We have been getting so many letters about your storyline! People are so invested in what’s going on with Kayla, Steve and Justin.
“Wally [Kurth, Justin] and I, and Stephen [Nichols, Steve] also, are three really great friends. From the get-go, Wally was always like, ‘Oh, I’m the underdog in this story. I can already tell.’ I have heard that there’s all kinds of comments. People get so worked up thinking that I have betrayed Stephen or something. I have to do what’s written! But we tried to play it as true to our characters as we can. I told people from the very begin- ning of this story, if they just go along for the ride and don’t get too upset, it’s a great story. If they just hang in there, it’s a great story. But for me, I really had to commit [to the idea] that she believes that Steve basically dumped her so she had to get on with her life. I think that there was good jus- tification for the things that have gone on. They each have their own justifica- tion for pushing the other person away. But more importantly, I think she just always has wanted a calm, good life and it gets away from her often.”
We gave the triangle a Thumbs Up! because it’s been really maturely done, with three protagonists and no bad guy.
“Yeah. I agree. And that’s what Wally and I said from the very beginning, too. We thought, ‘Let’s just play this like adults.’ So often when you are an older character, you know, over teenagers, they will still write it like you’re a teenager. It’s just like, ‘Let’s just play this as adults.’ We talk frankly about, ‘Listen, I know that you loved [Adrienne]’, or, ‘She was the love of your life. I get that.’ So that’s been really nice. I mean, we just kind of played it as adult as we could. Simple; I just wanted to keep it simple. That’s what we tried. There were certain elements that I thought, ‘If she knew this, would she do this?’ But there was no getting out of it. I had to do it!”
Fans really loved the scenes between Kayla and Steve after his Stefano brain chip was removed.
“Thank you. It felt good. We had so much dialogue. It’s hard, especially if you work a lot of days in a row. You have so much memorizing. We shoot a lot in one day. But when you get right down to it, especially the two of us, we sort of just let go of things and try to pay attention to each other and be in the moment with each other, and then it usually works for us. We are such great friends and really love each other. Even now during this time [when the show isn’t in production], we talk a lot. And I think the story will have a nice arc and be satisfying.”
As Kayla has been preparing to walk down the aisle with Justin, do you think she has sensed that Steve is holding something back?
“I think she’s on the edge, always. Like, if there was a glimmer of something dif- ferent, maybe she would change her mind about things, but he doesn’t come forth with that. I tell my husband often and I tell my kids about this, too, about just commu- nicating with your mate. I hate when you ask somebody, ‘What’s the mat- ter?’ and they say, ‘Nothing.’ It’s like, why is it so hard for people just to say the truth and suffer the consequence? That’s like this, too. But he feels really guilty about all the things that he did when he didn’t know who he was. He doesn’t know if he can really trust himself. Because he loves me he’s going to send me on to this other relationship even though it’s torture. If he had been more truthful we maybe could have had a different story…. In the old days, we used to always do scenes where you would face the camera and always show your emotions to the camera. If we were doing those these days it would be a lot of that! But it’s story. And you know what? If you don’t have conflict, you don’t have story, and if you don’t have story, you don’t work. That’s why people get so upset about stories, I think. But you like these actors and you like the characters, so you have to kind of ride the wave without getting upset. You can get upset a little bit, [but] ride the wave. It usually has a good outcome!”
Remarkably, Stephen just celebrated his 35th anniversary on DAYS.
“Yeah, isn’t that crazy? He was there, like, a year before me, I suppose. And you know what’s really interesting, the two of us have been together forever. Let’s say we got married in 1988, which we did, and then here we are 32 years later. He’s been married to his wife for, like, 36 years. I’m going to be married to my husband for 35 in November. I think that’s a Guinness Book of World Records thing for Hollywood. That many years? That doesn’t happen in Hollywood!”
Well, clearly the two of you have a talent for commitment on and off screen!
“That’s it. Both of us agreed that even when we’ve gone onto other shows, we’ve never had the same connection with anyone else. We also have the same work ethic and we like to run it a bunch of times and we like to try and figure out the rhythm of it. We don’t take offense to what the other person says. ‘What do you mean by that?’ We don’t get offended. Some other people would be like, ‘Are you trying to tell me how to act now?’ ‘Well, no, I’m not, actually. Are we a team?’ He and I have never had that, which is I think part of the reason it’s worked so well for so long. A lot of couples that you see that are popular don’t like each other, which is weird, but we’re good friends and that really is helpful.”
