Fans support Y&R's Kate Linder and March of Dimes Canada

Kate Linder’s third annual OpportuniTeas, benefitting March of Dimes Canada’s Conductive Education® (CE) program for children and adults with neuro-motor disabilities was a great success this past weekend in Toronto and was co-hosted by Global News’ Leslie Roberts.

Many fans were able to catch up with The Young and the Restless’ Linder (who has been playing Esther on the soap for over 30 years) and her co-stars, Toronto-native Mishael Morgan (Hilary), Bryton James (Devon) and Sean Carrigan (Stitch).

The TV Watercooler was lucky to attend the event again this year and we got some nice scoop from the event. A big question that many fans had on their mind was about Christian LeBlanc, who attended the charity event previously, and whether or not his character Michael was leaving the show (in story, his character has been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer). Kate Linder reassured fans that LeBlanc was not leaving the Global and CBS soap. Linder also expressed that she’d welcome the return of Elizabeth Hendrickson as her character’s daughter Chloe.

The popularity of Hevon was in full force, as were the portrayers of Y&R’s hot couple. Mishael Morgan and Bryton James were happy to interact with their fans with James even stating that Hilary is the love of Devon’s life.

Sean Carrigan may be newcomer to the soap but that didn’t mean he was quiet. Carrigan made the crowd laugh pretty hard and proved that he really is a standup comic. Hopefuly he’ll return to Toronto to do a set at Yuk Yuk’s.

While we interviewed Bryton James last month to help promote the event, we were able to catch up with the other stars before their Q&A with the fans. Here’s what they had to say:

Welcome back to Toronto Mishael! Y&R is immensely popular here in Canada. Did you grow up watching the show?

Mishael Morgan: I remember being give years old and yelling at my mom [who was watching it] because it was on at the same time as Sesame Street and I couldn’t have that! But I really got into it when I got into high school… Then, I was on the same page as my mom!

Which characters or storylines did you enjoy back then?

Mishael Morgan: My favourite part of the show growing up was actually Michael (Christian LeBlanc) and Phyllis (then Michelle Stafford). They were my favourites!

Let’s talk Hevon! Hilary has set Devon up with Gwen (Nadine Nicole) to bring to the Winters family lunch. Cold we see Hilary becoming a little jealous if Devon takes Gwen up on her offer to hang out again?

Mishael Morgan: Yes! I think that there’s a huge possibility of Hilary being jealous because I don’t think that she fully anticipated how much setting them up together would fully affect her until it happened. Let’s see!

Hi Kate, welcome back to Toronto. It’s your third year hosting this event here. Are the fans who weren’t able to attend or haven’t had a chance to donate yet still be able to do so?

Kate Linder: Of course! They can contact the March of Dimes Canada and there’s also a link on my website, www.katelinder.com. We’ll also be doing an event in Calgary soon.

When will the one in Calgary take place?

Kate Linder: We’re still working out the dates but it will probably be in April… We just don’t have the exact date yet.

We haven’t really seen much of Esther on the show lately…

Kate Linder: There’s a comment line on CBS.com where fans can write in. Esther’s still there, but they [the fans] need to write in. They pay attentions to those comments.

You’ve been busy elsewhere. You’re starring in a new movie with Katie Holmes called Miss Meadows.

Kate Linder: Yes! That just came out. I play the principal in Miss Meadows. Trudy Davis is my character’s name and while everyone else loves Miss Meadows (played by Holmes), my character doesn’t at all. It’s very different from Esther and I really enjoyed doing it. I’ve got a couple of more films that will be coming out soon.

Stitch just had sex with Ashley (Eileen Davidson) in the shower!

Sean Carrigan: Yes! He was drunk and had sex with Ashley because he thought that Billy (Burgess Jenkins) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle) were back together. My character went to drown his sorrows and later showed up at Jabot where Ashley tries to sober him up by telling him to get in the shower… He then ends up pulling her into the shower [with him].

Do you think that not being the father of Victoria’s baby has allowed your character to be spread around the canvas?

Sean Carrigan: Well, stitch is still in love with Victoria. He’s heartbroken and he’s made this mistake [with Ashley]. Unfortunately, he now has this other secret to keep from Victoria [that he’s slept with Ashley].

And there’s this longstanding feud between Victoria and Ashley…

Sean Carrigan: Exactly!

To learn more about donating to the March of Dimes Canada, click here. You can also help out by volunteering your time.

The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on Global and CBS. Canadian viewers can catch up with Y&R on demand, through the Global Go app on their iOS or Android device or on GlobalTV.com.

“We never know what will happen on the show until we get our scripts” @BrytonEjames Q&A w/ audience #OpportuniTeas pic.twitter.com/rdeY6UsTXe

— March of Dimes CA (@modcanada) December 7, 2014

“We are just going forward in her memory and making #YR the best in her way,” @KATELINDER about the late great Jeanne Cooper #YR

— Jeevan Brar (@JeevanBrar) December 7, 2014

#OpportuniTeas VIP guests meet the the #Y&R cast #MODClive @KATELINDER @BrytonEjames @MishaelMorgan1 @SeanCarrigan pic.twitter.com/MyOQ6FwX2k

— March of Dimes CA (@modcanada) December 7, 2014

“I’ve never won an Emmy and thank you for bringing that up.” — @SeanCarrigan (who is hilarious btw) #OpportuniTeas #YR

— Jeevan Brar (@JeevanBrar) December 7, 2014