Why do you think Adam has pinned so much of his identity to Newman Enterprises? “Historically, Adam went out into the world and did his own thing. He made something of himself on Wall Street without using the Newman name, and then he found out that Victor is his father. I think that changed things for him. Adam thinks he’s more qualified to run the family business than his siblings because he’s the most like Victor, and whether Adam wants to admit it or not, he really wants Victor’s respect. Adam thinks that running Newman will win his father’s love and approval.”
Why doesn’t Adam try to heal this rift with his family? “There’s a lot of damage there to repair, maybe too much. Adam has made some attempts before but Nick, Victoria and Nikki have always shut him out of the family. I think Adam wouldn’t mind a cooling-off period with them but it works both ways and they don’t seem at all interested in making peace.”
Is there any part of Adam that believes he killed AJ Montalvo? “Based on all the dishonest stuff Victor has done in the past, Adam wouldn’t put it past his dad to pull something like this, but at the same time, Adam is uneasy that Victor did have a lot of answers for what happened. One way or another, Adam wants to get to the truth.”
There seemed to be a flicker of uneasiness with Chelsea that Victor isn’t lying. Do you think her doubts could cause problems for her and Adam? “I think Chelsea is more nervous about Adam uncovering something that could uproot his whole life. Adam is hoping Chelsea will be on his side, but I’m sure she’s afraid of what this could mean for them.”
Do you think Adam has the potential to become even more volatile and dangerous? “I don’t think he wants that to happen but there’s always that potential. He just wants to know what really happened, and if it turns out to be true that Victor has been protecting Adam all of these years, he’ll have to re-examine everything about his life. Victor covering this up so Adam wouldn’t be emotion- ally crushed would be huge. If that’s the case, it could lead to some kind of reconciliation with them.”
Adam could be emotionally traumatized. What do you think about the challenge of playing that? “I would love to take my character to a very emotional place like that. It sounds so juicy. That would be a really broken Adam for a while. I love those moments where you earn the right to cry.”
Would you like to see Adam stop carrying such a big chip on his shoulder? “That’s a hard question because I love that chip on his shoulder. I do like the ebbs and flows when the chip on his shoulder is not so big, but then resentment creeps in again. Still, there’s always room for evolution because we don’t want to see him brooding all of the time.”
