Point Of No Return
CBS Soaps In Depth

 

November 2,2004
By: Amy Helmes

Hunter Tylo gives Soaps In Depth the “long and short” of life, post-Taylor. 

(Read Below)



 

When Hunter Tylo finished her several-episode stint playing Taylor’s ghost on The Bold and The Beautiful in February of this year, the actress took a very symbolic step: She cut her hair. “After that appearance, I knew in my heart that I would not be going back,” she says. “I wanted to move on from the Taylor kind of look and just let the character go.”
Rest in Peace, Taylor! Losing those long, signature locks brought closure to Tylo, who felt this new phase of her career required her to jump out of all the old ruts she’d gotten herself into – including her hairstyle. “It’s time to grow up and change and modernize.” She says. “I remember when Schae Harrison (B&B’s Darla) first cute her hair, I had said, ‘Oh, I wish I had the nerve!’ So I got this really great, edgy haircut, and now I’m at a place where I can play more types of characters.” In the two years since saying sayonara to her castmates at B&B, Tylo has been approached for several roles in daytime. “I was offered a couple of contracts that I turned down, including a short-term role on As The World Turns,” she says. “People think I want to go back, but after 13 years of it, I’m just not ready.” 

Burnout may be the best word to describe Tylo’s state of mind when she made the decision to leave B&B. “I was so unhappy with the character from about the time Morgan was on the show,” she says. “I really felt like Taylor had lost the wind from her sails and was going nowhere. “It just seemed like everything had to do with whether or not there was a woman after her husband,” she adds. “It was like, ‘Come on!’ I was really done with it.” At the time of her exit, Tylo says there was talk about killing off Taylor, then bringing her back as someone else. “But it was too unbelievable,” she says. 

Everyone on B&B is funny,” says the actress. “People in film are pretty damn serious!” 

Frequent Flyer It’s safe to say Tylo has felt anything but stuck in a rut in the past two years, occasionally living out of a suitcase on film shoots in various parts of the globe. “I was in Bulgaria earlier this year for 10 weeks shooting a movie for the Sci-Fi Channel,” says Tylo, who plays a scientist opposite William Forsythe (The Untouchables). They investigate dangerous mutant creatures in a remote jungle for the movie that Tylo says is a reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action flick Predator. “It was really grueling because it was 40 degrees everyday, and they would hose us down in our clothes to make us look sweaty. Our muscles ached from trying not to shiver. I’ve never had so many challenges!” Tylo has another part-time gig hosting Life and Leisure Television, which airs on networks like Bravo, the Style Network and the Fine Living Channels. “Once every month or two, I go to a resort, and we show all the fun restaurants nearby and all the things going on locally,” she explains. “It’s a really fun gig since I love to travel.”

 

“Taylor either needed to die or she needed to go berserk and lose her mind or something, which I think would have made a lot of people mad,” says Tylo.

 Taking A Breather At the time of this interview, Tylo had officially taken a two-month break from work in order to recharge and enjoy the summer off with her family. “That’s one luxury I didn’t have when I was under contract with B&B. You can’t really say, ‘Well, guys, I don’t want to come in this month!’ So this is a new kind of freedom.” What the actress won’t take a break from, however, is helping others. Her charity, Chosen Child, assists young mothers in need both emotionally and financially. “I’m very happy that we were able to help this young girl in North Carolina who was writing bad checks to feed her baby,” she says.

 “It was so heartbreaking, so we helped her out, and I’m personally sending her all of my daughters’ old clothes.” In other words, even though B&B’s sympathetic shrink may be gone for good, her benevolent spirit still resides in her portrayer’s enduring compassion for others. “That’s the other great thing about leaving B&B,” says Tylo. “I’m able to give my time to what really touches my heart: helping other people. I like being able to give a lot more time to my passion.”-Amy Helmes    

“I’d cut my hair a couple times on B&B, but Brad always told me he liked it long. He liked this kind of romance-novel character. That’s fine, but I had really gotten into a rut with that,” says the daytime vet, on All My Children (as Robin, above), Days of Our Lives (as Marina) and B&B. 

FYI.......

Born: July 3. Hometown: Fort Worth, TX. Native Beauty: Tylo is part Cherokee Indian on her mother’s side. Coming Soon: The actress appears with Lauren Holly (ex-Julie, AMC), Greg Germann (Ally McBeal) and Pat Morita (The Karate Kid) in the comedy Down and Derby. 

Eau De Tylo: Her signature fragrance, Possible is available for purchase as (www.qvc.com http://www.qvc.com)

 

 

 

Soaps In Depth  Article #1:

Hunter Tylo feels like she's died and gone to heaven. Last fall, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL’s Dr. Taylor Forrester, the beloved heroine played by Hunter Tylo, went out with a bang – literally. In a shocking plot twist reminiscent of the days when no soap character was safe, the shrink was murdered by gun-wielding crackpot Sheila Carter. At the time of her exit, Tylo chose to express her feelings over her departure on her Web site (www.tylotimes.com). In this sit-down interview, her first since leaving B&B, the actress explains whey, "I’d been frustrated in the past," she says, referring to the media reports she says she didn’t always represent her true attitude. "I’d say something positive or give a compliment, yet it could be twisted to where the person felt insulted." So, on the volatile topic of her surprising exit, Tylo felt it was better to bold off the speaking directly to the press. "There were so many rumors flying around when I was leaving. I though, ‘Why do an interview?’ Things will just get twisted. I communicated to my fans through my Web site, and they loved it." Also, Tylo understandably retreated due to the shock of suddenly losing a cherished role that she’d played since 1990. "It was sad," she says of Taylor’s tragic passing. While Tylo had had brief absences from B&B in 1994 and 1996, she notes, "Taylor had a positive thorough life. I think that viewers, especially young girls, liked seeing a good character handle adversity." While the fate may have torn Ridge and Taylor apart, their portrayers remain connected. ‘Ronn (Moss, Ridge) and I stay in touch through E-mail and voicemail," Tylo warmly shares. "We’re best friends. I really miss everyone at the show. But we all end up going our own way. It’s sad, but that’s just life." 

B&B viewers did a double take a few weeks after Taylor’s memorial service when Tylo appeared briefly on an episode in which Ridge imagined that his wife’s pal, Trica Quick (played by Tylo look-alike Tamara Davies), as Taylor. "That was weird," muses Tylo of returning to the B&B set in order to tape Taylor’s postmortem cameo. "I didn’t understand why the show did that other than to create a transition to [Tricia]." Tylo revisits the soap world this month when she appears on SOAP TALK, the Emmy nominated cable chatfest hosted by Lisa Rinna (ex-Billie, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) and Ty Treadway (Troy, ONE LIFE TO LIFE). (Ironically, Rinna assumed the MELROSE PLAE role that was originally intended for the ex-B&B star following Tylo’s much-publicized split with the Aaron Spelling case in 1996.) Tylo, however, didn’t appear on SOAP TALK to relive the past. "I did the show to talk about a technique that my pediatrician, Dr. Harvey Karp, has developed for calming crying babies." In short, Karp, who’s been endorsed by Mom’s like Madonna and Michelle Pfeiffer, feels that crying infants have an "off switch," and his method teaches parents how to trigger it. (Info: www.thehappiestbaby.com) Tylo says the technique taught by Dr. Karp was instrumental in calming her two daughters, Izabella, 7, and Katya, 5, when they cried as infants. 

Post-B&B, Tylo has embarked on a variety of projects. She donates time to her charity, Hunter’s Chosen Child, has developed a make-up line (Chosen by Hunter Tylo), and is receiving her personal-trainer certification. "These are the things that I never had time for," says the veteran of B&B, ALL MY CHILDREN and DAYS. While Tylo says that she had no plans to actively pursue another soap role (for now), her fans were recently treated to an episode of the syndicated series SHE SPIES. She’s also still developing the Loretta Young story along with former B&B producer/director John Zak. Tylo happily reports that her family is "doing great." She shares that husband Michael Tylo (ex-Quint, GUIDING LIGHT; ex-Blade/Alex, THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS; ex-Sherman, B&B) "is up for a big teaching job at a major university." The fan favorite adds, "I’ve got other stuff going on, too, but now I don’t have to worry about whether or not I’m working too heavily [on B&B]. Now, I’m able to let Michael be the man, the dad, the husband and the ‘breadwinner.’ I can just sit back and take on projects which I’ve always had a lot of passion for.