On October 5, real- life new mom Elizabeth Hendrickson returns to Y&R as a very pregnant Chloe. “Nothing is like the way it used to be,” admits the actress. “Everything feels a little weird and eerie, but it was also so refreshing to see people again. I wanted to hug everyone and hang out with my friends in my dressing room but you can’t do that for now. Even though it’s different now, I felt so safe and it just puts you in a better mood when you can see the people you love again, although we don’t have the social freedom like we used to.”
The actress shares that she didn’t bring her daughter, Josephine, born on March 27, to the studio with her due to the COVID-19 protocols. “JoJo didn’t come to work with me because she can’t go into the [CBS Television City] building,” says Hendrickson. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable anyway because it’s too difficult to thoroughly protect a baby … I can’t mask her. The only place she goes into aside from home is to see the pediatrician, and that’s a very small office.”
However, Hendrickson found a way to introduce her daughter to her co-stars on CBS lot. “We were outside and everyone was masked, so it was exciting that she got to meet a bunch of people,” Hendrickson smiles. “Christian [J. LeBlanc, Michael], Sharon [Case, Sharon] and Mishael [Morgan, Amanda] were there, and she even got to meet Tony [Morina, executive producer]. I didn’t really tell anyone I was bringing her, so I’m sure I’ll get some flak from those who didn’t know she was outside. I came when everybody was starting their morning, so I didn’t want to cut into their work day and cause any kind of disturbance.”
The actress says she’s able to give her full attention to her job because JoJo is well taken care of at home when she’s gone. “My husband works from home and is incredible with taking care of her,” she explains. “If I was gone for 12, 14 hours a day, I would have a problem being away from her but I’m only gone for 5, 6 hours total, so if anything, it was nice for me to get out and be ‘normal’. I went back to work after 5 months when it was originally only supposed to be 6 weeks after I gave birth.”
Hendrickson admits she appreciated the additional time to bond with her baby. “I remember when I was pregnant, people asked how long I would be off from work, and after I told them 6 weeks, they would pause and look at me like that wasn’t okay,” Hendrickson recounts. “So when JoJo was, in fact, 6 weeks old, I thought, ‘Wow, I would’ve been back to work at this point,’ and realized what everybody was talking about. I think I would’ve been able to do it, but I would’ve been a mess on the inside.”
Despite experiencing childbirth in real life, Hendrickson says it wasn’t so easy to step back into her character’s shoes. “Chloe is still with child and it’s just like what they say, you forget everything you went through with labor so you’ll want another baby,” she chuckles. “I was reading these [script] notes, ‘Chloe is tired of being pregnant and she really wants this baby to get out’, but I never felt like that, I wanted to be pregnant forever. When I slipped on the pregnancy pad, I put my hand on my belly and said to our wardrobe guy, ‘Oh, I miss this so much.’ If you could’ve made me magically pregnant for my scenes, I would’ve said, ‘Go ahead, do it.’ ”
Hendrickson reports that she had a couple of hiccups getting back into the swing of things in Genoa City. “It was a little more difficult to rehearse because we have to wear masks until we go to tape,” she explains. “That was kind of hard for me, so the first day back was a little bumpy, because it was a lot for my mommy brain to adjust to quickly. Even though this whole coronavirus situation is unfortunate, I feel so thankful to have a job to come back to, when a lot of people don’t. I appreciate so much everything that CBS is doing for us to make it as safe as possible and keep us working.”
