Ask any soap star of the female persuasion and they’ll tell you that playing a heroine – or even an anti-heroine – on a daily soap opera is no easy feat. But sometimes it is preferable to the real-life struggles that some have experienced.
Which Soap Star Was It?
All of these actresses are either alums of long-ago classics – like Guiding Light – or they are currently starring in, or are alums of, one of the four remaining daytime dramas – The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, General Hospital, and The Young and the Restless.
And all of these actresses have decades of experiences playing put-upon heroines frequently exposed to trials and tribulations. But only one of them can say that she personally battled a rare blood disorder that affects fewer than 200,000 in the U.S. per year.
But who can that actress be? Was it Heather Tom (Katie Logan, BB), Linsey Godfrey (Sarah Horton, DAYS), Finola Hughes (Anna Devane, GH), Cynthia Watros (ex-Annie Dutton, GL), or Michelle Stafford (Phyllis Summers, YR)?
Heather Tom
Tom has remained a relatively healthy individual, however the same can’t be said for the character she currently inhabits. Poor Katie has suffered multiple heart attacks and has been subjected to not one but TWO organ transplants. First, she was “gifted” her brother’s heart. Then, she needed a kidney, which her niece provided.
Linsey Godfrey
Godfrey has had the misfortune of experiencing in real-life two frequently used medical tropes guaranteed to impede the health of soap opera heroine: cancer and a car accident. In 2006, she battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Nine years later, she was run over by a car – an accident which dislocated and broke both of her ankles.
Finola Hughes
Hughes doesn’t suffer from an extremely rare blood cancer, but her character, super-spy Anna Devane does. In 2017, Anna was diagnosed with polycythemia vera (PV), a disease that affects approximately 1.9 in 100,000 people.
Michelle Stafford
Stafford didn’t struggle with the ill effects of an autoimmune deficiency. However, while still in her teens, she did have a tumor develop on her frontal lobe which required a delicate operation that saw her face peeled down and then reattached.
Cynthia Watros
It was immune thrombocytopenia – a disorder that can lead to excessive bruising and bleeding due to the dearth of blood cells that help blood clot – which caused Watros to undergo a splenectomy and two years of chemotherapy. Luckily, she has remained in remission.
So, if you guessed that the soap star in question was Daytime Emmy winner Cynthia Watros, then you were absolutely correct!
