Y&R/Days: TV Guide Interview with Eileen Davidson

ademption · December 5, 2006

Young and the Restless Star Eileen Davidson: "Why I Was Fired"

Fans of CBS's The Young and the Restless are bummed that Eileen Davidson is leaving her role as Ashley Abbott in January. Back in 1982, the glamazon began playing Ashley, a beauty-industry heiress who concocts perfumes. She stayed until 1989, then went on to NBC's Santa Barbara and Days of our Lives, and returned to Restless in '99. Now she's just been axed. "The show has been going through a lot of change in the past couple of years," Davidson says. "I've seen the writing on the wall for awhile." Here the popular soap star dishes on the current state of her suds career and what's next for her!

TVGuide.com: So Y&R has let you go?

Eileen Davidson: Right. Well, my contract's up, so I guess they're not picking up my option. But as far as I'm concerned, I got fired!

TVGuide.com: That's basically what not exercising an actor's option means.

Davidson: That's kind of what it is. People are like, "Oh no, you didn't [get fired]." I'm like, "Yeah, I did." Things change. The show has been going through a lot of change in the past couple of years. I've seen the writing on the wall for awhile. I wasn't shocked or blindsided, but it was kind of freaky.

TVGuide.com: How did you know this was coming?

Davidson: I figured somebody would either take Ashley and revamp her — 'cause she's been in a rut — or I would get fired. I knew that was pretty much it. I wasn't just going to sit there working and not doing much except be Jack's flunky. It didn't make any sense [for the show] to keep me, just to do that. Since I wasn't being written for, I knew I would be written out.

TVGuide.com: Where did you feel Ashley fell off track?

Davidson: It happened about two-and-a-half to three years ago. Ashley started doing things that were completely uncharacteristic.

TVGuide.com: Like when Ash stole Victor's frozen sperm to secretly have their daughter, Abby?Davidson: Actually, that never bothered me as much as it did other people. I understood the rationale for that. Granted, maybe Ashley wouldn't have stolen someone's sperm, but with the story arc that I think [Y&R's former headwriter] Kay Alden had in mind, it would have made sense over time, had it played out. But there's been a shift in writers, so it stopped abruptly and we were taken in another direction. It happens, but that hadn't happened on our show before. There had always been continuity because of the vision of [Y&R's late co-creator, William J. Bell]. show. As soon as you change writers, you change the vision and it becomes anybody's ball game.

TVGuide.com: So true. Happens all the time on other soaps.

Davidson: I don't feel any kind of bitterness or anger about it. It's just a fact. Nobody's trying to make the show fail. They're just trying to create the best show they can. You might like some of what they have done, and you might not like other stuff. I think Ashley suffered. I don't think other characters have, but Ashley did.

TVGuide.com: If you didn't mind the stolen sperm thing, where did you feel your character went astray?

Davidson: Although I loved working with Roscoe Born, I had a problem with Ashley planting drugs on Tom Fisher. I also didn't like Ashley losing her mind just long enough to think Victor was falling love with her, then being rebuffed by him and yet still pining for him. It was just weird. I also wasn't crazy about Brad's character sleeping with Olivia when Ashley had breast cancer. It was an icky way to finish that lovely storyline about breast cancer.

TVGuide.com: As I recall, Brad and Olivia didn't exactly have sex, but they came darn close. It was tough to buy that a good gal like Olivia — who was Ashley's best friend and doctor — would betray her like that.

Davidson: Right. And Brad loved Ashley. He had been supportive during the whole thing. Then it was, "Oh no, we're going in a completely different direction."

TVGuide.com: Yes, Brad and Olivia's betrayal of Ashley really took away from the integrity of all the characters involved.

Davidson: And we all had to live with that. Tonya Lee Williams (Olivia) is not on the show any longer. Ashley took the brunt of that. She was stuck with this stigma where the guy is always dumping her. It was Victor, Brad and then Paul. No way! [Laughs] A few months ago, [Y&R exec producer and headwriter] Lynn Latham was going to put me in this triangle with Jill and Will. I love Jess Walton, and Ted Shackleford is fabulous. But I told Lynn, "I feel a lose-lose situation coming on here. If Ashley loses out, this will be the fourth time she's been dumped in two years. And if I end up stealing him from Jill, people will hate me. I'm not sure I'm comfortable going in this direction." So I might have sealed my own fate!

TVGuide.com: You really think so?

Davidson: Yeah. I have more of an overview with my character than anybody does. I saw, "Danger! Danger!" I just felt Ashley's dignity and integrity were lacking. I felt like I was always trying to keep Ashley's head above water. For example, I called the show and asked why Ashley would go visit Victor in the hospital when he told her it makes his wife jealous. Nikki didn't want me there. Why is Ashley there?!

TVGuide.com: It's true. Ashley is a woman who carries herself with dignity. She wouldn't be pushy and intrusive.

Davidson: No! If she's not wanted, she wouldn't embarrass herself. That's Gloria, not Ashley.

TVGuide.com: Speaking of Gloria, you and Judith Chapman are fun to watch. I really believe you can't stand each other!

Davidson: Whenever I see Judith on the set, I say, "I hate you! I love you! I hate you!" [Laughs] She's great. To this day, it's my great sadness that it's never been found out what she did to my face cream! It's too bad because that was such a great thing.

TVGuide.com: Maybe Gloria's sabotage will come out someday. Y&R is famous for leaving story points unresolved and then bringing up the history years later.

Davidson: Well, my point is I won't be there on the show to play it!

TVGuide.com: I've heard you won't be killed off, so that's a relief.

Davidson: I guess....

TVGuide.com: Well, it's bad enough John Abbott is dead. I'd hate to see them kill off another legacy character like Ashley.

Davidson: I guess they'll probably recast the character. So you want to know how I go?

TVGuide.com: Sure!

Davidson: It's like a business-related decision.

TVGuide.com: So Ashley just goes to work for Jabot Cosmetics overseas or something?

Davidson: Something like that! You hit the nail on the head. [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: I hate when soaps write off characters by simply moving them out of town. That's so blah. Would you rather die or something similarly dramatic?

Davidson: Not necessarily die, but I've been there a long time so, sure, it would've been fun to do something big. But like I said, it's a whole different ball game.

TVGuide.com: Do you mind if they recast Ashley? I consider you the signature Ash.

Davidson: Years ago, I met Brenda [Epperson Doumani] when she was a waitress at a celebrity charity fashion show that I was in. She said that people told her she looked like me. I told her I was leaving Y&R in a few months and gave her my number. So she gave me a call, I helped her with the script and she got the role. So I don't have a copyright on Ashley. If they recast, I hope it's the Ashley that they envision and I hope that works out for 'em.

TVGuide.com: You were fabulous as Kristen, Susan and three other characters on Days. Any chance you'll go back?

Davidson: Obviously, I get asked that alot. It's a different writing team now over there, too. My character is out there.... I'm open to anything, but I don't watch Days so I don't know if that would work.

TVGuide.com: There is a new guy in Salem who could be your son.

Davidson: I know, I see Drake Hogestyn (John, Days) at the gym all the time. A few months ago, he told me, "Hey Eileen, there's a character on the show with the initials E.J. now. Didn't Susan have a baby?" I said, "Yeah?" Drake said, "What was his name?" I said, "Elvis." Then I thought, "Ohhhh."

TVGuide.com: E.J. also has a British accent, which helps my E.J. is Elvis theory, since Susan and her husband took the baby to London.

Davidson: Exactly!

TVGuide.com: The only tough part is that E.J. looks to be in his twenties, and Susan's baby, Elvis, was born in the late '90s.

Davidson: Oooh. Well, Michelle Stafford (Phyllis, Y&R) is younger than I am and she plays the mother of a actor who's in his twenties. Like I said, I'm really open to talking to anyone about anything. I'm just taking a few weeks off for the holidays to do a lot of ice skating and cookie baking, and I'll see what I want to do next. We'll see where I land! You never know about life.

TVGuide.com: You have a soapy book deal, don't you?

Davidson: I do have a book deal with Penguin to write a couple of mystery novels about an actress who's on a soap. A real-life murder happens on her show. That's the idea. I'm writing it with Bob Randisi, who's a mystery writer. We'll start writing in a couple of months, so I'll know more then, but I can certainly give this story a very behind the scenes feel. It's going to keep me busy, that's for sure.

http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Soaps/QA...0-B5354CCBA885}

KLN · December 5, 2006

OMG!! This whole part of the conversation is FASCINATING!

Y&RWorldTurner · December 5, 2006

It looks like the speculation that she was seeking out an opportunity to return to Days is false, as she said she doesn't watch or have any clue what's going on there, except for the new writing staff. It also looks like the claims that she wanted out of Y&R is false as well, as she said she would've liked to stay and complete Ashley's rivalry with Gloria.

WillenFan21 · December 5, 2006

Eileen Davidson: "Why I Was Fired" Article Fans of CBS's The Young and the Restless are bummed that

Eileen Davidson is leaving her role as Ashley Abbott in January. Back in 1982, the glamazon began playing Ashley, a beauty-industry heiress who concocts perfumes. She stayed until 1989, then went on to NBC's Santa Barbara and Days of our Lives, and returned to Restless in '99. Now she's just been axed. "The show has been going through a lot of change in the past couple of years," Davidson says. "I've seen the writing on the wall for awhile." Here the popular soap star dishes on the current state of her suds career and what's next for her!

TVGuide.com: So Y&R has let you go?

Eileen Davidson: Right. Well, my contract's up, so I guess they're not picking up my option. But as far as I'm concerned, I got fired!

TVGuide.com: That's basically what not exercising an actor's option means.

Davidson: That's kind of what it is. People are like, "Oh no, you didn't [get fired]." I'm like, "Yeah, I did." Things change. The show has been going through a lot of change in the past couple of years. I've seen the writing on the wall for awhile. I wasn't shocked or blindsided, but it was kind of freaky.

TVGuide.com: How did you know this was coming?

Davidson: I figured somebody would either take Ashley and revamp her — 'cause she's been in a rut — or I would get fired. I knew that was pretty much it. I wasn't just going to sit there working and not doing much except be Jack's flunky. It didn't make any sense [for the show] to keep me, just to do that. Since I wasn't being written for, I knew I would be written out.

TVGuide.com: Where did you feel Ashley fell off track?

Davidson: It happened about two-and-a-half to three years ago. Ashley started doing things that were completely uncharacteristic.

TVGuide.com: Like when Ash stole Victor's frozen sperm to secretly have their daughter, Abby?

Davidson: Actually, that never bothered me as much as it did other people. I understood the rationale for that. Granted, maybe Ashley wouldn't have stolen someone's sperm, but with the story arc that I think [Y&R's former headwriter] Kay Alden had in mind, it would have made sense over time, had it played out. But there's been a shift in writers, so it stopped abruptly and we were taken in another direction. It happens, but that hadn't happened on our show before. There had always been continuity because of the vision of [Y&R's late co-creator, William J. Bell]. show. As soon as you change writers, you change the vision and it becomes anybody's ball game.

TVGuide.com: So true. Happens all the time on other soaps.

Davidson: I don't feel any kind of bitterness or anger about it. It's just a fact. Nobody's trying to make the show fail. They're just trying to create the best show they can. You might like some of what they have done, and you might not like other stuff. I think Ashley suffered. I don't think other characters have, but Ashley did.

TVGuide.com: If you didn't mind the stolen sperm thing, where did you feel your character went astray?

Davidson: Although I loved working with Roscoe Born, I had a problem with Ashley planting drugs on Tom Fisher. I also didn't like Ashley losing her mind just long enough to think Victor was falling love with her, then being rebuffed by him and yet still pining for him. It was just weird. I also wasn't crazy about Brad's character sleeping with Olivia when Ashley had breast cancer. It was an icky way to finish that lovely storyline about breast cancer.