Young and Restless’s Zuleyka Silver Opens up About ‘Raw and Sad’ Audra and Nate Scenes (Exclusive)

Just when it looked like Audra had found happiness with Nate on Young and Restless, her various schemes all blew up in her face, and he decided that she hadn’t changed nearly as much as he’d thought. “She’s just trying to save face,” Zuleyka Silver tells Soap Opera Digest of her alter ego. “She’s still lying, but I think she’s starting to realize that’s not going to get her where she wants to get with Nate. She’s not going to get him back that way.”

Coming Clean

In other words, it is dawning on Audra that if she truly wants to win Nate back, she’s going to have to be honest — both with him and with herself. “She was somewhat honest with him at Crimson Lights when she admitted to going after Kyle, and we’re gonna see more of that,” Silver shares, adding that she was really excited about the later scenes where Audra asked Nate for a second chance. “I think it’s the first time we see Audra actually take accountability and actually be honest. It’s the most vulnerable we’ve seen her, and I think it’s the most raw we’re going to see her. And I think that’s huge for Audra, because she’s never done that, I don’t think, in her life, actually.”

Silver hopes that the Y&R viewers enjoyed the scenes, “because Sean [Dominic, Nate] and I had — I don’t want to say a great time … It was great, like, very rewarding as an actor, but they were very raw and sad and everything. So she is going to continue to pursue Nate, and I think she’s realized that again, lying isn’t gonna get her anywhere. So she’s just facing her demons. She’s facing the music.”

The Real Audra

Despite Audra’s constant stream of lies and schemes, she does have a softer side, as viewers saw when she supported Amy during her search for her son and her battle with cancer. “When you’re not used to receiving love in a certain way, you don’t think you’re worthy of it, and you self-sabotage,” Silver notes. “And I think for Audra, all that was very real, everything she had with Amy. I think Nate was able to tap into something that no one else has, where he made her feel safe. But also, him making her feel safe made her feel uncomfortable, given her childhood and how she grew up. She’s not used to that.

“Now that she lost him, she’s realizing all of that,” the actress adds. “And that happens. Sometimes people realize things a little too late. She’s like, ‘Wait, oh my God, I didn’t appreciate him. I actually had something great.’ And I guess it took her losing him for her to see that.”

One thing’s for sure, Audra is not giving up Nate without a fight, and will do whatever it takes to prove her love, even if it means being brutally honest and genuinely opening her heart to the man she loves. “I think she’s like, ‘Wait, I actually have way more feelings for this man than I thought,’ ” Silver says. “She doesn’t really know why he’s so important to her yet, but I think she’s realizing now that he was sort of an anchor to her, and he made her better. But girl, she’s realizing it too late!”

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