You briefly shared scenes with Veronica Redd when Mamie was visiting Genoa City last March and it didn’t go too well with those characters. Jill basically wanted to put the past behind them but Mamie pooh-poohed that overture. “I know! Jill went out of her way to be kind to this woman and it got thrown back in her face, which was very irritating. Mamie has always irritated Jill so much, but Jill did make an attempt for peace so she can’t be blamed for how Mamie is acting now.”
Mamie always saw right though Jill, so we understand Ms. Johnson’s attitude, but why do you think Jill dislikes Mamie so much? “It’s Mamie’s arrogance and how much she enjoyed stepping on Jill’s toes all of these years. Mamie was always judging Jill, who in turn just hated the influence Mamie had with John. When Jill was married to him, she never felt welcome in her own home, and as far as she’s concerned, that disrespect is continuing because Mamie bought into Chancellor-Winters without letting Jill know. That really made her angry.”
What does it mean to you to have more meaty material with Veronica? “I adore working with Veronica, I always have. I remember doing a scene with her way back in the years gone by and I thought, ‘Jill hates this woman more than she ever hated Katherine.’ And I thought it was probably because Katherine and Jill were fighting over Phillip, even though I wasn’t playing Jill at that time. But Mamie acted so frigging superior, and that just really rubbed Jill the wrong way. There is a different flavor to the antagonism between those three women. You know what I mean?”
Don’t you think it’s also because Jill knew Katherine’s weaknesses, like her alcoholism from the very beginning, but that wasn’t the case with Mamie? “You’re right. I never realized that, so thank you for letting me see that. Jill saw Katherine at her lowest while Mamie didn’t have any weaknesses that Jill could exploit. Mamie was always so damn sanctimonious and holier-than-thou and that always pissed Jill off. Mamie still knows how to really push Jill’s buttons.”
Most important, this is going to be a storyline in which we get to see more of you as it plays out. “Yes, thank you. I’ll be coming down a lot more from [my home in] Oregon in October and November. It’s so nice. I love all of the [Y&R] actors. I just got a text from Eileen [Davidson, Ashley] saying that she’s thinking of me. I’m just really excited to work with all of these people who I love so much, and I now have such a deep storyline with almost all of them, like Christel [Khalil, Lily], Bryton [James, Devon], Amelia [Heinle, Victoria] and of course Veronica. But not so much with Sean [Dominic, Nate], which makes sense because Jill is still really ticked off at Nate.”
Is there any situation that could compel Jill and Mamie to finally make peace? “No. Just … no. I don’t see that ever happening.”
