Scott Clifton is no stranger to emotional heavy lifting as The Bold and the Beautiful’s Liam Spencer, but this latest twist — a terminal brain tumor — gave him the kind of material that soap dreams are made of. And not surprisingly? He’s excited to play it.
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In a recent Soap Opera Digest interview, Clifton opened up about the challenge of embodying a character facing such a devastating diagnosis and how it’s allowed him to explore new emotional territory. ” I’m really, really excited to tell this story, because I’ve never been entrusted with something this weighty before. And I’m really grateful to Brad [Bell] for having enough faith in me to pull this off.”
He’s enjoying the wide array of emotions that his on-screen alter ego goes through as he learns the details of his brain tumor. “We do, like, a boot camp hell week version of the stages of grief,” Clifton said. “Liam just sort of runs through them all in a matter of several scenes…. that was really fun to play.”
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Clifton emphasized that playing Liam’s coming to terms with the news is something of a roller coaster for him, and viewers will be along for the ride. Liam will even experience something of an “anger” as he comes to terms with things and tries to decide how to spend is time.
Liam’s refusal to let his family in on the truth about his condition has already led to some gut-wrenching scenes, and Clifton says it’s only going to intensify from here. For him, this isn’t just a tragic storyline — it’s a chance to portray an emotional arc that stretches beyond the usual soap fare.
As viewers continue watching Liam wrestle with mortality, Clifton is making sure each beat feels authentic.
