Already have an account?
Get back to the

Interview

Quick Take With Peter Bergman

How do you view Jack’s reconnection with Diane? “He’s now in the middle of a growing relationship with somebody who Jack was attracted to a lifetime ago. And she comes from the world that Jack comes from. Her dad was a very successful businessman. Her dad was part of the club. Her dad was somebody Jack knew. Here he is with Diane Jenkins again? It’s a pretty wild thing. There’s also this extra element involved, because divorce is just so tough on children, no matter how old they are, and so way back when, when Jack found out about Kyle and thought, ‘Maybe we could make this work,’ and it didn’t work, Jack thought, ‘God, I have just screwed Kyle over for life. My mother walked away from me when I was a kid and here I am, I have no part of this boy’s life.’ And in Diane, there is some opportunity for redemption there, to put it all back together. To build a family. ‘This is my son, this is his mother.’ That hits Jack on a very deep level.”

We’ve gotten a lot of letters wondering how Jack and could he reunite with Diane after everything she’s done, and suggesting she pulling the wool over his eyes. Would you agree with that? “Jack doesn’t see what everyone else sees in Diane. Jack sees some redemption there. Jack sees somebody who screwed up a long time ago and wants to set her life right. And Jack spent a lifetime doing the same thing. Jack came to forgive his mother for walking out when he was 13, his sister was 11 and his other sister was eight. Who does that? It was a lot to forgive, and Jack found a way to forgive that. And Diane is looking for the same kind of forgiveness. That forgiveness, for Jack, opened up his life. He had such a grudge against that woman [Dina] for a lifetime, and letting go of that changed Jack Abbott. Diane’s looking for that kind of understanding, that kind of forgiveness that people change. Anyway, it’s fun to play.”

Comments