The Young and the Restless Spoilers: Michelle Stafford Opens Up About Becoming Phyllis Summers

Speaking to Soap Opera Digest in a new interview, The Young and the Restless star Michelle Stafford says that she had no idea that Phyllis Summers would end up becoming the legacy character that she is today when she first got to play her so many years ago.

The Young and the Restless Spoilers: Michelle Stafford Opens Up About Becoming Phyllis Summers

That’s because the show’s writers just wanted Phyllis to become a short-term antagonist in the Danny and Cricket relationship.

She told the publication, “I didn’t know at the time” that Phyllis would go the distance. At the time, I just really wanted to create an interesting character. And when you do that with a writer, create with a writer, I see it like an unspoken relationship that you have with them.”

And while no one knew at the time that the writers wanted to make Phyllis Summers the colorful character that she is today, Michelle Stafford had a gut feeling that things would turn out the way they have.

The actress recalled, “I remember Carolyn Conwell, who played Paul’s mom, she would say to me almost every day, every time she worked, ‘Oh, my God, when are they gonna kill you? You’re so bad!’”

“Bill Bell switched it up and made her sympathetic — and made her empathetic, which is even more important.”

But Michelle did add that it wasn’t easy for her to initially get the job on The Young and the Restless.

She said, “Listen, I had a very, very challenging time working for years prior to getting this job. I wasn’t booking anything for like a year, maybe, and I was getting to the point where I was just like, ‘Wow, this isn’t gonna happen.’”

The Young and the Restless Spoilers: What’s Next For Phyllis Summers?

“And I kept on [auditioning], and I think that’s very important, that people realize that things can be bad and they change, you know? You hang in there and anything can change at any time. Anything can happen at any time. And this one day, this one audition, changed the rest of my life.”

That said, fans will simply have to tune in to The Young and the Restless each and every day to find out what will happen next.

​​The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on the CBS network. Check your local listings for times.

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