Life Lessons

Y&R’s Eric Braeden Previews His Memoirs And Dishes With Digest On All Things Newman.

- Tom Stacy

February of 2017 is going to be a big month for Y&R’s Eric Braeden. Not only will it mark his 37 years of playing the enigmatic captain of industry, Victor Newman, on daytime’s top rated soap, but on February 7, HarperCollins will release Braeden’s autobiography, I’ll Be Damned. Braeden shares that the tome, which was written by the actor and Lindsay Harrison, who also collaborated on the late Jeanne Cooper’s (ex-Katherine) memoirs, was a sentimental and sometimes difficult journey to relive.

“It was an emotional ride,” Braeden tells Digest. “One inevitably lives life on a daily basis and sometimes you don’t take time to reflect, and when you do look back upon certain periods in your life and discover deeply buried emotions, well, let’s just say it’s a good thing there was someone to edit it [laughs]. The most interesting and sometimes upsetting was childhood and youth, growing up in the most cataclysmic war of all time. The first years in America were interesting but tough times, as well. What I enjoyed most was reminiscing about all the wonderful actors I’ve worked with, from Marlon Brando to Betty White [ex-Ann, B&B] to Mary Tyler Moore to GUNSMOKE to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, all of them. And, of course, my reminiscences of working with Jeanne. I had enormous affection for her. I know how tough it is to maintain a career in this business and I have great respect for her for that. She and I always laughed together. We had an enormous amount of fun.”