Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
Little Girl Lost: On Young and Restless , Lucy Brooks O'Briant's Lucy is reeling from the tragic death of her mother, Heather (Vail Bloom).
The aftershocks of Heather Stevens's murder are only beginning to be felt on Young and Restless — but for the character of young Lucy Romalotti, Heather's daughter in every sense but the biological, the effects will likely be felt for a lifetime. Soap Opera Digest checked in with Lucy's portrayer, Lily Brooks O'Briant, on the emotional new turn in her storyline.
Soap Opera Digest: What was your reaction when you found out that Heather was going to be killed?
Lily Brooks O'Briant: I was shocked, for sure, when I found out. But, I mean, this is Young and Restless , so anything can happen, ever — you always have to expect the unexpected on Y&R! But I was really, really excited to get to take on the challenge because it is really fun to get to work with such challenging and heavy material. I really enjoy diving into Lucy's emotions and kind of figuring out where her head is at. Um. It's hard because Lucy is definitely a very different person than I am. She's dealing with her emotions as a teenager and she can be a little bratty sometimes, and listen, we've all been there! It's been fun getting to explore that side of her emotions because I'm not used to it. It's been interesting and difficult, but very fun.
Digest: We're seeing Lucy at the very beginning of what will surely be a long journey of coming to terms with this great loss that she's experiencing. How would you describe her state of mind at the current juncture of the story?
Brooks O'Briant: Currently, I think she's in denial. I think it's really, really hard for her to accept the fact that her mom isn't there anymore. When her dad wasn't in her life, her mom was her rock, and the thought of losing that is just unfathomable. So, I think she's in this huge state of denial. When she first heard that her mom was gone, immediately, she came up with every single reason that she can't be gone. I thought that was a really interesting way to play it because it's such a sudden thing — like, she didn't expect to wake up that morning and hear that her mom was dead. Uh, it's a really, it was, it was a fun scene to play as well because it was cool to play with that denial and her coming up with every reason that it can't have happened, that it couldn't be true. So, I think that where her head is at right now is denial, and I think she's also kind of feeling some guilt. She and her mom were having some [conflict]. They weren't fighting, but they weren't in the best place, and that's a really hard place for Lucy to be in because she's constantly thinking about the what-ifs and and what she wishes she could have said to her.
Digest: What stands out to you about playing out the first couple of episodes as Lucy is reeling from this tragedy?
Brooks O'Briant: Oh, it was definitely a hard few days. It was fun, for sure, because, because we — me and Graz [Michael Graziadei, Daniel] specifically — got to kind of figure out how we both would react in this situation. It's definitely a lot to think about, like, "How would you tell your daughter that her mom is dead?" and, "How would I, as her kid, react to that?" That was really cool, and also, having Graz there to kind of ground me was really good. He was so supportive and we both just kind of had each other's back in those scenes, specifically, which was really helpful. Working with him is such a dream. Those scenes were a lot, but I'm really happy with how they came out.
Digest: I think of him as such a lighthearted person, but when he has to bring the drama, he really brings it.
Brooks O'Briant: Oh, yeah, he does! He's so funny. He shows up to set in the craziest outfits, too. He'll walk into hair and makeup and I'm like, "So, what is Graz wearing today [ laughs ]?"
Digest: This story has some fantastical elements, like the presence of a hallucinated version of Cameron, but at the end of the day, there's a real loss and real grieving on the part of Heather's loved ones. I think you and Michael are both doing a great job in grounding the story in that reality.
Brooks O'Briant: Well, thank you. So many people can relate to that [sense of loss], I think, and I found it very important to try to represent that the best way that I could.
Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
The Third Degree: Daniel (Michael Graziadei, l.) and Lucy were both on edge with Chance's (Conner Floyd) questions about their last interactions with Heather.
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