Michelle Stafford (Phyllis).
SOAPS AND secrets go hand in hand. Whether it's a "whodunit," a "who's sleeping with whom" or a "who's the baby's daddy" story line, soap operas have a way of keeping their viewers tuned in anticipation of the revelation of a secret.
Well, on The Young and the Restless Phyllis Summers has a secret: She is pregnant, and either Jack Abbott or Nick Newman is the father. It doesn't help things that Nick is married and that Jack has been a total jerk to her.
So, who is the baby's daddy? Michelle Stafford (who plays Phyllis) knows, but she ain't giving anything away. So, who does Phyllis hope is the father? "In a perfect world, she'd wish it were Nick's. But he's married; he's not going to leave Sharon. And she doesn't want him to," Michelle explained.
As far as Jack goes, "Jack is just a jerk. She's not in love with him anymore." And with Jack, there is always the chance that he will try to take the baby away from Phyllis, control freak that he is.
BRAVADO
While Phyllis might seem like a strong
person, Michelle doesn't see her that way. "I don't think she's really strong. She's
seemingly strong, but strong women make stronger decisions; they don't get into compulsions. She has a lot of bravado, but she's pretty weak. That's what's very interesting to play underneath she's damaged, but she's a fighter."
With this baby, perhaps Phyllis will turn over a new leaf? "I think that she's gotten a second chance," Michelle said. "She thought she wasn't able to have kids; now she can. Something good came from a situation that was wrong. For once, she's trying to do the right thing."
The right thing has never been Phyllis' strong suit, to say the least. She burst into town as a groupie-stalker who drugged Danny Romalotti and fooled him into thinking they had had sex, pretended the resulting baby was his and conned him into marrying her. Then she tried to kill Christine ("Cricket") by running her over and ended up severely injuring Paul instead.
PAST CRIMES
People can change, but the ones who live in Genoa City are hellbent on persecuting Phyllis for past crimes. "I think that people are so harsh with other people if we see the same thing within ourselves. Like, I love how it's being written with Sharon: She's had two affairs and then this thing with Brad, and she's going off on her husband (for his fling with Phyllis) but she did the same thing! People persecute people who remind them of the wrong things they do themselves."
Phyllis might be just coming around to the good side, but Michelle has been hanging out there for quite some time. In her free time, she is very active with the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHR.org), a group that is committed to investigating and exposing psychiatric human-rights abuse.
She is helping to combat the flagrant "misuse of psychotropic drugs that are given to people. The 'chemical imbalance' theory is not a fact; it's a theory to sell drugs. And because the drug dealers are doctors, it makes it seem OK. We are not bashing doctors or
the people who go to them for help. We're just asking that you find out the facts for
yourself."
