The Young & the Restless Exclusive: Roger Howarth Breaks His Silence on Matt Clark’s Amnesia
When Roger Howarth returned to The Young and the Restless after a few months away, he was excited to sink his teeth back into the role of diabolical Matt Clark. But the show had a surprise in store for him: the villain was knocked in the head by Sienna (Tamara Braun) and rendered amnesiac! Now, he’s playing a brand-new version of the villainous character and interacting with some different citizens of Genoa City. “I’m thrilled!” the actor says.
Forget Me Not
Howarth is particularly intrigued by the philosophical questions Matt’s memory wipeout brings to the fore. “I think this can allow us to figure out different parts of who Matt really is,” he muses, “and the nature of behavior and how people interact and the nature of his history. This raises some pretty large questions about whether forgiveness is really something that is possible. And how can someone forgive themselves? What is it like for somebody who is a horrible person to be confronted with their own horrible self? And Matt, when confronted with his past, has a lot to figure out.”
Notes the actor, “There is no question in my mind that he’s still Matt. I don’t think he’s stopped being Matt; he’s just stopped being a person who has remembered. I have had a little bit of experience with people whose memories have faded or as fading and they’re still intrinsically themselves. So for, as the actor playing him, it becomes a question of identity, on a deeper level, of, ‘Who is Matt, really?’ We are all a product of our behavior, right?”
The actor doesn’t know if or when Matt’s memories will come flooding back, but he’s certainly enjoying bringing this modified Matt to life. “I think it’s a great story and I couldn’t be more excited,” he says. “I think what they’re doing with it is really cool and I’m having a lot of fun bouncing off of people like Michelle Stafford [Phyllis] and Stacy Haiduk [Patty],” both new faces in Matt’s storyline.
While some things have certainly changed for Matt since his identity crisis began — it stands to reason, for example, that he won’t be quite as fixated on destroying the Newmans now that he doesn’t remember his beef with them! — some things are very much the same. “We’re all a product of our behavior, right?” the Y&R star winks. “He’s still rude, he’s still self-centered, he’s still smart, he’s still funny — he just doesn’t remember his past!”
Conversation
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