Young & Restless Exclusive: Melissa Ordway Explains How She Fields the Tough Questions — From Her Daughters: ‘Why Are You Hugging That Man?’
Daughter Sophie has decided she wants what mom has!
If The Young and the Restless‘ Melissa Ordway isn’t careful, she might have some competition next time she goes to an audition: It seems at least one of her children may be interested in pursuing an acting career!
“What mommy does for a living is just starting to click for them,” says Abby’s portrayer of daughters Olivia, 5, and Sophie, who just recently turned 4. Of course, sometimes, young minds a little bit of help processing things. Take, for example, when Connor Floyd joined the cast as Chance.
“I posted a video welcoming him,” Ordway explains, “and Sophie was sitting there watching, then she looked at me and said, ‘Mommy, why are you hugging that man?’ I had to explain that he’s my pretend husband, and she immediately got it. She said, ‘Oh, right, you’re Abby Newman. When I get older, I’m going to have a pretend husband and a pretend baby and I’m going to work with you.'”
Mom’s reaction? “I was like, ‘Go for it, girlfriend. Maybe I can play your grandma one day!'”
Above: “I pinch myself every day,” admits Ordway, “because I’m grateful that I get to do what I love.
Credit: Howard Wise/JPI
More: Sophie’s life in pictures
But knowing both the highs and lows of the business, would Ordway encourage her girls to pursue a career in front of the camera? “You know, if it’s something they want to do and are passionate about, I would absolutely support them all the way,” she enthuses. “My parents were always supportive of me, and I would want to do the same for them. What I wouldn’t do, though, is push them into it.”
What she would do is make sure they understand how tough the business is. “I feel like a lot of people, and I mean full-grown adults, don’t necessarily get it,” she muses. “I mean, I have people call me and say things like, ‘You should be on this show or that one. You should call them, because you’d be great on it!’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s not really how it works.’ It’s not like I can just walk over to HBO and say, ‘Hey, I’d be great on Succession. Why don’t you make me a member of the Roy family?'”
That said, “as long as they understood that you have to put a lot of work and time into this profession, if Sophie or Olivia said they really wanted to do this, I’d be in their corner all the way.”
Who knows, maybe one day Ordway’s daughters will wind up featured in a photo gallery like the one below in which we look at some of the cutest kids — past and present — featured on our soaps!
