Soap Opera Digest: When did you first start thinking about leaving the show?
Greg Vaughan: I originally started thinking about leaving after the first year I returned to the show, so around 2017. When they let me go [in 2016], they wanted to just sit Eric for a bit. They didn’t know for how long, but they just wanted to take him off canvas. Over the course of those last 13 weeks, they put him in a direction and sent him to prison. And then after, people were disappointed, they weren’t happy. I think because the scenes that they never really delivered on, which was why they brought Eric back on the canvas, was for a reunion of Eric and Nicole. I mean, that has been a long thread of history, a supercouple that never really blossomed.
Digest: You then began filming as Calvin on OWN’s QUEEN SUGAR.
Vaughan: [Then-Co-Executive Producer] Greg Meng and I were talking while I was filming QUEEN SUGAR and he was like, “We really need to get you back. Ron’s [Carlivati, head writer] coming on board.” [Creative Consultant] Sheri Anderson was there. A lot of pieces were coming into play: “Let’s make it right. When can you get here?” But you know, I think because of my career so far, I just take every day one at a time and be thankful for that. You can have a job and then it can be gone the next day. I’ve never become so emotionally attached to a job. So going back to DAYS for a return, a revival of Eric in a different manner, was exciting for me.
Digest: What was your mindset?
Vaughan: I thought that having the ability to share my thoughts, or my take on where Eric should go, with Ron, communication was going to happen. And a lot of things that were said to me or promised to me never came to fruition. I just slowly thought about it at that time. You put your hope and faith in people, and understandably you’re there to do a job. There’s a lot of pressure from every angle. It was about the show. It was about the vision. It was about the renewal. So I kind of played it out. I didn’t want to experience the same thing, having a job and then being fired. I made sure within my contract that I had options to do other things. I was doing one year [contracts] and re-upping if I wanted to. After the first year and nothing really shaping up at midway through my second year, I knew right then that I was not going to continue very much longer. I had two movies in line, I had a Hallmark opportunity and then a recurring for MACGYVER in Atlanta. That would’ve been right when I made my decision when [fiancée] Angie [Harmon] and I were in South Carolina. We were buying this little vacation home together. I didn’t feel like all of the things that were being told to me were being delivered. I felt like a glorified extra in everybody else’s storyline, and I never felt like Ari [Zucker, Nicole] and I were given a, “Hey, you’re going to be our couple.” So, it was time. My deal was over and that was it. They kept trying, right to my very last day, to keep me. [Co-Executive Producer] Albert [Alarr] pulled me aside and said, “Six more months. Give me six more months.” But the shape of the show, the direction of the show was kind of a little bit everywhere. The more and more I started to pull away, the more and more I felt that I wasn’t connected anymore. I didn’t feel that they had their eye on me in any way to grow with me.
Digest: You did win an Emmy as Supporting Actor in 2018. What did that mean to you at the time? Did it make you think twice about the future?
Vaughan: That was a very special time for me in every way. When it got to the actual day of the Emmys, my story was just going nowhere. It was flatlining. You have such good performances with your co-stars and this really heavy material. You have these short moments that last and you try to really capture those moments. It was then and there that it was over and then I had nothing. Accepting the Emmy for the work that I had done eight months prior to that was amazing, but where I was at that time on the show, I was just like a fly on the wall.
Digest: How did Ari react when you told her?
Vaughan: It was so hard because we were so connected. We were so present in every way because we have been friends for 25 years. She supported me. She understood. She was torn in a lot of ways for her reasons for leaving and then coming back. Our time together was great and we made it the best that we could make it when it was given to us. It’s not something that can’t still have magic. We created our magic and we made our thing different.
Digest: You haven’t been there since November 2019.
Vaughan: That is correct.
Digest: Other than your announcement on Steve (Burton, Jason, GH) and Bradford’s (Anderson, Spinelli, GH) podcast, this remained pretty quiet.
Vaughan: I didn’t realize it was going to be coming out as soon as it did. I never want to spoil a surprise for any of the viewers by all means. I wanted them to ride the wave and see Eric and Nicole finally have their nuptials. There’s still a story that’s still being played out. It’s not that it’s over for the character whatsoever. That door is never closed. It was told to me, “This is always your home.” I think the world of Ken Corday [executive producer]. He and his family are just so appreciative of all their cast and their crew. I can’t go without saying how much I appreciate the Corday family. And [Casting Director] Marnie Saitta and how much she is so there for each and every one of us, and her passion for the work. There’s not one person there that doesn’t care about that show. DAYS OF OUR LIVES has probably the most passionate people I’ve ever worked with, that love and care so deeply about their show. I had deep friendships there.
Digest: What was it like when you walked out of the studio for the last time in November?
Vaughan: It was hard. I think it just made me stop and realize that I’m thankful for every day and this is a part of my journey. I’ve been very blessed in my career in many ways. I’m happy to be part of something that will forever be in history. DAYS OF OUR LIVES is a great show, great people, and I love them very much.
Digest: You’ve moved to North Carolina. Will you miss Los Angeles?
Vaughan: I’m a father of three boys and I have found true love again in a woman that fills my heart. I had prayed for this. I was an empty vessel just floating through L.A. and raising children, and I was doing it alone. When my relationship started blossoming with Angie and then when we got engaged, I knew I wanted to get back to my roots of where I came from and what I grew up in. I don’t need to live in L.A. I can live anywhere and be remote. Everything is on tape. There’s so many actors that live across the world and country that commute. I want to plant new roots and start a new beginning.
Digest: A lot of fans have been posting that GH will bring you back as Lucky. Would you return if asked?
Vaughan: [Laughs] When you get an opportunity, it’s something to consider. I can’t answer that 100 percent right now if I would or would not. It would definitely be flattering. Those were some of my most formative years in daytime that really gave me a good foundation that I deeply remember and love.
Digest: Tell me about QUEEN SUGAR. Where does that stand? Calvin is coming back.
Vaughan: Well, I have a deal. I went back for the first episode of season 5, but we were shut down because of the pandemic. We’re just kind of waiting to get back. We have to be safe and go through the precautionary measures and getting tested.
Digest: How have you been doing during the pandemic?
Vaughan: Well, you know, helping provide home and shelter and cooking and cleaning and activities for six children was a difficult time. It was a learning curve for everyone. It put us all in incubation together and kind of fast-tracked our blended families, which was a trial-and-error period and a learning curve. They say in 17 days, you can start a habit or you can break a habit. We got through it. I knew we were the beginning of a true family. I’m very grateful I have these beautiful children in my life and to have this new relationship bud so beautifully and to inherit these three young girls, teenagers, into my life and be present in their life. I never imagined having girls. Now I have three girls, so I doubled my blessing. I have a partner, a friend, a soul mate that just fires me up, just gets me excited about my work. I’ve never had somebody that I could equally communicate my passion for. We push each other in the right way. It’s exciting. It’s a new feeling that I haven’t felt in a long time.
Digest: Any message to the fans?
Vaughan: They’ve been with me through thick and thin through so many roller-coaster rides. I love them. I can’t speak to each and every person, but if I could, I would hug them all and tell them how much I appreciate and love their support over the 20, 25 years that I’ve been doing this.
Digest: Anything else to add?
Vaughan: It was a difficult decision. Ken Corday has been incredibly kind. And Greg Meng was calling me all the time and emailing me, fighting for me. They put up a fight before they finally knew that I was not coming back. So never say never. I love doing it. I’m not quitting. I’m still going to move forward and keep working and open new doors and see what else is out there for me. This is my choice. This is my truth. This is my dream. I love DAYS OF OUR LIVES. I’m glad to be a part of that. I will forever be connected to it, but there’s so much more of me to continue to grow. And my being a father is my No. 1 job. And now I get to be a husband again someday. These are my new priorities right now. The success of my children is an extension of my success. I once asked my grandfather, “How did you become so successful?” He said, “Son, we’re doing it right now.” And I said, “We’re sitting at the dinner table.” He said, “You look down at that end and that’s your grandmother. You see all these people around here? This is my success.” And I can do that now. I’m happy.
