Days of Our Lives’ Billy Flynn and Jen Lilley Battling It Out for Top Crier

By Janet Di Lauro Sep 02, 2016 4:20 p.m. ET

Chad and Theresa do the Ugly Cry on Days of Our Lives

The Rio 2016 Olympics may be over and done, but the Days of Our Lives “Crying Olympics” is moving forward at full speed.

Co-stars Billy Flynn (Chad) and Jen Lilley (Theresa), who are indisputably two of the soap’s best sobbers, are battling it out for top honors.

In the Starting Block
It all started via a Twitter challenge launched by Flynn, whose Chad has had plenty to sob about since his beloved bride Abigail went missing and was presumed dead.

In early August, Flynn posted:

This next month will be the Olympics of ugly crying…and I’m going for the gold y’all!!! #days @jen_lilley I’m coming for ya ; ) xoxo

— Billy Flynn (@billymflynn) August 5, 2016

On August 31, Flynn posted a screen cap of his alter ego balling his eyes out and the message:

Your move @jen_lilley ; ) #uglycryfaceolympics #days pic.twitter.com/Rjns5to9A0

— Billy Flynn (@billymflynn) August 31, 2016

The Challenger
While Lilley’s Theresa is currently in happy mode preparing for her wedding to Brady (Eric Martsolf), word is she’ll have plenty to cry about in the upcoming months. It’s all part of a powerful exit story that will usher Theresa off the canvas, when Lilley departs the soap.

So, the actress is simply biding her time until she makes her move. In fact, she responded to a fan and Flynn, after his latest tweet, letting him know this competition is still in full swing:

.@Josephinai2015 @billymflynn Billy can take the gold right now, but I’ll snatch it from him in November! #Days #uglyCry #olympics

— Jen Lilley (@jen_lilley) August 23, 2016

DAYS viewers should probably stock up on tissues as the battle rages on.

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Janet Di Lauro

Sep 02, 2016 4:20 p.m. ET 3,598 articles

Janet Di Lauro is a contributing editor at Soap Opera Digest and a writer at Cynopsis.com and Soap Hub.com.
She has been writing about daytime and primetime television for over 30 years.
Prior to her current gigs, Janet ran ThoughtCo.com’s Days of our Lives website. She has built a career in daytime television coverage that has spanned over 30 years and includes a stint as the West Coast editor of Soap Opera Weekly magazine from the publication’s debut in 1989 through 2010. In addition, she was the features editor of Daytime TV magazine and editor of Soap Opera Stars magazine during her publishing years working in New York.
Based in California, Janet has interviewed daytime’s biggest stars, past and present, from Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso (Bo and Hope, Days of Our Lives”) to Susan Lucci (Erica Kane, All My Children) to Maurice Benard (Sonny, General Hospital) to Peter Bergman (Jack, The Young and the Restless). In addition to her daytime work, she served as a contributing editor on the tween publication Pixie and was a feature editor on Reality Check magazine.