Interview Y&R: Christel Khalil Wants to Test Lily’s Mettle

Like most characters on a soap opera, Lily Winters has gone through a lot in the span of only a year. From losing the one that she loves, realizing that it wasn’t true, then finding out the guy that she’s with hasn’t been truthful with her, well, that can change a girl.

Christel Khalil, who has played Lily on The Young and the Restless off and on since 2002, realizes that all these things can really have an effect on a girl. Christel says: “She’s dealing with things that most people her age don’t deal with. That will make someone grow up and mature.”

Now that the cat is out of the bag that Chloe’s baby really is Billy’s, not Cane’s, the aftershocks can still be felt. Lily was “shocked and disgusted and hurt. I think Lily always likes to believe the best in people, and to find out that Chloe is just plain evil is pretty sad for her. Lily is just too nice to people most of the time.”

Cane and Lily are free to be with one another, but Christel believes this would have happened whether the truth about Chloe’s baby had come out or not. She explains: “I think their true love would have prevailed either way. When Cane thought that the baby was his, it didn’t matter, because he made it clear that he didn’t care about Chloe in that way, and he wanted to be with Lily. I think that no matter what, Cane and Lily would have found their way back to each other.”

So, what was the deal with Billy? Did Lily have feelings for him, or was he just a replacement for Cane while they were apart? “Lily was developing feelings for Billy. It started out as a rebound, but then she started to like him. She liked him, and she didn’t really care about what anyone said. She was doing something that she really wanted to do and didn’t worry about what other people thought.”

Even though Cane is not the biological father of Delia, he still wants his parental rights. Christel reasons: “For seven months, he thought it was his child, and he grew attached to her. Whether it was his child or not, he didn’t care; he really grew to love her. Lily understands his feelings about Delia, but she doesn’t really agree with him trying to take the baby away from Chloe.”

Behind the scenes, things are far from dramatic. In fact, it’s a veritable lovefest. Christel says: “I love working with Elizabeth (Hendrickson, ‘Chloe’), because she and I are such great friends. It’s so fun to have fighting scenes with her, because we love each other so much. Also, I miss working with my family. I never work with my family anymore; I’m always with Cane’s family. I miss working with Kristoff (St. John, ‘Neil’). And I love working with Bryton (McClure, ‘Devon’), because he and I are really good friends too.”

So, Cane and Lily are back together. Now what? “I’d like for them to have some time together where they can be happy for a while, but then, bring on the drama!” Christel offers. “Drama is always more fun — maybe have something bad happen to test their mettle as a couple.”