Fans won’t want to miss this special episode of the Soapy Podcast as Emmy winners Greg Rikaart and Rebecca Budig sit down with The Young and the Restless icon Melody Thomas Scott. The beloved Nikki Newman actress opens up about her early days in Hollywood, reveals who convinced her to take on her career-defining role, and shares a surprising story involving Clint Eastwood.
Nikki Newman – The Role That Almost Wasn’t
Scott shared that she did not want to take the role of Nikki because the same week, she had gotten an NBC sitcom pilot. She was recurring on The Waltons, so she was able to pursue other work. Her agent at the time begged her to take the part of Nikki. The moral is always listen to your agent!
“I mourned the loss of the pilot. But it didn’t sell. It truly was the best decision. It’s been 46 years…I thought it would be three years because that is what the contract was.”
The actress was clear that she knew Nikki like the back of her hand after playing her for so long and that there were times when she would change her dialogue to better match how she thought Nikki would deliver a line. “I do think I know Nikki better than anybody. I have known her for 46 years.”
Book Nook
When Budig shifted the conversation to Scott’s autobiography, Always Young and Restless: My Life On and Off America’s #1 Daytime Drama, the first thing they talked about was how a set feels like a family. The actress recounted how she was never doted on at home, but was when she was working.
Budig asked how her co-workers took to the book. “People were shocked, I will say. I knew when I wrote it that parts of it would be very shocking. I had certainly never had talked about incidents in the book.”
She also revealed that she had tried to write the book a few times prior, “I had a couple of false starts because some of the stories I had to tell were gut-wrenching and I could not go on. I would literally push the computer because I was clearly not ready to reveal some of that stuff.”
Idol Talk
One of Scott’s idols is the late actress Lucille Ball, whom she never got a chance to meet, which was her own fault. She was about 6 when she was in a Sears department store and in line for a hot dog. A man came over wearing a Desilu ball cap and was talking to the actress’ grandmother. Scott, who was already a fan of Lucy, at the age of 6, was waiting for the hot dog when the man approached and asked if she would like to work with Ball, to which Scott replied, “No, thank you.”
You can watch the entire episode below.
