Young and Restless’s Camryn Grimes on Mariah Confronting Her Trauma in ‘Heavy’ and ‘Intense’ Scenes (EXCL)
Mariah was stunned to enter a room at the mental health clinic and see Ian Ward on Young and Restless, and portrayer Camryn Grimes tells Soap Opera Digest that even though her character knows he’s not real, it’s still rather concerning to see him again. “Mariah is pretty wrapped up in the process of the work that she’s doing at the facility, and she’s trying to utilize those tools to get better,” the actress explains. “I think the fear is that she’s gotten worse at that moment. And I think maybe some of the rationalization for her is like, ‘Oh, maybe this is a depth that I have to go to. I have to get to the root of it, and this is just the manifestation of that.’ But yeah, I think if I were seeing people that weren’t there, I’d be a little concerned!”
The Devil Inside
The subsequent scenes between Mariah and Ian are long overdue, as she finally confronts the issues that have caused so much trauma in her life. “Prior to Ian coming back to Genoa City, Mariah was living a very happy life,” Grimes says. “But you’re never able to predict when something’s going to happen in anyone’s life where you might have to sort of re-review things. So I think in the simplest form, everyone can relate to that.”
Of course, Y&R being a soap, Mariah’s past trauma is a particularly dramatic cluster of events that includes Ian having stolen her from Sharon at birth to raise the girl in a cult so that he could send her back into her mother’s life to upend it. Not to mention, the psycho also kidnapped Mariah, drugged her, and put her in a wedding dress so they could be married!
“Even though Mariah thought she had moved on, there are definitely things that can set you back and put you back in a place of trauma,” Grimes points out. “And I think these scenes kind of deal with some things that she thought she had left behind, but are re-triggered and brought to the surface. So they get really heavy and they get intense and they get very fraught with all of the past trauma she’s been through and the person who she holds responsible for all of that.”
Looking Inward
Given that Ian is just a creation of her own mind, confronting him means that Mariah is really confronting herself, in a way. “For Mariah, there isn’t a lack of self-awareness, I would say, and there’s a deep desire to get better,” Grimes notes. “So while Ian is sitting there, and he’s the reason that all of these things happened and she had the sort of past that she did, Mariah also understands and recognizes that she has been culpable. It can’t solely be put on him, and she has to reckon with her responses to the life that she lived and the consequences of that and where she’s responsible.”
While Ian’s actions may have set all of this in motion, he’s presumed dead, so it’s up to Mariah to face him in her own mind as a way of trying to fix herself. “There’s a phrase that’s something like, ‘The person who hurts you can’t be the person that heals you,’ ” Grimes muses. “It’s something to that effect, and I think that’s very true and very poignant in this moment for her. She’s taking all of the steps to fix this and make this right, but she’s just so engrossed in the past and this question of, ‘If I’ve done these things, who am I, really?’ ”
The actress also thinks that — soapy twists like kidnapping and cults aside — the basic emotions in this storyline are relatable to everyone. Grimes shares, “I mean, I know personally in my life, sometimes you’re walking along and you think you’re fine and you just have an experience that makes you kind of go back over things and be like, ‘Whoa. Okay, maybe I need a second look at this, or a third look, or a fourth look.’ ”
Working With the Enemy
While Mariah may not have been pleased to see Ian, Grimes was thrilled to once again share scenes with the actor who plays him, Ray Wise. “I mean, he’s an icon and a legend,” she enthuses. “And, for me, as much fun as we have playing these roles and opposite each other, especially with scenes like these, I just enjoy talking to him off-screen as well. Especially at this time in our industry, to look at somebody who is probably one of the best examples of a journeyman actor that we have, and to kind of just pick his brain of like, ‘Man, you’ve never stopped and you’re not gonna.’ I think any actor, most actors, want that, and I want that for myself. It’s lovely to see and something I greatly look up to.”
The actress also admits that playing Mariah’s terrified reactions to Ian is definitely assisted by her talented co-star. “He’s so good at playing bad that it’s very easy in the moment,” she praises. “It’s not hard to be fearful. It’s not hard to be kind of struck by the enigmatic presence in front of you. And that’s important, because I think Ian is sort of this iconic bad guy on the canvas. So any time I’ve gotten to work with him, I just count it as a feather in my cap as far as my career.”
A Time to Heal
Fans are hopeful that this confrontation between Mariah and “Ian” will finally be the start of the beleaguered heroine’s healing, and so is the character’s portrayer. “It’s been almost a year now of coming in every couple months and just bawling my eyes out,” Grimes says with a chuckle. “I am very happy that they trust me to do so. I mean, any soap actor will tell you that, although I’m sure the audience wants to see all of their favorite characters happy and thriving, it’s more interesting when we’re not.”
As Grimes sees it, “It is more interesting for the actor to have something going on. And if that requires me to come into work and just leave completely and thoroughly exhausted from, you know, emotional upheaval and crying, I am happy to do it. It feels sort of like cracking your back after a while. If you’ve been happy for a while, and then you get a chance to emote, it just kind of feels like this nice release. So I enjoy it.”
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