Passions

[amybrickwallace]

I didn't know that she broke her contract to get out of the show. It seems like most of the Passions cast became close and still are to this day (and always had a relatively small cast for an hour-long show). Maybe it was the youngest cast members, the ones who still needed guardians with them, that had it really bad. MEW, Taylor Anne Mountz and Lena Cardwell were all off the show after a year. Have any of them ever really elaborated on their experiences?

[DRW50]

She also says the cast had a lot of jaded or bitter people, I think, which is, as you say, interesting, as you often hear about how close they were. I guess that wasn't th case with the people she work with.

[amybrickwallace]

Well, she was one of the youngest in the original cast - if not the youngest. Maybe she just didn't gel. I don't know.

[AbcNbc247]

Idk either. So many other cast members have spoken about what a great experience Passions was for them. Why would it be any different for her and only her?

Part of me thinks the ego is the one doing the talking. 

[amybrickwallace]

It might be, but her TV sister Taylor Anne Mountz left around the same time and I think she left the business not too long after that. Has she ever commented on her experiences on show?

[AbcNbc247]

I don't think so. Wasn't she dating Jesse Metcalfe or something?

[amybrickwallace]

That I don't know.

[FrenchBug82]

Actually, it is the host - who clearly knows nothing about soaps and is going on his uninformed assumptions about what soaps are like - who says that. She responds that it was not it.

She says what she didn't like was that it was very "militant" (whatever that means) and not particularly warm and welcoming, which tells me that she objects to the factory-like nature of soaps - where everything is done at breakneck speed without allowing for creativity or experimentation
Which, you know, fair enough.
She also looks down on the content of the show but it is the host who really annoyed me with his ignorance and over-the-top pearl-clutching.

[YRfan23]

Jessica was always kind of a non character anyways, so maybe the unpleasantness stems from not having much to do compared to her older co stars? 

[LostinSalem]

Lena Cardwell was actually on the show for a good chunk of the early years, 1999-2001, Chrystee Pharris didn’t take over the role until the hell in the closet storyline.

@AbcNbc247 yes, Taylor Anne Mountz was dating Jesse Metcalfe. She left to continue college.

Both Lena and Taylor were at the Passions Reunion a couple years back and had nothing but good things to say. IMO if they didn’t like the experience I would think they’d probably skip the reunion like MEW.

Another interesting thing I noticed was in the comment section of the YouTube video with MEW’s interview, someone claiming to have worked on Passions defended the show and said the show was very fast paced and for a 14 year old like Mary who was just starting off on a soap, the experience was probably much different compared to anything she had done up to that point which is reasonable.
 

The fact the interview title calls the set “toxic” when she herself doesn’t rubs me the wrong way. “My mom had to stay in the dressing room, it wasn't a friendly atmosphere and the show was crappy” does not necessarily equal toxic, but perhaps that was her personal experience. 
 

The cast often times cite the fact that they all started together and were the “little soap that could” and underdogs, they were extremely close, had parties together and pranked each other on set... sounds completely different from this toxic experience Mary Elizabeth Winstead had.

Jessica didn’t spice up until Danica Stewart got in the role and she was being pimped out by Spike and killing the John Does lol

I’m glad they gave her a happy ending with Reese haha

[FrenchBug82]

Yeah she clearly was not happy and we can't invalidate her experience - I mean not everything is for everyone - but it is clearly the host and show who are pushing a narrative around what she says.
Her actual telling of the story is not nearly as dramatic or negative as the framing of the video or the host's reactions would have you.

Not to be unkind but if a grocery store employs a 14yo as a clerk, they are not going to let your mom seat in a corner watching you work either. It is a show, not theater with an audience.
I understand why she might have wanted it but I don't think it warrants the host's cries of horror. If she felt she needed her mom there, sounds like she actually wasn't ready to have a proper acting job yet which in turn explains why it might have been a bad memory. 
I think it was down to her as much as the show and them being a bad fit for each other.

[amybrickwallace]

Bingo!!

[amybrickwallace]

With some DAYS friends, 2001:

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[Darn]

I was 14 too and knew it was bad.

[Vee]

I knew from Day 1.