Soap Hub Flashback Friday: Ashley Jones Recalls Bridget Vs. Stephanie

Ashley Jones is currently delivering emotional performances as Bridget tries to help save Eric, her father, from dying on Bold and the Beautiful. Recently, Soap Hub chatted with Jones about a story in which she was equally devoted to Brooke, her mother, for this week’s Flashback Friday feature.

Ashley Jones: It’s Too Late to Apologize

In the summer of 2005, the Forrester and Marone clans had gathered at Stephanie and Eric’s mansion to celebrate the wedding of Nick (Jack Wagner) and Bridget. Alas, the ceremony was called off as there was a deep, dark secret looming. Stephanie (Susan Flannery) had lied about having had a heart attack. (Read more of her biggest moments here.) The so-called medical crisis had prompted Ridge (then, Ronn Moss) to split from Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) and return to his back-from-the-dead wife Taylor (then, Hunter Tylo).

Brooke and Jackie (Lesley-Anne Down) uncovered the truth and forced Stephanie to confess all of it in front of her family. She did, begrudgingly, but first, Steph, of course, had to speak her truth. She marveled at how everyone in her family kept giving Brooke pass after pass. She cited Bridget’s forgiveness as the “most astonishing” of everyone’s, as Brooke had slept with Bridget’s then-husband, Deacon (Sean Kanan), and given birth to their daughter, Hope (Annika Noelle).

Aghast that Stephanie’s machinations ruined her mother’s marriage, Bridget demanded that Stephanie apologize to her mother. The family matriarch refused, prompting Bridget to proclaim she never wanted to be in the same room with her again. (Nick asked Steph if it would have killed her to say she was sorry. Stephanie replied: “Yes.”)

“We were talking about [those scenes] the other day,” Jones tells Soap Hub about that storyline climax. “I have very vivid memories of going up against Susan [as Bridget] several times. There were scenes on [Nick’s] boat and those ones in the Forrester living room. I actually want to see those again!”

Going head to head in scenes with the four-time Daytime Emmy-winning Flannery (who won three Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama series statuettes for playing Stephanie) was a bit intimidating, Jones shares.

“When I think of Susan, I remember her always elevating everyone else’s work,” Jones says. “It didn’t matter if it was with just one line or something more. She was incredibly real, authentic, and strong. She’d ask you to do a scene again if she thought you could do it better. I think she knew what I was capable of, and she wouldn’t settle for anything less than [my] best. Some of my best material was with her.”