Interview (Y&R): The New Man in Sharon's Life, Part 2

Sharon Case has played Sharon Newman on “The Young and the Restless” for almost 16 years. She has seen her share of love interests come and go, and she’s explored the very depths of Sharon’s character in the many years she has played her. If anyone knows what’s best for Sharon Newman, aside from head writer Maria Bell, it’s Sharon Case.

While she knows there is a large online contingency out there who want Nick and Sharon together and are disgusted by Adam and his duplicitous actions, Sharon is pro “Shadam” all the way. As she explains to me: “There are so many fans who love Sharon and Adam, and I love them too. I can’t see why some people wouldn’t like it. It’s a great story line, and it’s fun to watch. Regardless of things that Adam has done in his past, that doesn’t make him a bad person in the present.”

In true “nemesis” form, Sharon reminds us of all the “bad” that her archrival Phyllis has done: “When you look at it, Phyllis is a really bad person too. She blew up one of her friends in a lab; she ran over Paul Williams when he was marrying Christine. She’s framed people — there is a long laundry list of really hurtful things she has done and continues to do, and yet Nick is still in love with her. So for people not to like Adam because he’s done bad things, I’d just tell them that.

“When you fall in love with someone and marry him, you are on the same team. No one is perfect, and no one has a sparkling-clean past. Sharon doesn’t care. She loves him. Whatever he’s done wrong, they’ll work it out. Of course, she’s not thinking in terms of ‘he stole her baby,’ but this is how she feels about him in general. Sharon knows he’s done bad things, but she is passionately in love with him.”

Speaking of love, a big debate about the character of Sharon is that it seems she always has a man in her life in some way or another. Would Case ever like to see Sharon on her own, and try to give being single and independent a go? “Absolutely not! There's not a single leading lady on this show who does not always have a man in her life, and vice versa. Who does that?

“For a while, there was some talk among the fans that Sharon should not have a man in her life for some time, or maybe it was Phyllis who suggested it, but that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Why would anyone want to go around in her life by herself? Isn’t the whole point of life to share things with someone else? We are all with someone else, and those of us who are lonely wish we weren’t! Do you think people who are alone in life got some kind of therapy out of that?

“I don’t think that’s the answer for Sharon. I don’t think that will make her stronger. You get stronger when you experience things in life and share those experiences with others. I don’t understand that mentality at all: Sharon should be alone. And how fun would that be, watching Sharon at home reading a book all day long?”