Exclusive: What B&B's Romy Park Really Thinks About Poppy's Mints

Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Poppy (Romy Park, l.)  did not like being confronted by her sister, Li (Naomi Matsuda), about her mint "issue."

Poppy's mints on Bold and Beautiful have become one of the most-talked about props of the soap year, generating much discussion (and a fair bit of joking) among fans online. But according to Poppy's portrayer, Romy Park, the mints are serious business on set. "Actually, not at all," she says when asked if she and her co-stars have joked around about them when the cameras aren't rolling. "The only joking around was when, you know, I took the mints for the first time, and I ate it and I said, 'Ooh, these are really good mints.' And I was giving them to the other actors on the show. And that was it — and then everybody was like, 'These are really good mints!' "

Alas, she can't recommend a brand to viewers interested in procuring their own. "And I don't even know what they are. I'll have to ask the prop master." Around the set, she notes, "Mints are always there on hand; they give them to us, especially when you're in such close proximity to somebody or kissing them. But these mints are extra special! I don't know what they are, [but] they're tasty."

It was, of course, far from a laughing matter when Luna consumed one of her mother's special minty treats and wound up sleeping with Zende, who she had mistaken for her boyfriend, RJ. "I think that was necessary for what was to come [in the story]," Park muses. "It is part of the plot, because we just found out, as it aired recently, that Tom has died of a drug overdose. And so, what drugs were they? Now, Poppy — I think it's unfair to say that she's a drug addict, which I know some people have claimed: 'Oh, she's a drug addict!' She stopped taking the mints, and I studied addiction, I went to school for it. An addict can't stop just like that. It's a process, you know? It's not a cold-turkey thing. But also, it was alluded to these [being] CBD mints, which are legal in California. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm saying that I think too much has been made of the fact that she's a drug addict. It's recreational. She does not drink, and alcohol is also a drug, right. So, it's kind of like pot calling the kettle and vice versa. That's what I think about the mints! But," she concludes, "they were an important 'character.' "