Young and the Restless Star Michelle Stafford Has Questions After Her Wild Encounter

Phyllis Summers, played by Michelle Stafford, will pretty much go up against anybody on Young and the Restless. Off-screen, however, the actress picks and chooses her battles as evidenced by her recent near encounter with wildlife while she was out jogging.

The Wild, Wild West

The three-time Daytime Emmy-winner recorded a video of herself while she was out running to query her followers about potentially dangerous wildlife. “During my run, I have come across three coyotes,” Stafford shared. (Read here about why Soap Hub thinks that Y&R’s Victor Newman, played by Eric Braeden is similar to Wile E. Coyote.)

She had some concerns after observing their stance. “They’re a little more…assertive than they used to be,” Stafford observed. “I’m not enjoying that.”

The actress wondered out loud if she might be in physical danger? “Can they attack me?” she asked. “Let me know…can a coyote just decide that it wants to attack me?

“Asking for a friend,” Stafford deadpanned with a tone of concern.

Soap Hub is not an expert on interacting with wildlife. However, a quick Google search brings up a 2022 article from USAToday titled “How dangerous are coyotes? Attacks against adults are rare, but kids and pets face risks.”

The story reveals that there are 19 subspecies of coyote including the Mexican coyote and the California valley coyote. Coyotes are known to produce offspring with dogs and wolves to create “coywolf” or “coydog” animals.

Attacks on grown humans are rare however, kids and small animals like dogs and cats are a different story. Soap Hub advises using caution to avoid interacting with potentially dangerous animals.

Last month, Stafford had an encounter with another four-legged animal — her dog, which resulted in her injuring her leg. Also in June, Stafford won her third Daytime Emmy for playing Phyllis Summers on Y&R. Read Soap Hub‘s backstage report on the big night here. The actress joined the show in 1994. She’s the left the show a few times over the years, returning to Genoa City most recently in 2019 and has remained with the CBS soap opera ever since.