‘The Bold and the Beautiful’: Emmy Winner Heather Tom on Katie’s Mad Meltdown
Q&A
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She’s pissed and she’s got a gun! The Bold and the Beautiful’s Katie Logan—played by five-time Emmy winner Heather Tom—came unhinged in the CBS soap’s June 5 episode after being ousted as a jewelry designer at Forrester Creations and she pulled a gun on Quinn Forrester, the boss who fired her. Tensions escalate from there, with a seismic shock coming June 9—one that will have longtime B&B fans going wild! Tom gave us a preview.
What’s happening to our poor Katie? This girl needs a therapist!
Losing her job triggers a lot—no pun intended. Katie loses her mind when she gets fired. She’s, like, “You can’t possibly be doing this!” It’s a real Fatal Attraction moment, only instead of “I will not be ignored!” it’s “I will not be fired!” And, in her mind, it’s all Quinn’s fault.
So Katie doesn’t know that she pretty much sucks at her job?
Not at all. She thinks this is Quinn’s way of getting rid of her. She doesn’t blame Eric for this at all. She doesn’t know that he’s the one who gave the order to get rid of her.
It’s rather refreshing that Katie is no good at designing, especially on a show like B&B where characters constantly land jobs in the fashion biz they’re completely unqualified for and somehow do just great at them.
I know. It’s like going to work for a great jewelry designer like Catherine Malandrino and having no experience whatsoever. I’m kind of glad Katie is not suddenly this great, gifted designer. She’s a numbers girl. She’s a marketing expert. This isn’t her thing but she’s searching for something to fill up her life. She likes being caught up in the excitement of being back in an office and doing something creative and productive. But this is not her forte. Her stuff is mostly derivative and lacking inspiration—not tacky but certainly not exciting.
Does she really care about this job, or is she more interested in being at Forrester where she can continue her threat to expose Quinn and Ridge’s romance? Doesn’t she get off by being right in their faces?
She definitely wants to keep an eye on those two. Katie is never the one with the power but she sure has it in this situation and there’s something very intoxicating about that. But she’s also really excited to be back in the game. Just because she has money doesn’t mean she wants to be a lady who lunches.
So what happens after this gun incident?
Katie is even more obsessed than ever with getting back at Quinn. She stops by Restoration Hardware and buys a telescope so she can spy on her.
You mean Katie’s going to be like Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched, the neighborhood snooper snoop?
She’s gotta do something with her time! It doesn’t help that she’s living all alone in that big house, right next door to Quinn and Eric. Katie’s had a really crappy year or two. She went off the deep end with her drinking. I don’t know that she necessarily turned into an alcoholic, but she had to turn her brain off to all that pain that came from losing [her husband] Bill to [her sister] Brooke. She felt she was going crazy. She thought that Brooke marrying Ridge would be an end to that horrible Brooke-Bill thing, and when that marriage didn’t happen it threw Katie for a loop. Katie is not pining away for Bill by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s still a humiliation she must now live with on a daily basis.
And she blames Quinn for everything.
Katie tries to be a good person who plays by the rules but she loses every single time. Worse yet, she’s surrounded by people who do terrible things, and they win! Quinn epitomizes that. Katie has a hard time letting go. I think Heather Tom might be a little bit like that, as well. [Laughs] So, weirdly, I can relate! When Katie loves people, she loves them deeply. She’s able to forgive, but she doesn’t forget.
And she also keeps being proven right. Katie’s the perfect example of that old adage, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they ain’t out to get ya.”
Yes! [Laughs] And, for her, it’s a very hollow victory.
Katie does seem to be making moves on Eric. She’s been hanging around the Forrester mansion way too much, and looking pretty damn needy.
Yeah. But I hate the word “needy” Oy!
What’s your problem with it?
I don’t think it’s very attractive. [Laughs] And I don’t know that it’s entirely a fair description of Katie. She’s trying to find her way and her purpose in life, other than being a mother, which she loves and is her number one priority. But life is more than that. I don’t think it makes her needy to search for more. but Quinn probably should be suspicious. Katie feels a real bond with Eric. She was gaslighted for the better part of a year by Brooke and Bill, two people who supposedly loved her. She knows what it’s like to be the last one to know about an affair. And now Quinn and Ridge are basically doing the same thing to Eric. Katie doesn’t want him to get hurt. She feels complicit in not telling him the truth. It makes her feel like she’s part of this whole creepy icky thing.
Once the hanky panky between Quinn and Ridge is exposed, a Katie-Eric love affair seems inevitable, no?
Maybe that’s down the road. We’ll see. Eric has been a stabilizing force in Katie’s life for a very long time as a friend, and that’s been so comforting considering the turmoil she’s been through. He’s solid and she doesn’t have a lot of that in her life. And Eric has an energy that Katie really likes.
Do you want to see that romance happen?
Hey, I love John McCook and welcome any opportunity to work with him. He’s one of my most favorite people. So, yeah, I’m game for whichever way they want to go with this. Katie and Eric aren’t related, so there’s certainly nothing stopping them!
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