It seems like The Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) didn’t always have it easy in Genoa City. In fact, back in 2010, the actor had to pull out from his How I Met Your Mother gig simply because he was feeling overworked over at the hit CBS soap. His decision even caused a bit of a stir with his co-star Neil Patrick Harris at the time. Here’s what you need to know.
The Young and the Restless Star Eric Braeden Once Complained About Being Overworked On Y&R: ‘Total Exhaustion’
During that year, NPH blasted Eric for failing to honor a commitment that he had to appear on How I Met Your Mother as Robins’ dad. Apparently, Eric said that the part wasn’t “substantial enough” for him. This prompted Neil Patrick Harris to take to his Twitter account to write, “Eric Braeden is a D-Bag.” Ouch.
If that weren’t enough, Eric also admitted that he had his reasons for not wanting to be on the show. “I didn’t want to do it, to be quite frank with you,” he said. “I have had a longstanding antipathy toward guest-starring on nighttime television because I’d done that an enormous amount in the ’60s and ’70s. I was infuriated by the singular decision by a former head of Universal Studios to lower guest-star salaries by 75 percent — from $7,500 per show to $2,500. At that time, Universal was the only game in town. So I swore I would not do that again.”
Neil Patrick Harris Blasted Eric Braeden
Soon after he said that, it didn’t take very long for the Y&R actor to change his tune about the show and why he had to pull out. Apparently, it was because he felt exhausted from working on the set of The Young and the Restless. At the time, Eric released a statement to Deadline that said, “I have been in this business for 50 years, have seen so many actors come and go — most of them never to be seen or heard from again. I suggest whoever this young fellow is that he enjoy his success and count his blessings and save his money. My first time on [HIMYM] I enjoyed working with the writers, directors, and crew enormously. However, I did not have the pleasure of meeting most of the cast, including this fellow who put his foot in his mouth by saying what he did. It’s Christmastime and I forgive him for his transgression.”
He continued, “I have been overworked at Y&R. I have been doing 40 and 50 pages a day. I was [also] not aware of what they wanted me to do until the day before.”
Neil Patrick Harris then followed up on his end by saying “Now I feel bad for the D-bag comment. Don’t know the guy personally. I’m just fiercely protective of our show.”