Interview: The Young and the Restless’ Tracey E. Bregman

I got the chance to speak with The Young and the Restless‘ Tracey E. Bregman (Lauren) again last weekend while she was in town promoting her new jewellery collection for The Shopping Channel. Tracey discuss her latest collection, what’s coming up for Lauren now that Fen’s been aged to a teenager and her dream storyline.

Hi Tracey, welcome back to Toronto!
Thank you!

What was the inspiration behind your new line?
I’ve been calling it my “Heart & Soul” collection, because I love that the pieces have a feeling of “days gone by.” These are the kinds of pieces that I wear every single day.

With the heart, does love have something to do with it?
Always!

Is there someone special in your life that inspired this collection?
Yes, there is someone special in my life!

Talk to us about the Tree of Life piece, which you had shown to fans on Twitter before your appearance on The Shopping Channel.
There’s something not only about the tree of life and what that means to everybody, but also a family tree. What your family means to you and so, my family means so much to me, so I’m absolutely in love with this piece. It’s already sold out.

My collection is very eclectic. There’s a lot of detail (workmanship and engineering) to each piece. I have a lot of input with the design process. The Sterling Silver Gemstone and Diamond ring for example, it’s got white agate or black onyx. The white agate is such an incredible stone that looks like a moon stone. It even has peach undertones. It’s gorgeous! It reminds of a ring that Elizabeth Taylor would have worn. It’s very Hollywood Glamour.

Can you give us a preview of your next collection?
The next collection will have elements of this one, but we also push the limits and try to do something different. We try to think about what am I going to be wearing for that season? What’s happening with the other designers? What’s going on? What’s the next thing in fashion? We’ll debut the new collection on July 7th. We’ve been working very hard on it.

Let’s move over to Y&R, Lauren’s been caught with the gun!
Yes, and showcasing her fabulous jewellery!

Where’s this storyline with Daisy headed?
I’m not quite sure! It’s like life! I never know what’s going to happen tomorrow until I read the script.

There’s been a lot of backlash with the Daisy (Yvonne Zima) character.
Yeah, I know.

Right now, the only good thing about having Daisy on the show is that Lauren gets a storyline out of it. The writers obviously have to know about the negative reaction that the fans are having to the Daisy character, yet she’s still on the show. Are they simply trying to recreate the Lauren/Sheila rivalry with Daisy?
I’m not quite sure. The good news is that, at least this time when Daisy did come back, the storyline has branches. Everyone is being affected. It’s changing a lot of things. I think that a lot of things are going to happen that nobody expects.

A possible marriage between Daniel (Michael Graziadei) and Daisy perhaps?
I cannot confirm or deny! All I can say is that a lot of other people will be brought into this storyline and lives will be changed.

Michael Damien’s coming back as Danny.
Yes! He was back for about a week. It was so incredible to see him.

Do Lauren and Danny have any scenes together?
A nano-second where we kind of run into each other and talk — along with Cricket (Lauralee Bell). Michael and I have been keeping in contact.

As for Lauren’s husband, Michael’s (Christian LeBlanc) been spending a lot of time with Avery (Jessica Collins).
I know! Can you believe that? That bitch! [Laughs]

Fans are worried that the show is setting up a triangle between Lauren, Michael and Avery.
I do not know what’s going to happen. I think Christian and I are just thankful to have a storyline. Even if something like that did happen, we would welcome it only because then you would get the opportunity to see this triangle and then have them put their relationship back together.

There are plans to age Lauren and Michael’s son Fen this summer.
Yes, he starts airing in a month. I’ve already taped my first scenes with him and he’s adorable. Max Ehrich is his name. They just aged him to sixteen. I turned to Christian and said, “Boy, those last six years really packed a wallop!”

Will we see the same scenario where the kid comes back and has issues with the parents? Adam, Ricky and Kyle all came back with daddy issues.
Yeah, but you understand that most fairytales have horrible mothers or dead mothers. I’m like, finally, we at least get the dad’s now!

Is Fen going to resent Lauren for shielding him by sending him away to live with Scotty in Toronto?
I have no idea. He was adorable when we worked together and didn’t seem to have any mommy issues! Hopefully that’s coming!

What about Scotty? Does the show have any plans to bring back Lauren’s first-born son?
Nothing on that yet. You never know from regime to regime what their thoughts are on that. I know they didn’t want to bring Scotty back but they definitely wanted to age Fen.

Speaking of the show’s current regime, the ratings finally went up the other week when Lauren pulled a gun on Daisy. Do they look at which characters are featured when the ratings do go up?I’m not quite sure how they write and what they write.

The show is finally updating the opening credits. We know you’re on recurring, but any chance you could sneak in?
I’m not in them! But, I do get to do the station breaks [the bumpers].

What would be the dream storyline for your character? It can be anything! You can bring back characters who are dead, bring back any actors. Go for it.
You know what, I would love to do a storyline where there was a big family caper. The Baldwin-Fisher caper!

Back to the Daisy situation. One thing that the fans can’t understand is that Lauren has dealt with psycho’s in the past like Sheila…
Yes, and Shawn Garrett…

So, she shouldn’t be this scared of a little girl…
I think she’s scared because she feels powerless over her. Daisy got out of jail, nothing seems to be able to stop her and what has put her over the edge is that she’s now stalking her son. When Daisy said, “Oh, I’ve been watching Fen and I love the clothes that he wears,” that through her over the edge.

The show tapes about 5-6 weeks ahead, is the Daisy character still around?
Yes, she’s still on the show.

Will Fen be brought into this storyline?
I’m assuming at some point, yeah.

Anything else you can tease for the fans?
I think that having Fen back will add a lot to the mix!

To check out Tracey’s jewellery collection, visit The Shopping Channel. The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS and Global. Canadian fans can also catch up with the series online at GlobalTV.com, on demand or on their mobile devices.

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