Y&R Exclusive: Michelle Stafford On Why Phyllis ‘Wants Answers’ From Sharon
Defending Your Life: Sharon (Sharon Case, l.) will have a hard time convincing Phyllis (Michelle Stafford) that she deserves to be a free woman.
‘Twas the night before Christmas in Genoa City and a creature was most definitely stirring on Young and Restless: Phyllis, in a lather over Sharon possibly not going down for the crime of killing Heather, decided to show up on her rival’s doorstep to confront her. Phyllis’s portrayer, Michelle Stafford, spoke with Soap Opera Digest about why Phyllis is so hell-bent on leaving coal in Sharon’s stocking.
Rival Territory
First and foremost, the actress points out that Phyllis is motivated by a desire to protect her son, Daniel, who was wrongfully accused of the crime of killing Heather, to which Sharon subsequently confessed. As a result, the pleas of her friends and family to stay out of things aren’t terribly convincing. Exclaims the actress, “Listen, if somebody had admitted to killing the partner of my kid, and all my friends were going, ‘Michelle, stay out of it,’ I doubt I would. I doubt any mom would!” Further complicating the matter is that there is a whole lot of water under the bridge between the two women, dating back long before their current turmoil. Says Stafford, “There’s so much history there that does jack Phyllis up — understandably, in my opinion.”
In Stafford’s view, Phyllis is seeking answers more than she is looking for a chance to stick it to her rival. “She’s trying to get clarification, really. I think it’s just so baffling to her that she’s trying to understand, ‘How did you get out of this [so that you get to spend the holidays at home]? You’ve admitted to it!’ And at that point, they’re saying that she was drugged and that she wasn’t in her right mind, and I think Phyllis is like, ‘Oh, God, this defense again?’ Like, “How many times does Sharon get a free pass because she’s not in her ‘right’ mind?” It’s just really, really upsetting to her.”
The actress can understand why Phyllis is up in arms at the thought that justice won’t be served. “I have a friend whose son was killed by a hit-and-run driver, and I kind of channel my friend in this,” she shares. “The hit-and-run driver already had so many DUIs, had been arrested so many times, and the hit-and-run driver and his friends worked really hard to hide [his crime]…. It’s a really gross story. Her son is dead, and it’s so unjust. I know there are people out there who have experienced things like this, where you just feel, ‘It’s so unjust.’ I think there are a lot of people out there who have been served no justice for a family member or a friend who died.”
That people in Phyllis’s orbit are encouraging her to stand down are only adding fuel to her fire, in Stafford’s view. “Her best friends telling her to chill out is not going well for her,” she says. “Phyllis has an issue with her best friend [Michael] going, ‘Phyllis, you’re overreacting,’ and her ex-husband [Nick] going, ‘Phyllis, you’re horrible.’ I think that’s what she is reacting to so harshly.” Not to mention how stung she felt by Michael agreeing to represent Sharon in the first place. Marvels Stafford, “That Michael actually took the case is astounding to Phyllis. Like, ‘How could he do that?!’ I think that Phyllis can’t even wrap her head around that.”
Because of the disconnect Phyllis is feeling with both Nick and Michael, Phyllis feels that “nobody is understanding her side of it,” Stafford asserts. “She’s really coming from a genuine place. I’m really playing it like, ‘Oh, my God, a woman was murdered, and doesn’t anybody care about me and my family?’ I think that’s really where Phyllis is coming from, you know? Like, ‘Wow, do you realize that this totally ruined my son’s [Daniel] life and his daughter’s [Lucy] life?’ She’s really coming from a genuine place. It’s not like Phyllis is going to go rough Sharon up! She’s just going over there for answers. Phyllis just wants answers and I think the main thing that’s upsetting her right now is that she feels like she doesn’t have any empathy from the people who should be understanding.”
It is not lost on Phyllis that Sharon gets to enjoy the holidays in the bosom of her family while her own son and granddaughter are having a much more somber Christmastime as they navigate their first holiday season without Heather. “That was a very interesting juxtaposition,” Stafford observes. “Sharon’s with Mariah and Tessa and Nick and Faith and they’re all singing and they’re all like, ‘Yay!’ And it cuts to Phyllis and Daniel and Lucy and they’re all very sad. And [Phyllis] is reacting to that, for sure — and she says it a lot! I think it was in every script that I was given at that time: “How is it that you get to walk around this town [free], and my son is walking around this town with so much pain!’ ”
And even though the Monday, December 23 show ended with Sharon blurting out that she didn’t kill Heather — someone else did — it doesn’t seem likely that Phyllis will take this claim at face value — or that it would move her Sharon-related needle even if she did buy that Sharon is innocent of the murder. “I don’t think there’s anything that Sharon could say to Phyllis to make it right,” Stafford sighs, citing, “Only because of the framing, you know? Phyllis could understand [if Sharon isn’t Heather’s killer]. If it’s not Sharon, it’s not Sharon! She would understand that. But the framing [of Daniel] and the putting bloody towels in the room — ‘Oh, I wasn’t in my right mind when I did that,’ I just think Phyllis wouldn’t care, given the history between Sharon and Phyllis. [She would see it as] yet another thing that Sharon has done to her family. And you know, Phyllis is ultra, ultra protective — a lioness when it comes to her kids.”
Behind the scenes, Stafford is relishing the chance to further mine the richly conflicted relationship between Sharon and Phyllis. “I think there’s a lot of realistic emotions between the two of them. I think with all of Phyllis’s rivals, it’s based on something very concrete, and I think there are a lot of different aspects of Sharon and Phyllis that tweaks people watching. I think people really do either identify with Sharon or identify with Phyllis in the relationship, so it affects people in an emotional way.”
Conversation
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