Kate Linder, who plays Esther Valentine on The Young and the Restless, revealed her secret double life in a job that she moonlights for. If you arrange your travel plans correctly, you might get to meet the soap star outside of the CBS studios!
She Loves Both Her Jobs
Odds are, the last person you’d expect to offer you water, coffee, or peanuts on an airplane would be a soap star. But if you did, you’d probably gush about not only being their fan but also being a fan of the show they’re on, and if you played your cards right, you might be able to get a selfie with them. That’s exactly what happens to Y&R’s Kate Linder (Esther), who revealed at the 2024 Daytime Emmys that when she’s not acting, she’s a flight attendant for United Airlines (via People).
Linder, who has also crossed over to The Bold and the Beautiful on occasion, enjoys her second job, which she finds very accommodating to her acting schedule. The actress explained that she mainly does it on the weekends but is able to easily switch shifts with co-workers if she’s needed on set.
She described her encounter with one fan having a heck of a day. The fan, who was also a passenger, “Looked at me and she said, ‘Kate Linder?’ And I went, ‘Yeah.’ She goes, ‘No, you’re not,’” she stated, hilariously adding, “I go, ‘I was when I woke up, so I don’t know [if] something’s wrong.’” She continued explaining the passenger’s bad day, saying, “So anyway, she had had all these things happen [due] to bad weather. She got diverted. She was in LA. She wasn’t even supposed to be there. All these things happened.” But the fan saw it as a fortuitous event, as Linder further explained, “And then she said, ‘Oh my gosh if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t get to be with you on the flight.’”
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Moonlighting Keeps Her Unpretentious
She really enjoys the fan recognition, remarking, “I get to hear what they like, and I see in their eyes how happy they are. They get to tell me about how they watch Young and the Restless, and I think that’s just really great. I so enjoy that.” She noted that when a fan asks for a selfie, she may have to go and take care of another passenger first, but enthusiastically explained, “We take extra good care of everyone.”
She discussed how she found herself moonlighting on an airline, describing, “When I first started, I became a flight attendant because I needed a job that would give me enough time off so I could pursue my career. And then I was hired. I was only hired for one day, so I kept going. And then I thought, ‘Well, if I can keep doing them both, well then I’ll do them both.’”
Her second job also helps to keep being a soap star from going to her head. “You can’t forget who you are that way,” she stated, further explaining, “I’m telling you, one day I get to be on set, I get to speak with you here at the Emmys, [and] then I’m serving coffee at 35,000 feet. I mean, you can’t forget.”
While initially she kept it a secret for fear of jeopardizing her acting gigs, she’s come to terms with it and is now open about it. “As long as I keep doing both jobs well, I would keep doing them,” she enthusiastically related.
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