Michelle Stafford Looks Back at 30 Years on The Young and the Restless

The Young and the Restless had three actors who recently celebrated being on the show for 30 years: Joshua Morrow, Sharon Case, and Michelle Stafford. With all of those decades of storytelling under their belts, the actors have become icons in the soap world. Stafford recently took time to look back on her impressive run and shared her thoughts on social media.

That Special Something

An eager and grateful Stafford took to Instagram to write a long passage reflecting on her time at Y&R. She shared a video clip from the show in which her character Phyllis talks on the phone with Danny (Michael Damian), as the two have a major disagreement. Along with that, she wrote: “On this day, 30 years ago, My first scene, this scene, aired on Y&R. It seems like a lifetime ago.”

Stafford then dove into what was going on in her life when she got the part, explaining that after some time without work, she nabbed the character, which was only supposed to be a short stint. But she credited then-executive producer and show creator William J. Bell with seeing “Something in the character and in me that he continued to write it. I had been losing so much in my life at that time, I remember I was starting to think of other things to do with my life. I had no backup plan. Even though I was a pretty confident girl, I was truly doubting.”

READ THIS: Find out what’s happening next on Y&R.

Y&R Was Life Changing

She approached the part, “Like I had nothing to lose. Like how I was feeling in my own life at the time.” Getting paid from Y&R for the first time, she spent the money on groceries, which was “Something I could not do before. I could hardly buy bread, ya know? I stood there in front of the peanut butter with the feeling of freedom that I could actually buy Skippy and not the generic brand. It was glorious. I will never forget that moment. It’s seared into my being.”

The short run turned into a much longer one that not only opened doors for Stafford but also created relationships that she hadn’t expected. Still on Y&R 30 years later, she couldn’t believe the good fortune that propelled her career forward. Grateful for the way things turned out as a result of being on the show, she remarked, “I think things could have been different if I had not started working with the incomparable Lauralee Bell [Christine] and Michael Damian. If they had not been so welcoming and supportive and kind to me it may have gone another way.”

She expressed her love not only for Y&R and its cast and crew but also for the fans she adores.