Michelle Stafford Speaks Out on Whether or Not Phyllis Can Change

Michelle Stafford is getting ready to celebrate 30 years as Phyllis Summers on Young and the Restless. Can the fiery redhead change now that the show is revisiting the triangle — Phyllis/Danny/Christine –that brought her onto the canvas? Soap Hub asked Stafford about Phyllis’s ability to evolve on a recent red carpet.

Michelle Stafford: Can Phyllis Change?

Danny (Michael Damian) not only won custody of his son Daniel after Phyllis’s machinations were exposed back in the late 1990s, but he discovered that Phyllis (Michelle Stafford), Daniel’s mom, had schemed and lied to take him away from Christine (Lauralee Bell). Why does Stafford think that Danny today is so nice to her given that their complicated history that was based on her lies?

“I think he feels bad for her,” Stafford mused to Soap Hub. “I think [Danny] has guilt. He felt guilt that he doesn’t feel the same way [as Phyllis does]. She was in love [with him] and now, she’s in love again.”

Danny seems more interested in keeping Phyllis in the “friend/ex-wife zone” but that’s not likely going to stop the red-haired beauty from pursuing him. “I think she’s grabbing for something that she doesn’t have in her life right now,” the actress says. “She’s grabbing for that thing in the past. We do that as humans; we grab for that beautiful time in life.”

Not that long ago, Phyllis dodged a trip to prison for her role in Jeremy Stark’s (James Hyde) shenanigans. She might learn from that and walk the straight and narrow or she might not and move Heaven and earth to get Danny back. Is Phyllis capable of change? “I think so,” Stafford says. “It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of responsibility and swallowing of your pride. I believe that people are basically good and they [sometimes] go down a bad path.”