The Young and the Restless star Michelle Stafford weighs in on Phyllis finding happiness

Michelle Stafford debuted as Phyllis Summers over 30 years ago on The Young and the Restless. The three-time Daytime Emmy-winner has come and gone from Genoa City a few times over the decades, but her passion for playing the fiery redhead has never wavered. The fan favorite recently sat down and did a deep dive on her character, and Soap Central's got the highlights.

The Young and the Restless, fabulous Phyllis

Stafford invited her social media followers to send her some questions. Not surprisingly, she received hundreds of inquiries about her and her life on The Young and the Restless. The actress answered some of them in a two-part social post on Instagram.

Fans want to know what Stafford's favorite storyline has been. "There are many, I have many, quite honestly," she said. "I love the Nick [Joshua Morrow and] Phyllis affair. I love it because it was very, very odd that these two characters would come together, these two characters who had been on the show...I think we'd both been on [the show for] 10 years before they put us together. So I loved that.

"I loved anything I did with Diane, who's played by Susan Walters," Stafford continued. "There are various scenes that I've loved with Phyllis and Jack [Peter Bergman]. All the storylines were great, but there are various shows that we did that I was like, 'Wow, that was, I really loved, you know, doing that particular show.'"

Stafford added she's fond of what's going on in Phyllis's life right now. "I like that Phyllis is every day sort of fighting for her life," she adds. "It takes a lot of energy to play, but I like it."

The Young and the Restless, forever Phyllis

"Somebody asked, 'Are you happy?'" Stafford shared. "I am basically a very happy person. So yes to that question. Another question was, if you weren't an actress, what would you be doing?"

The Young and the Restless star says that she had no other occupation in mind had acting not worked out. "I had no backup plan," she reveals. "I don't know what I would be doing. I don't know. I don't know. Again, I had no backup plan.

Stafford was asked if she had ever acted in a bad storyline, and what was the worst storyline she'd been in? "Okay," she responded, "This is the deal. There's not a bad storyline. I could like a storyline, and you could hate it. My job is actually not to have an opinion of the storyline."

One follower inquired if Stafford felt bad that many of the other female characters on the show are in happy relationships, but Phyllis is not. "Phyllis can be happy for a little bit, you know, like Phyllis can win battles," the actress suggests.

"She usually doesn't win the war," Stafford adds. "I love to play a tormented Phyllis. I prefer it's more fun as an actor to play, you know, like a character that's trying to work something out or is tormented in some way."

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Does this mean Phyllis will never find love? "I don't know," Stafford shrugs, "maybe, and she'll probably screw it up, you know."

Catch all-new episodes of The Young and the Restless weekdays on CBS and Paramount Plus.

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