■ The revelation that
Beth is actually Phoebe is
heartbreaking for Steffy,
who returns the baby to her
biological mother, Hope.
“This just breaks her,” sighs
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood
(Steffy). “The tears are just
nonstop. Of course, Steffy
wants to be happy for Hope.
She is happy for her. Her
daughter is alive! But the
only thing she knows at this
moment is that she’s los-
ing this beautiful baby girl
who she has been raising for
all these months. The fam-
ily Steffy created is being
ripped apart, and she’s pret-
ty much inconsolable.”
Liam tries to help ease
Steffy’s pain but as Beth’s
father, he finds himself
caught in the middle. “Liam
is trying to do his best in
what is an obviously impos-
sible situation,” notes Scott
Clifton (Liam). “The last
thing he wants to do is hurt
Steffy. She has been a fan-
tastic mother to both of her
daughters, but there is no
choice here. Beth belongs
with Hope, who has
already suffered so much
thinking she was gone,
but Liam doesn’t want
to see Steffy hurt, either.
Unfortunately, that’s going
to be unavoidable.”
Despite her elation,
even Hope is consciousof how painful this is for
Steffy. “Hope seeing Beth
is a beautiful reunion, but
now this complicates mat-
ters beyond belief,” states
Annika Noelle (Hope). “By
no means is this a ‘happily
ever after’ situation. No
matter what comes next,
someone’s heart is goingto be broken. This is an
incredible tearjerker. Hope
may have her daughter
back, which is a beautiful
thing, but it does not get
wrapped up in a pretty little
bow. It just gets more com-
plicated. There is hurt and
pain, and there is no easy
solution to this moving for-
ward. It is going to hurtpeople in the process, no
matter what.”
As a real-life new mom,
Wood was particularly
affected by the material.
“Hunter [Tylo, Taylor] said
to me. ‘Just wait till you
have your baby because the
love that’s going to fill you
is going to open you up in
your scenes even more,’ ”
shares Wood. “At the time,
I took her advice, of course,
but I didn’t really understand
what she meant because I
didn’t have my baby yet.
Now, having my baby and
coming back to work and
diving into storyline that
is so heavy, it is extremely
challenging putting myself
in these shoes. Obviously,
Steffy is happy for Hope but
there are so many emotions
at play here. Needless to say,
when you see those tears
come, that’s all real. There
was no forcing that!”HOWARDWISE/JPI“By no means
is this a ‘happily
ever after’
situation.”B&B: STEFFY GIVES UP “PHOEBE”
late-breaking news
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