Report: Michelle Stafford Exits "Y&R"
by Kimberly Roots
5/20/13


Michelle Stafford is leaving CBS’ "The Young and the Restless", E! reports.

The multiple Daytime Emmy winner has played the soap’s Phyllis, off and on, since 1994.



Stafford’s exit comes not long after "Y&R" vet Jeanne Cooper’s death in early May; the drama will air a tribute to the Chancellor matriarch on May 28.

Stafford recently shot a retrospective video in honor of her show’s 40th anniversary.

http://tvline.com/2013/05/20/the-young-and-the-restless-michelle-stafford-leaving/

Awful news. Michelle has been one of the only solid things about the show for quite a while. As predicted, Jill Farren Phelps has ripped this show apart in no time at all.

I think there could be more to this. Even though I'm not a big Phyllis fan, she is very good on Y&R.

Bad news for the show. Michelle always delivers with every scene she is in and the show will suffer from her loss...

Not good for the show at all.

Well, that sucks. Phyllis has always added a touch of fire and good humor to the show. I always liked her. Well, not always liked some things the character did, but always liked Michelle's acting on the show.


As predicted, Jill Farren Phelps has ripped this show apart in no time at all.
I'm a little foggy on the ins and outs on the show anymore; who is Jill Phelps and what is her role in this? Executive producer?

Well, that sucks. Phyllis has always added a touch of fire and good humor to the show. I always liked her. Well, not always liked some things the character did, but always liked Michelle's acting on the show.

I'm a little foggy on the ins and outs on the show anymore; who is Jill Phelps and what is her role in this? Executive producer?

What?? Why? She is one of the rocks on the show. Granted the psycho act with Avery has gotten very, very old, but still, overall she's a solid character who is one of the bases of the show.
I wonder if her exit will be in the wake of this whole paternity storyline. It almost has to be.

Exclusive: Michelle Stafford Dishes Her Exit from "The Young and the Restless"
Aug 1, 2013
by Michael Logan


TV Guide Magazine scored an exclusive one-on-one with the lady herself, who tells us why she has chosen to exit her crazy-popular role as Y&R's Phyllis (her last airdate is Friday, Aug. 2) and why her millions of disappointed fans shouldn't be hating the powers that be.





Let's talk about your departure from Y&R. Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night wondering, "What the hell have I done?"

Not at all, but I do wake up going, "Wow. It's really, really over. I'm not on the show anymore! I'm not Phyllis!" It's been 15 years of my life, so it's wild. I don't have regrets because it was a very thought-out decision, not based on any kind of emotion, and a decision that took me a couple of years to reach. It wasn't a "F--k you guys!" sort of thing.

Not at all! I don't feel comfortable divulging all of my many personal reasons for leaving the show, but I've been very honest with the people at Y&R and with the fans that there is no malice, no anger involved.





Yet many of your followers don't want to believe that. They want to blame your exit on [exec producer] Jill Phelps or [head writer] Josh Griffith. And some think you're being punished for leaving, which is why Phyllis was put into a rather anticlimactic coma.

My going had nothing to do with Jill and Josh. You don't leave a show you love after 15 years because of one person, or two people. At least I don't. That just doesn't make sense. But, if people are pissed, I can see why they might find Jill and Josh an easy target. Nobody should be mad at them. And I am not being punished with the way they wrote out Phyllis!

When I spoke to them about my decision to leave, I did say that I thought it would be a mistake to kill Phyllis. And they were very funny about it. "If we say we're going to kill her, will that make you stay?" [Laughs] A little blackmail! I like that they have kept this role open and I totally support the idea of a recast. Phyllis is way too important of a character to let her go away just because I'm leaving the show.

So, no, I'm not being punished. Executives and writers just don't think that way. They've been very kind, and for the fans to think otherwise is just not right. Why is it so hard to accept that I just want to go? I'm an actor. We want to do lots of things. [Laughs] And if I fall on my ass with The Stafford Project, I want to really fall on my ass!

You know, it's kind of unnatural to be an actor on a soap and pretend to be another person for so many years. You're making out with men. You're rolling around naked in bed. Who else has a job like that? [Laughs] Only a whore! Soaps are a great job but you find so many soap actors turning into their characters.

It's a lot of intensity. That's why jumping into this comedy web world is so exciting for me now. People don't think someone who's been on a soap for 15 years can do comedy. The very least that can happen with this is that somebody somewhere out there thinks I'm funny and that's good enough for me.





Well, we're going to miss you madly on Y&R but can't wait to see more of The Stafford Project and whatever else the future holds for you.

Thanks! Yeah, who knows what's next? [Laughs] Hopefully, it's not me working at The Cheesecake Factory!




* Stafford's new comedy webseries 'The Stafford Project' (MichelleStafford.com) debuts Aug. 5 and skewers reality TV, Hollywood agents and even Stafford's own adorably sad love life.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Michelle-Stafford-Leaving-Young-Restless-1068694.aspx