Who’s the Biggest Threat to Ridge & Brooke’s Marriage? ‘B&B’s Thorsten Kaye Weighs In
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The Bold and the Beautiful did more than reunite parents with their daughter last summer when they had all the characters on the show learn baby Phoebe was really baby Beth — the daytime drama used the reveal to thrust nearly everyone into a new conflict.
Case in point: Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) and Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) have taken opposite positions on Thomas’ (Matthew Atkinson) role in the whole mess. The recent widower didn’t tell Hope (Annika Noelle) her baby was alive so he could get her to marry him and be mother to his son, Douglas (Henry Joseph Samiri).
Now, Ridge and Brooke have separated. He’s back living at the Forrester mansion and, as viewers saw earlier this week, saucy Shauna Fulton (Denise Richards) is ready to lend Ridge a supportive ear (for starters)! Will Ridge and Brooke survive this current conflict?
TV Insider chatted with Thorsten Kaye to talk about how complicated Ridge’s life is these days. Read on for the scoop!
Katherine Kelly Lang and Thorsten Kaye (Cliff Lipson/CBS)
After some time in (relative) wedded bliss, Ridge and Brooke and their marriage are being tested. How does it feel?
Thorsten Kaye: I’m enjoying this story greatly. I just enjoy working with Katherine Kelly Lang. She is so good at what she does. She’s a fun person to play with. She’s a good egg.
Denise Richards, as Shauna, started out as a Flo’s (Katrina Bowden) “talk to,” but now, she’s an additional threat to Ridge and Brooke’s marriage. Shauna’s quickly becoming someone fans “love to hate.”
Denise is a good egg. When it comes to work, she’s like, “Let’s go! She gives 150 percent.” She’d never done a [daytime] soap opera before. She’s learned how fast we can move, production-wise, and she keeps pace. She’s done a great job.
Ridge isn’t encouraging her to be interested in him, but he’s not blind to her charms either.
Yes. That’s just a male-female thing. Brooke hasn’t been paying attention to Ridge and she’s been pushing him away. Ridge likes having someone to talk to. Right now, that’s Shauna.
Ridge getting tipsy at Bikini and Shauna taking his pants off, putting him to bed, sharing a kiss…it’s not that big of a disruption on the fidelity scale, but it certainly created shockwaves in Ridge’s marriage.
I think Ridge is putting all that on Brooke. It didn’t mean anything until Brooke made it mean something.
Katherine Kelly Lang as Brooke, Scott Clifton as Liam, Matthew Atkinson as Thomas, and Thorsten Kaye as Ridge (Sonja Flemming/CBS)
Should Brooke be jealous of Shauna?
I think the problems between Ridge and Brooke run much deeper than Shauna. Brooke knows that nothing happened between Ridge and Shauna. Their main issue is Thomas. If Brooke is Ridge’s partner for life, she should understand what Thomas means to Ridge.
How much of Ridge taking Thomas’ side is about guilt he may be feeling for all those years he was growing up and Ridge was with Brooke – not Thomas’ mother, Taylor (Hunter Tylo).
Guilt is a great engine. It’s kept Ridge going in support of his son in some ways. If Thomas is a little screwed up, Ridge feels he has to take some responsibility for that.
Ridge has moved back into his family home. This positions him for interaction with a lot of people. In fact, he wasn’t even there one night before accidentally crawling into bed with Shauna.
[Bold and Beautiful executive producer and head writer] Mr. [Brad] Bell is quite the weaver of tangled webs. It’s all good and I’m glad to be in the middle of it. I like working in the Forrester mansion set. It’s a nice big set. [On another show I was on], the police station [set] was my least favorite because it didn’t really have a center. In the Forrester mansion, you don’t even necessarily see people walk in and out. It’s so big — it’s almost as if it’s three sets in one.
Another reason I love working in that set is that it means doing more scenes with John McCook (Eric). Ridge coming home after being at Forrester Creations is the perfect end to a day – especially when I have scenes [with John]. I’ve also gotten to do a few scenes with Henry [Joseph Samiri, who plays Douglas]. You forget how much energy kids have. He’s a great kid.
Denise Richards as Shauna (Cliff Lipson/CBS)
In addition to these characters, being in the Forrester home potentially positions Ridge to interact with stepmother Quinn (Rena Sofer). A while back, Ridge pursued Quinn – it was left open as to whether or not he was doing so to protect his father or if he had genuine feelings for her.
Ridge’s dynamic with Quinn is a metaphor to the Forrester mansion, in a way. All the doors are left open and that’s always a nice way to tell a story. I like working with Rena. I don’t know that [the Ridge/Quinn] dynamic has been resolved. There’s a scene [coming up] in which Quinn tells Shauna about Ridge and I could have sworn Rena bite her lip a little bit as she’s doing it.
Can either of these women stop Ridge from reuniting with Brooke?
Brooke has always been the one. There’s nobody else. But…if Brooke turns to Bill [Don Diamont] during this time…I don’t’ know why she’d go back to him. Or why he’d turn to her after what Katie’s [Heather Tom] been through.
Katherine Kelly Lang as Brooke, Thorsten Kaye as Ridge (Johnny Vy/CBS)
How is Ridge’s relationship with Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood)? After Hope and Liam (Scott Clifton), she was affected the most by Beth being kidnapped.
It seems to be OK. Steffy’s a lot more reasonable. She understands what Ridge’s position is. She’s trying to understand that he’s a father. The only one who can’t seem to give him some leeway these days – is Brooke.
Bold and the Beautiful, Weekdays, CBS
