Rebecca Budig Reflects on ‘Harsh’ Exit from ‘Guiding Light,’ ‘Best Years’ on ‘All My Children’ & More

Rebecca Budig (Taylor Hayes, The Bold and the Beautiful) and Greg Rikaart‘s (Leo Stark, Days of our Lives) new podcast, Soapy, premieres today and will feature in-depth interviews with soap stars past and present, as well as creative people working behind the scenes.

Budig reveals that launching a podcast had been on her mind for some time, so when the chance to co-host one with her real-life pal Rikaart came along, she was on board. “Soaps have been the best experience of my life,” she says. “With Beyond the Gates coming on, it just felt like a good time to celebrate them and the people behind them.”

Soapy will feature in-depth chats with daytime legends like Eric Braeden (Victor Newman, Y&R), Deidre Hall (Marlena Evans, Days) and Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos, General Hospital), as well as Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry and Beyond the Gates executive producer Sheila Ducksworth. The transition from subject to moderator was an easy one for Budig. “I really like interviewing people,” she shares. “I am curious about people, and I think I’m just enjoying hanging out with Greg. He’s probably the funny one, and I’m a straight one. The day goes by super-fast.”

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It helps that Budig and Rikaart have a strong rapport; their real-life friendship began decades ago when real estate brought them together. “I bought his house from him, and he had bought the house next door, so we were neighbors,” she begins. “I had [daughter] Charlotte first, and he had [son] Monte after me, and then during Covid, we were a pod. I couldn’t get away from him. He’s a prankster. I’d park my car in my garage and not see him, and I would turn to open my door, and he’d be standing there, and I would scream. I lifted my toilet seat once, and my headshot was in the toilet. I took a big stand-up cut-out of me and put it in his bathroom, so when he turned the corner, it scared him. It’s fun.”

That’s the same word she uses to describe her current run on B&B. “I’m having fun,” she says. “I like that Taylor is smart. She’s strong. She’s a loving mother, maybe a little too much. I knew Thorsten [Kaye, Ridge Forrester] was an incredible actor when I was at All My Children [as Greenlee Smythe; he played Zach Slater], but I was only in a group scene with him. He is just one of the most honest actors I’ve ever worked with. I love Jacqui [MacInnes Wood, Steffy Forrester] and I love working with her, too.”

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Budig started her soap career playing Michelle Bauer on Guiding Light in 1995, a job she holds dear to her heart. “It was such a good experience,” she recalls. “I just remember being young, and feeling super connected to Peter Simon [Ed Bauer] and Michael O’Leary [Rick Bauer] and Amy Cox [Ecklund, Abigail Blume] and Kim Zimmer [Reva Shayne]. I just loved it, but I had nothing to compare it to. I didn’t work a ton, so I got to go to acting class and live in New York.”

One thing that stands out is her exit in 1998. “I do remember how harsh things can be,” she shares. “I was leaving the show and [Bethany] Joy Lenz was starting [as Michelle], and they literally had me do Act 6, hit a guy on the head with a rock, walk off, and she’s in the same outfit and she does the same thing the next day. I remember feeling a little ick about that. It felt wrong, and I remember I didn’t really think about it, but other people really thought it was distasteful. But I guess that happens in the world of TV and soaps.”

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She then joined the cast of All My Children as Greenlee Smythe in 1999 and considers it a career high point. “Those just felt like the best years of my life,” she reflects. “That was like my Sex and the City days. I’m not implying that I was sleeping around, but I was a single woman, I had a great job, and I had amazing friends on that show. Alicia [Minshew, Kendall Hart], Terri [Ivens, Simone Torres] and Amelia [Heinle, Mia Saunders], and I would hang out, and we’d laugh.

“Alicia is still one of my dearest friends. I just loved the character. I loved her clothes. I loved her shoes. When I put on the clothes, I felt like a different person. I loved [creator] Agnes Nixon. I loved the show. I loved all the people I worked with — Susan [Lucci, Erica Kane], [the late] James Mitchell [Palmer Cortlandt] — and it was just an incredible experience all around.”

Budig was lured back to soaps to play Hayden Barnes on General Hospital in 2015, a stint that had its highs and lows. “General Hospital is a tricky one, because I didn’t really understand who the character was in the beginning, and I think that’s only because I was only supposed to be there for a couple of weeks,” she explains. “And then, when they signed me, I still didn’t really quite grasp who the character was, but I felt like I found her, and I loved working with [the late] Tyler [Christopher, Nikolas Cassadine]. Sweet Tyler. Loved working with him, and my experience there was just very different.

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“I spent so many years on All My Children — I really felt like I was part of the company — so when you go to a place like GH, where you have a lot of people that have been there a long time, it’s a hard environment to sort of be a part of,” she continues. “But then, when I got to work with Michael Easton [Hamilton Finn], it was like a whole other level. I felt like I had a partner. I felt like, ‘Oh, my God! This is amazing!’ And then it just ended fast: It was gone.”

Budig believes that both her past daytime roles and her current job have helped shape her approach to hosting Soapy. “I think because I have worked at different shows, and I have had experiences of leaving a show, of getting let go from a show, taking on a new role, taking on an established role, there’s a lot of different things that I’ve been through,” she notes. “And Greg has as well, in a way, so it’s fun to talk about all those things and find out what other people have experienced in their careers, too.”

Listen to Soapy on Audacy or wherever podcasts are available. Watch full video episodes weekly on the CBS Brand YouTube Channel.