‘The Bold and the Beautiful’: Emmy Winner Heather Tom on Katie’s Mad Meltdown

The Bold and the Beautiful - John McCook and Heather Tom
Q&A
© XJJohnson/jpistudios.com
Heather Tom (right) in The Bold and the Beautiful

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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  1. R

    RedGoggles

    Of all the soaps B&B remains the very worst. They were doing amazing work with Maya's story, bringing on the dynamic Avants, the fresh and romantic love story of Ridge & Caroline,Katie's alcoholism etc.. It was hitting on all cylinders & now it's utter trash.

    The white wash the Stanford swimmer sexual assault of Caroline, destruction of Caridge's marriage in one single episode, back-burnering Maya and the Avants, the 24/7 back & forth between Steffy/Liam/Wyatt, a friggin' story about tattoo removal, firing Linsey Godfrey because Bell said he didn't want Thomas tied to a kid (then WTF make the kid his instead of the in love Caridge), Zende/Nicole broke up and after MONTHS of nothing B&B reunites them in 1 episode and married them a week later.

    Nothing on B&B resonates because so called "love" ends after 1 or 2 episodes and then they "fall in love" with someone else a week later after 2 episodes.

    The ultimate disaster was adding FIVE new characters via this nuSpectra bull. Five characters on a 30 minute soap! This nuSpectra is just garbage.

    Now they have one of Daytime's finest actresses playing literally Nosey Parker. It's an utter insult and they expect us to buy that Katie goes off the deep end over Quinn while she's all hunky dory with the sister who destroyed her marriage not once but twice. B&B is creatively bankrupt & needs a new HW.

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    1. P

      PurpleMustache

      I think the big mistake that Bell did is braking up Caroline and Ridge and the baby story must return as a story line. They were a power couple on the show and there love story was a big part of the show. I still don't think that Thomas is the father he moved on now with his life with Sally and there is no point of bracking up Sally and Thomas. Caroline and Thomas never had Sparks and they were never a couple. I do hope that when Caroline came back to the show she will get back together with Ridge. For now I am enjoying Ridge with Quinn wich I can't deny that they have chemistry together but I do not know what Bell will want to do with Ridge and Quinn story line.

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  2. O

    OliveLocomotive

    Katie suddenly pulling the gun was lazy soap trope writing for me. Came out of the blue and made no sense, although having the Avant parents on screen made up for the nonsense. The concept of Katie having a mental breakdown from the infidelity and lacking creativity might be interesting. Suddenly becoming a nutjob is not.

  3. P

    PurpleLeaf

    B&B always OD's on crazy women.

    Quinn, Katie, Pam and now Nicole.