Interview: B&B Rick vs. Ridge — The Gloves Come Off

If you have been watching The Bold and the Beautiful for any amount of time, you know one thing: As sure as the sky is blue, there has always been animosity between Rick and Ridge Forrester. And this week, things have really heated up.

Fans have been waiting on pins and needles to see what the straw that breaks the camel’s back would be, and now we finally know: Taylor. Rick’s portrayer, Kyle Lowder, explains: “Rick fell head over heels in love with Taylor; he dedicated his life to her. He put all of his eggs in one basket, so to speak. When he found out that she kissed Ridge and hopes for a future with him, Rick’s world came crashing down.

“He is completely and totally devastated by this, and that kind of short-circuits his emotions in his head. He is coming from a complete and total reactive point of view, rather than proactive. He’s operating purely from an emotional standpoint.”

While Rick is mad at Taylor for what has happened, there is something much deeper that has been brewing. “There are two parts of this story that are all encompassing into one main idea. Since Rick’s childhood, there have been years of animosity, hatred and issues with Ridge that are now coming to a head, where Rick blames Ridge for everything bad that has happened in his life. Ridge took away his mother, he monopolized his father’s attention and, last year, when Rick was trying to be with Phoebe, Ridge was in the middle of that.

“Now Rick has finally fallen in love with a woman that he wants to spend the rest of his life with, and there’s Ridge. Even though Taylor has been the aggressor with Ridge, Rick doesn’t want to hear that, he wouldn’t even believe it. It’s all about ‘Ridge ruined my life yet again,’ and he is like, ‘I am through with this guy. I am going to kill him.’”

When the fight between Rick and Ridge escalates to Rick falling over the railing on the rooftop, that is when the gloves truly come off.

Kyle says: “As soon as Rick comes to in the hospital, I feel he is completely in control of what he is doing, which is complete and total manipulation of everybody in trying to bring Ridge down. He’s trying to spin it that it was not an accident, that Ridge tried to kill him when Rick tried to expose him for what he really is. Rick tries to play on everybody’s sympathies. He’s going to use this occasion to try to bring Ridge down and to turn everybody in his life against him. Rick has come of age. He is emotionally and physically equal to Ridge, toe to toe, and he is going to dedicate his life now to bringing him down.”

Kyle is excited to be able to explore the different sides of Rick’s personality that nobody has really seen before. “Rick has always been the Golden Boy. This is an opportunity for me to — while respecting the history of the character — take Rick in a completely different direction, add more sides to him, make him more well-rounded and deeper.

“Nobody is just good or just bad. It’s an opinion, but I just don’t buy it. It’s important to show a well-rounded character, where you show his darkness and you show his light. I think a one-sided character, ultimately, is a boring character. This story gives me the opportunity to touch upon different sides of Rick, making him a deeper character.”