Eric Braeden/Instagram
Halo, There: Bell and Eric Braeden (Victor) joined Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki) for a philanthropic afternoon.
Lauralee Bell (Christine, Y&R) is pleased to have recently joined co-stars Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki), Eric Braeden (Victor), Tracey Bregman (Lauren), Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) and Colleen Zenk (Jordan) to help out at Project Angel Food, a foundation that prepares and delivers free meals to people with health challenges. “We had so much fun and we were all very goal-oriented,” says Bell. “Eric and I were packaging buddies and we took it very seriously. We had our own system when it came down to slapping the labels on the meals as fast as we could. In fact, at the end of the day, I even had a label for ‘ham dinner’ stuck on my shoe.”
Bell learned a lot about not only the good works of the operation but also the human side. “We found out that the people who receive the food, the delivery person is often their only visitor of the whole week,” she explains. “So they get dressed up and they hope that their visitor can talk for even three or four minutes because for many of them, it’s their only in-person contact with someone and that’s really heartbreaking. You just want to hug them all.”
Despite a very busy day of volunteering, Bell experienced some fun moments. “Richard Ayoub is the chief executive officer and after he met with Melody and Eric, I thought he had gone on his way when I heard he wanted to talk to me and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’d be happy to.’ ” she recalls. “He then told me, ‘I just want to tell you a little funny story. Before coming to Project Angel Food, I worked at a local CBS station about 30 some years ago.’ I’m assuming the subject would be about my mom [Y&R co-creator and former talk show host Lee Phillip Bell] but he said, ‘I have actually spoken with your father [Y&R-co-creator and former head writer, the late William J. Bell] before.’ Because Richard would talk to people who would call into the news during a certain period of time.” It turned out that the conversation wasn’t very pleasant because this was during the time when the O.J. Simpson trial had preempted daytime television for months. Bell continues that “Richard got a call from my dad, who said, ‘Get this crap off the TV and put on the damn show! It’s on every channel, we don’t need it on every channel!’ I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry. I actually remember him yelling at some poor soul and it must’ve been you. I’m happy to be here helping you out today because you took one for the team.’ ”
Bell also took advantage of that day with a special photo-op for fans. “A lot of people assume Michelle and I don’t get along because our characters hate each other but, in fact, we love each other,” she shares. “So I posted a picture of us from Angel Food where we’re smiling and I had my arm around her. People said they thought it was ‘visually bizarre’ to see us that way [chuckles]. I think it’s hysterical every time she calls me The Bug on the show.”
