Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
In your opinion, how does Billy like being at Chancellor-Winters?
“He loves being there and representing his mom, Jill Abbott. That feels really good to Billy because it’s a territory that nobody else can claim. ‘I’m here in defense of my mother and her legacy because I get it. I know what legacies are and my mom is an incredible woman and I’m here to support that no matter what.’ ”
Does he have his own agenda?
“One hundred percent, but this is a family company to him, and his attitude is, ‘I’m going to do what I need to do’ and so I think that he’s okay to live in that world as well. And I think that when he finds the honesty in it, and part of that is sharing and admitting, in a storytelling way, of the things that he’s done and, ‘Hey, I get it and this is me showing up right now.’ His ability to show up that way and have the freedom of not having to always have Jack with his thumb over the top of him and freeing himself of the reaction to that is good for Billy. Because he’s susceptible to go back to that place of self-pity and, ‘Jackie never really wanted me to succeed ever anyway.’ He’s still very capable of doing that, so when he took himself out of that equation, he’s got this certain sense of purpose again.”
That’s an interesting perspective because on the surface it seems like Billy is on an ego trip at C-W but you’re saying it goes deeper than that.
“I think it goes back to that ownership of it almost. [At C-W] it’s like, ‘Look, man, I’ve done this, I’ve done that [in the past] but I’m here right now.’ What I also think with Billy is that he really does believe that he has learned from a lot of his mistakes. He’s learned from being at Jabot. He’s been the co-CEO, he’s been the COO and he’s learned from all of that kind of stuff. I see Billy as someone who is a self-processing kind of guy but he also has this innocent kind of immaturity to a certain extent. He wants to still have a good time and get a little bit loose. And so I like that kind of stuff about him as well, but I do believe that he does look at [C-W] as a new opportunity for him to really take ownership of all the things that he’s been through in his life and to take stock of it in a certain way. It could always change, but that’s how I see that a lot of the time. And then you’ve got Lily coming back and this dynamic with Devon and Billy seems like, ‘Look, I see it. You’re not going to ever like me. We don’t see this business thing the same way.’ I think Billy is sincere when he says he wants to come at this as a collaboration, but there are certain people he trusts, and there are certain people he doesn’t trust.”
It seems that the biggest bone of contention was his request to add “Abbott” to the company name.
“Billy’s [stance] is, ‘I’m not here to take away anything, but I do believe that my mom’s name should be on this company. She owns half, she’s built it, and blah, blah, blah.’ He really believes that. Okay, [asking] didn’t work, ‘Well, then we’re going to do it another way, but I’m not giving up on the fact that I’m here to represent my mother’s best interest and her legacy across the board.’ And so when he has that kind of belief, he can do anything, because he’s got a purpose in his life. Now, he’s here to do a job and the job is to protect his mother’s legacy.”
Do you think he’d tear down C-W if he doesn’t get his way?
“No. He really wants this company to succeed. I really believe that. He wants his team to succeed and he knows how to do it. He’s not afraid to —quote, unquote — cut the fat. He has a vision for what [C-W] could be but he also wants to make it an even and fair democracy to a certain extent. And again, it changes, because you’ve got Chance coming in and Billy’s also okay with saying, ‘This is the way business goes and you’re going to learn that.’ It doesn’t mean it’s always incense and peppermint, there’s some things that need to be done. There’s some hard decisions that need to be made and some of them may feel like they’re always above board, but when you’ve got a mission, you got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Are you holding out hope that Billy and Devon can become effective colleagues?
“It’s interesting with the Devon and Billy stuff, Billy is there to fight for his mom, and he’s not backing down. He has no shame of the space that he’s taking up in C-W and Devon isn’t backing down either. It gives the characters the freedom to own that space, so you’re going to say whatever you need to say, to own it. I’ve always wanted to work with Bryton and it’s been really fun and even though they’re not working well together by any means right now, it’s still really great because he’s fantastic. There’s a reason why Bryton is Bryton and awarded as he is [with two Daytime Emmys], and I love working with him. It’s been a fun storyline across the board. There’s a lot of mixing but it feels like it’s all kind of coming together in a way. I like the idea of taking all of that kind of stuff and living with it and not just going from relationship to relationship and everything is different. They all kind of coincide and I think we’re at our best when you have that collective kind of energy running through the show like that.”
With Lily back, things should get interesting in the workplace for her and Billy. They’ve worked together before but they fell in love and now this is a whole different dynamic. While she was gone helping her daughter to cope with tragedy, Billy started working at C-W and now she and Daniel have just broken up. What do you think their office vibe will be like?
“I love the idea of her coming back with all of that to play. She’s a little bit different now, so their relationship is automatically just a little bit different. It has to be because what is happening to her, and Billy is in a different position right now. Billy is like, ‘I’m here to do what I need to do as well.’ Yes, there’s a history there but we ended on interesting terms, and there’s still a lot of love there in a way. But Billy didn’t hurt Lily the way that Daniel just had, so she’s coming back into a different situation and the characters are in a different place than they have been in a while as well, so, yeah, it’s good. I think it’s really evolving in a fun spot so it’s a good place for them to be right now.”
