Y&R Exclusive: Courtney Hope On Sally’s Romance With Billy And The Threat Of Phyllis

To hear Hope tell it, Sally wasn’t expecting anything long-term when she and Billy first went from friends to lovers. “Right in the beginning, I don’t think Sally was even thinking about that,” she offers. “She was so in love with Adam and so heartbroken and so devastated and so angry over what happened with him that I think having someone safe in Billy — who, as opposed to Adam, was trustworthy, at least by Sally’s standards [appealed to her].” But the more time they’ve spent together, “Sally is really understanding that they are alike in a lot of ways. Sally and Billy are both headstrong and very logical about things and think things through, but they’re also very passionate. I think over time, it became like, ‘Wow, this could be something.’ It’s not even really like they had a conversation about it; I think they both just moved forward with it, you know? Like, ‘Oh, this feels right. Let’s just keep going.’ ”

But according to Hope, Sally has been caught off-guard by evidence that Billy’s emotional ties to Phyllis may not entirely be dead and buried. “I think Sally is just gathering information about his past [relationships],” she notes. “She knew about Chelsea, obviously, because it was very in her face and she witnessed it, and now there are moments of recognizing how deep his relationship was with Phyllis and what the relationship actually looked like.” That is giving Sally pause, Hope says, “because they are so early on in their relationship, Sally and Billy, that it’s that honeymoon phase — and now, this is where reality is starting to set in. Like, ‘Oh, wow, you do have a past, and this is what it looks like.’ ”

Sally’s own fraught history with Phyllis doesn’t boost her confidence. “Sally has had such a turbulent relationship with Phyllis,” the actress points out. “She thinks everyone can see through Phyllis and that they understand what she’s about, not recognizing that there are people that really do care for Phyllis and can see all those things, but want to be connected to her despite it. All of those things are starting to come into play and Sally’s really starting to see what she’s up against.”

Dating back to her Bold and Beautiful days, it has certainly been a trend for Sally to fall for guys who are still intimately involved in the lives of their exes. “That’s actually something that I’ve really sat with,” Hope shares. “It’s like a ‘fool me once, fool me twice’ type of thing. I feel like she’s constantly had that [struggle], and she’s ultimately always the one who’s left! They always end up with their ex. I think with this Phyllis scenario, it’s a little bit unique because in Sally’s mind, she went, ‘Oh, Billy’s ex is Chelsea, and she’s gone.’ But with Phyllis, I don’t think she saw this coming.

“She’s dealt with this before with Nick,” Hope continues. “But not to this extent. It was like there was no sort of connection [alive between Nick and Phyllis]. He kind of shared Sally’s perspective of, ‘Yeah, well, it’s just Phyllis, and she’s the mother of my kid’ type of thing. But with this Billy situation, I think it’s like, ‘Oh, wow, I thought maybe with this guy [it] would be different, but it’s not. It’s the same.’ So Sally needs to maybe do some therapy on that one [laughs]!”

Having had her heart broken many times before, “For Sally, there are definitely still trust issues,” Hope says. “And that’s where the whole issue with Phyllis can really come in and ruffle Sally’s feathers.”

As for whether Sally believes Billy’s reassurances that she has nothing to worry about on the Phyllis front, Hope opines, “I think Sally wants more than anything to trust him, but her conscience and her history push back on that. It’s like, ‘Okay, I want to believe you,’ but she’s definitely not 100 percent. There’s no way she can be. I think only time could heal that…. but truthfully, I feel like the 100 percent trust meter was shattered a long time ago and it’s probably never coming back. It’s more will at this point, like, ‘I’m going to will myself to trust you as much as I can.’ Not only that — it’s also that she doesn’t trust Phyllis! I definitely think the unsettling feeling also stems from not trusting Phyllis, that Sally doesn’t trust her not to go against Billy’s wishes [to respect his boundaries] when he says, ‘Hey, I’m with Sally.’ ”

All in all, Hope observes, “It’s almost like falling for someone and being afraid of it, almost playing it a bit like one hand is out, pressing away, like, ‘Don’t come too close.’ She’s kind of in protection of herself while still falling for him. That’s something I’ve really loved playing, as well; it’s almost like this feeling of avoidance, of, ‘It’s fine,’ when it’s really not fine, but she wants to pretend that it’s fine because she’s like, ‘I can’t be falling for this person and get hurt again.’ And how do you balance that?”

If Y&R does go the full-blown love triangle route with Sally, Billy and Phyllis, Hope would welcome the opportunity to play a romantic rivalry with Michelle Stafford (Phyllis). “I love working with Michelle,” the actress smiles. “It’s super-fun, and I think she’s fantastic.”

Ice Bucket Challenged: Sally’s past clashes with Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) include this chilly 2021 exchange.