KYM DOUGLAS ON Y&R ROLE

Kym Douglas, motivational speaker/beauty expert/ author/columnist/TV personality and the real-life widow of the late Jerry Douglas (exJohn, Y&R), will make her Genoa City debut on June 22 in an episode that centers around the Abbott family.

“They first asked me if I would be interested in doing it because they had thought about doing an episode which would include flashbacks of John Abbott,” she explains. “Traci Abbott, played by Beth Maitland, has been established as a very successful writer for many years, and they wanted someone to play her agent, and who better than someone who was a journalist and has authored books, plus the connection with Jerry, so it was a great thing. My character’s name is Zelda Winston and I’ve decided that her great-grandfather was Harry Winston, and she has a lot of diamonds, but that’s just me.”

On-camera work wasn’t new to Douglas. “I was on THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW for 19 years, as her sidekick with the beauty and lifestyle advice,” she explains. “There were 380 people in the audience and I stood next to the number one comedian, in my opinion, in the world. She never wanted to rehearse one thing with me — ever. For 19 years, it was straight improv and off the cuff. Her mind just works that way and I loved it. I also did HOME AND FAMILY on the Hallmark Channel for 12 years, as well as some acting gigs.”