Melissa Ordway abby cell phone "The Young and the Restless" Set CBS television CityLos Angeles06/15/21© Howard Wise/jpistudios.com310-657-9661Episode # 12157U.S. Airdate 07/22/21
Credit: Howard Wise/JPI

“We open ourselves up to that,” she acknowledges.

By and large, Melissa Ordway has a good time on social media, giving us little peeks at her life with husband Justin Gaston and their daughters, and occasionally taking us behind the scenes at The Young and the Restless. “Most of the people that comment on my pictures, or at least the stuff that I see, are very kind,” she tells Soaps.com. The remarks are “from people who follow me because they like me, Abby, my kids or the show. They like that I share my life. So most of the things I see are very positive.

“But every now and then, you see someone saying something mean or nasty. And I find that what happens is once you see one, you can kind of go down a rabbit hole, and you’re like, ‘Oh my God!’” she adds with a laugh. “I try to shelter myself from that, because everyone has an opinion, and I can’t make everyone happy.”

More: Melissa Ordway’s daughter Sophie — life in pictures

Unfortunately, we can’t make everyone nice, either. “I recently went down a rabbit hole, and it was not a good head space,” Ordway says. “I’ll be honest, I sat there and cried for a few minutes. Justin came in and was like, ‘Are you crying?’ And I admitted I was because the comment was on a picture of one of the kids. I was like, ‘Why are they talking like that about my child?’ But that is part of social media. We open ourselves up to that. I don’t have to be on Instagram, it’s a choice I made.”

Melissa Ordway, Justin Gaston attends CBS Daytime Emmy Awards After Party at Pasadena Convention Center on May 05, 2019 in Pasadena, California© Jill Johnson/jpistudios.com310-657-9661

More: Ashland’s lie makes our 10-biggest list [PHOTOS]

And to be clear, Ordway bears a total of zero ill will toward even Internet trolls. “I don’t want to blame people. I honestly most of the time feel bad for them,” she says. “I’m like, ‘I feel really bad that you’re taking the time to put this negativity out there instead of maybe doing something that uplifts others rather than trying to bring them down.’

“But I just say a little prayer and weep quietly in the corner for them,” she continues with a laugh. They can’t and won’t rain on her parade. “I pinch myself every day and acknowledge how blessed I am. I get to go to work every single day and do something I love with amazing, wonderful people.”

Is anything better than that? (Rhetorical question.) While you’re here, follow the steps Ordway and Gaston took from first meeting to true love in the below photo gallery of their real-life romance.