Why Eileen Davidson REALLY Left The Soap World

There’s been a regime change at The Young and the Restless, but, alas, that doesn’t mean Eileen Davidson will be returning to the show as Ashley.

The actress recently spoke to Soap Hub and set the record straight as to why she exited her Emmy-winning role on the top-rated serial.

Davidson, who appears in her husband Vincent Van Patten’s newest film, A Walk to Vegas, says that her decision to exit Genoa City came before Mal Young took over as head writer/executive producer of Y&R.

“Honestly, I didn’t leave because of Mal,” the actress says. “I’ve told everybody that but it doesn’t seem like anyone wants to believe me.”

Davidson started thinking about taking a break from the grind of daytime a while ago. “There were a lot of different factors, primarily, the commute,” says the Malibu-based actress.

“The amount of dialogue and memorization [are a lot]. It takes a lot of your time. I got to the point where I was tired and I didn’t want to be on the Pacific Coast Highway every day for two hours.”

In fact, not only was Young not a factor in Davidson’s decision, but the former Y&R scribe gave her incredible material leading up to Ashley’s exit as her role in rigging Jack’s paternity crisis was revealed.

Many felt that the showdown between Ashley and Jack (Peter Bergman) in which she confessed to being behind his turmoil was top notch.

“I thought so, too,” Davidson concurs about her last (for now) storyline being excellent.

Davidson could end up reuniting with her Y&R pals next May when the Daytime Emmys are handed out. Will she be throwing her hat in the ring?

“Oh, I’m sure,” she responds. “Yeah, you know, if you have something you can celebrate, why not? I thought Mal did a really great job with all of that.”

For now, Davidson can be seen as KC, the wife of Duke (played by Van Patten) in A Walk to Vegas. The film is currently being shown at the Palm Springs Film Festival and is awaiting a distribution deal.