Interview Y&R: Sharon Case Is a Designing Woman

Sharon Newman definitely does not have time to spare in her emotionally busy life in Genoa City to even think about creating a jewelry line. However, her alter ego, Sharon Case, has managed to squeeze the title of “businesswoman” into her already busy schedule by deciding to create her own line of jewelry, called Pomp. Sharon will be debuting her line of jewelry on QVC Aug. 10 at 2 p.m. ET, and I caught up with her recently so she could tell me all about it.

Daytime Dial: Most women, like me and you, love jewelry and probably have thought about creating our own jewelry at one time or another. What gave you that final push to say, “Hey, I am going to produce my own line of jewelry and sell it on QVC”?

Sharon Case: Yeah, I think that we women all think about having our own line of something. Whether we are into clothes or skin care. I’ve always loved costume jewelry, but for years and years it just wasn’t in style the way it is now. When I was a little girl, my grandmother gave me all of her costume jewelry. It was really in style then and I just loved it. And I wore it all the time playing dress-up as a little girl, but for years and years it really hasn’t quite been in style. We had sort of a costume-jewelry style that was popular in the ’80s, but then that left and we sort of went into a more delicate, fine-jewelry style for years. Now we are really into these chunky necklaces and bracelets.

There was a manufacturer who worked at QVC and approached me about it, so it just worked out that way. Nowadays, everything that we wear and anything that you see in the stores, the whole outfit is made on the jewelry. It’s really the jewelry that pulls every outfit together.

DD: What inspires your jewelry creations?

SC: It just kind of comes together somehow. It’s not one particular thing that inspires me — like with anything, you are inspired by everything you see. A lot of my inspirations come from the jewelry that my grandmother gave me when I was 10. I love chunky rhinestone necklaces. I love beads and pearls — layers and layers and layers of beads, and I just love them.

DD: What is Elif Inanc’s role in Pomp; is she your co-designer?

SC: Elif is really the designer. She is a stylist; that’s what she does by trade. She is the stylist of “The Young and the Restless.” She is a great designer — clothes, jewelry and handbags, everything. She has done a lot of the work, and I had a few things that I had always loved and wanted to make for years, so I put in a few of my things. Then we put them all together and decided what would go in the line.

DD: What kind of consumer are you hoping to attract with your QVC program?

SC: QVC has a wide variety of people who watch it. That is partly why we made such a wide variety of jewelry, so there would be something for everyone. We have mostly sort of chunky, funky fashion jewelry, but we made one or two very dainty more-minimalistic pieces that look a little bit more like fine jewelry. We speak to the whole audience.

DD: That’s a good choice, because some people wear more dainty, muted items at work, then at night they bring out the funky stuff.

SC: That was what we hoped to do. Some people will wear different day jewelry than night, and I will too, but others, they have their one thing they like to stick to. We had to make sure that we made something for everyone. We wanted to show the appeal to as many people as possible. We love so many different kinds of jewelry, Elif and I both. We are fond of all of it. I wear all of it.

DD: How do you juggle having a demanding daytime job with starting up your own jewelry line?

SC: Having a partner is key. I couldn’t have done it just by myself. If it weren’t for Elif, I wouldn’t have found the time. It really takes two or more people to put this together when the people involved already otherwise have full-time jobs. That was why it worked out.

DD: Is there a website where fans can purchase your jewelry?

SC: Yes, QVC does sell all of its pieces at qvc.com. After our show airs on Aug. 10, they will be available on qvc.com for purchase.

Interview Outtakes, Part 6

Most of the time when I am conducting an interview with a soap star, I have more interview material than space for printing the interview. Here are some blurbs from stars that did not make it to the print version of the interview, but were too good not to publish.

Sharon Case (pictured, Sharon Newman, “The Young and the Restless”): “Right now, whenever I do a scene with Nick, I am aware that the love of my life is standing next to me. We might not be together, but they still have a lot of scenes together, and they share a son together. For me, every time I am in the room with Nick, it is a love scene between Nick and Sharon. We can’t be in the same room together and it not be about love. Even if we are fighting, it is about love. It is always there. I don’t think it is really over; it is just being played continuously in another form.”

Dominic Zaprogna (Dante Falconeri, “General Hospital”): When I read (the script with the scene of Dante falling asleep before he and Lulu could finally make love), I was like: ‘No, he doesn’t fall asleep! Come on! I’ve heard of that happening before, but I didn’t think I was gonna be the one!’ However, that is the same night he leaves the hospital, and I think he’s pretty drugged up. I mean, come on, he could have a heart attack. But I think it could be worth it at this point.”


JoBeth Williams (ex-Brandy Shelloe, “Guiding Light”): “For a long time, I was a workaholic. I felt very uncomfortable if I wasn’t working. Having kids really changed my perspective, as I think it does for many people, particularly women. My husband, who is a director, and I knew that we really didn’t want to be away from our sons. You just have to make choices, and they are choices that are often hard to make. There could be work that you wanted to take, but you can’t because your spouse is away working. Once you have a family, your perspective changes on how to balance work and life.”

Eileen Fulton (Lisa Grimaldi, “As the World Turns”): “I have so many stories I could tell you from the early days of filming the show. I remember we moved to Grand Central Station for our studio at one point. There was an office building there, and we had our studio there. We came on at 1:30, and at 1:35, all the dishes in Nancy’s cabinet started to rattle. There was a train coming into the station that had a square wheel or something, and it went ba-boom, ba-boom, ba-boom.

“Oakdale is supposed to be out in mid-America, near Chicago. It always varied how near Chicago was: Sometimes it took an overnight train to get there, and sometimes someone could drive it in the half-hour the show was on. At one point, our studio was over on 57th Street near the Hudson River, and the Queen Elizabeth would come in with its horn blaring, unmistakably, and here we are supposedly in the middle of America with big ships coming to port.

“Oh, and I caught the set on fire one time – it was Cherries Jubilee. We had to start timing this thing in the morning. I had to serve this flaming Cherries Jubilee to all of the Hughes men. I had to look around and say: ‘I see we’ve all finished. Shall we go to the garden?’ In rehearsal, we went over and over it, timing all of our bites, so that we were finished eating when my line came. So we kept pouring more and more brandy into the dessert; we were looped by the time we went on the air. Grandpa Hughes ate a flaming spoonful of fire.”

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?”

Interview Y&R: Sharon and Adam, an Unexpected Love (Part 1)

Sharon Case, who has played Sharon Newman on The Young and the Restless since 1994, is as surprised as anyone that Sharon and Adam are in love and got married. As an actress who takes a deep interest in her character, like many fans of the show, she thought her baby would bring Nick and Sharon back together. However, Maria Bell, co-executive producer and head writer, had something else up her sleeve.

Daytime Dial: There has been a lot of crazy stuff going on in Genoa City for Sharon lately. As an actress, has life on the set been fun for you?
Sharon Case: Oh yeah. I love it when I get such a great story line. Always coming in and having something to do makes my job so much easier than to come in and do something where you have kind of stagnant scenes where nothing is really happening. It’s fine when that happens, and it is necessary for you to have times where your story line is to support someone else and letting something slowly build up.

DD: What did you think when you first read in the script that Sharon was going to think her daughter died during childbirth, and that Adam was going to give her child to Ashley?
SC: I was surprised that it was going to be a dramatic story. I guess I always thought that when Nick and Sharon had their baby together, I envisioned that being a happily-ever-after story. They had been through so much — lost a daughter, married different people — I just thought that when they had their daughter together, it would be right. I thought that while Sharon was pregnant they would get back together, maybe even get married and have the baby, with it being a happy occasion for them. I just thought it would be a very lovely, happy time for them.

When I found out it wasn’t going to go that way, I was surprised. When I found out the story was going to be a baby-switch story, I thought, “Oh no, not a baby switch!” Those story lines usually end up being common story lines, but this story ended up being anything but common. This was so fantastically written, and I had no idea something this amazing was around the corner. 

This is the most fun I’ve ever had in a story, that’s for sure. I love all the twists and turns in it, and all the layers. I love Sharon and Adam as a couple. I don’t know why I didn’t see this before. It just makes so much more sense, that if Nick and Sharon weren’t going to be together, that Sharon would be with Nick’s brother. It keeps the triangle going, it keeps it in the family. And I love the chemistry that I have with Michael Muhney, who plays Adam. I love working with him.

DD: What was going through Sharon’s mind to make her marry Adam so impulsively?
SC: When he first asked her to marry him, she did think that it was sudden and too fast. Then she thought twice and realized, I’m not getting any younger and I do love this man. What am I waiting for? There was no reason for her not to marry him. Being with Adam is about moving on — they both wanted to put their ugly pasts behind them and just take giant leaps into the future, and have fun doing it. Adam is about laughing and enjoying life, and that is what Sharon needs. She thinks of Adam as someone she can really talk to. He is her best friend.

DD: How would you like to see Sharon react when/if she finally finds out that Faith is indeed alive, and her husband is the one who made the switch?
SC: I would like to see the story line keep going. I really like working with Michael, but I realize that things eventually have to come out. Obviously Sharon is going to be pretty upset. I don’t like to say how it should happen, because Maria is so much better than me. She will always write something a thousand times better than anything I could have thought of. So, it’s silly for me to even try to predict. I just leave her to do her thing!

Interview: Power Play at Restless Style Magazine

Sharon Case knew going in that it would be difficult for Jack, Sharon, Nick and Phyllis to all play nice when they decided to start a magazine together. Sharon Case, who has played Sharon Abbott on “The Young and the Restless” since 1994, says that’s all part of the fun for her as an actress. “That’s what we’re hoping for, is conflict. You put these characters together in situations they normally wouldn’t be in together, and it’s fun to see what happens.”

The two couples didn’t go into this blind: They knew they were going to have their troubles working together, but as Sharon tells me: “They were hoping for the best with the conflicts they knew existed. But those conflicts didn’t outweigh the idea of creating the magazine. They can see the positive points of their partnership, even though Sharon and Phyllis do not get along. Sharon looks forward to spending time with Nick and with Jack.”

Eventually, though, someone is going to have to come out on top. And Sharon says when that time comes, there will be fireworks. “There are lots of conflicts coming up -- not only between Sharon and Phyllis, but also between Nick and Jack, and even Sharon and Jack.”

The Sharon and Jack conflict could have something to do with Jack’s need for vengeance. Nick and Phyllis just wrote an unflattering article, into which Phyllis injected some juicy tidbits about Sharon (unbeknownst to Nick). When Jack and Sharon find out, the claws will come out.

“Obviously, Sharon and Jack don’t like the article,” Sharon explains. “Jack retaliates by doing another interview. Sharon doesn’t want to keep going back and forth, especially using the magazine for personal vendettas. She just wants it to stop.”

Many fans of “Y&R” have a distinct opinion about the couples. There is a large contingency who want Phyllis and Jack back together, and want Sharon with Nick again. Sharon is flattered when she hears about the passion the show’s fans feel for the characters.

“I’m glad there are those who feel that way. If there weren’t, then they wouldn’t care so much about the current story line. The conflict wouldn’t be there, and no one would want to watch.

“I also think this is something that we all can relate to: being with one person that you love, and longing to be with another who you’ve loved longer and who really is your soul mate. It’s a tragic love story.”

But that is not to say that Sharon 
doesn’t love Jack. “She stays with Jack because she does love him -- that’s the bottom line. She could have gone with Brad; she could have gone it alone. He picked her up out of the low place she was at after her marriage broke up. Sharon sees Jack as a great security to her and Noah.”

Because of Noah, Nick will always have a place in her life. “Nick and Sharon really are soul mates. She never wanted her marriage to end; she never stopped caring. She never stopped loving him; it was circumstance that caused them to part.”

Everything that Sharon has gone through has helped her to grow into the woman she is now. “I’m glad she went through all that she has,” Sharon says. “She has matured and changed. It has been really fun to see her morph and change with the years.”

In the years to come, Sharon Case will still be excited to play her alter ego. “I try to keep her interesting even when she’s not in a front-burner story line. I’m just so glad the writers have written me so many great stories over the years, and have made Sharon who she is today.”