Why ‘The Young And The Restless’ Star Tonya Lee Williams Won’t Return To The Show

While Tonya Lee Williams is best known for her role as Olivia Barber Winters on the long-running CBS soap , The Young & The Restless, those hoping for her return shouldn’t hold their breath.

In an interview for Soaps.com , Williams reveals she was asked to return to The Young and the Restless for their 50th anniversary special, but declined.

“It would have been lovely to do, but I could not imagine doing the role,” Williams said. “It takes a lot for me as an actor. You don’t just turn up and start reading a script. I don’t know how to explain it… I trained as an actor. I go through a lot of process into who that character is. And that character was someone from 20 years ago.”

Williams played Winters on The Young and The Restless from 1990 to 2005, returning for a stint in 2007 and making additional appearances between 2008 to 2012.

A fan favorite, Olivia was known as a doctor in the soap’s fictional locale, Genoa City, as well as the sister of Drucilla Barber Winters (Victoria Rowell). During her tenure on the show, Williams was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series in 1996 and 2000.

She explained, “I said to them, ‘I don’t want to do it a disservice. I really feel I left Olivia on a high note, and everyone has a great memory.’ It would stress me out to think of the weeks I would need to shut down the other things I’m doing to focus only on this.”

Despite the chance of Williams’ return being unlikely, she explained she still loves the show.

“It has nothing to do with the show,” she added. “But I try to explain it like this: Have you ever dated someone for a long time and you don’t want to date them anymore? And you have broken up with them and like, 10, 15