eight weeks at Rogue Machine Theatre in Venice, CA,” says Flynn. “It’s a really great play and  it’s got a great cast.”

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