NEW FACE The Young and the Restless casts longtime soap opera star from Ashley’s Paris past
Eileen Davidson described her character Ashley and the experience of her different personalities
THE Young and the Restless have recruited a new cast member in an exciting plot point.
The soap opera has announced they’re taking on Christopher Cousins to fill the role of a newly created character to air at the end of April.
Christopher will play the role of Alan Laurent, a psychiatrist who has a history with Eileen Davidson’s character, Ashley.
Their paths crossed while Ashley was in Paris and Alan’s reappearance is supposed to help Ashley on her healing process.
Ashley was struggling to get over the end of her marriage with Tucker McCall, played by Trevor St. John, which has left her with flashbacks, mood swings and voices in her head.
Christopher’s latest role came after a vast career in television.
The star has previously been in General Hospital, where he played Dr Kirk, Superintendent Bob Harris in Glee and Ted Beneke in Breaking Bad.
Ashley’s Paris trip has been at the center of the latest season and the character returned to try and retrace her steps.
She seemed to be losing her mind, but it could be due to meddling from her ex, Tucker.
No one in Paris would offer Ashely help when she returned to the cafe to try and figure out if something happened to her.
Christopher’s character Alan works in mental health and is thought to help Ashley gain clarity over her situation.
He is thought to be appearing in several episodes following his debut on April 30.
Eileen spoke to Today.com about her character’s latest venture.
“It’s almost like an exorcism because as they’re peeling back the layers, trying to find out what’s going on, it’s like she’s reacting to that, almost like she’s having water thrown on an evil spirit,” she tells them.
Eileen first appeared on the show in 1982 and has been a regular in the show ever since.
ASHLEY’S TROUBLES
Ashley returned home one night after going to a Parisian cafe but does not remember a thing, which leaves her worried.
Her friends and family urged her to seek professional help after she started displaying erratic behavior.
Ashley was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID), which entails “two or more separate personalities that control your behavior at different times,” according to Cleeveland Clinic.
Eileen described Ashely’s different personalities and how they’re presented.
“(One of them is) really striking hard and she’s mean. She goes for the jugular and starts bringing up how (Ashley’s siblings are) saying these things about her because they’re jealous of her and how they’re bitter because she was their father’s favorite. She really gets down and dirty. It’s going to be stuff that the audience has never seen.”
“Ms. Abbott, the first one we’ve met, she’s kind of a b*ll-breaker, like a femme fatale. But you see her kind of metamorphose into somebody who’s scary,” Eileen explained.
Another is “younger and more innocent,” and the third one is “very flirtatious, very over-sexualized,” Eileen explained.
