ESPRIT LIBRE // Press Archive

Fool for Love (Soap Opera Digest 1/11/05)
Jessica Buchanan, OLTL

What are some of the foolish love choices Jessica has made? "Well, the Stephen Haver thing -- I'm fighting to the end on this one [laughs].... She had a non-romantic crush on him. The one main person telling her to stay away from him was John [McBain], who she doesn't like. She's not a big, huge fan of John, at the time especially. I think she still held Cristian's [presumed death] against him; she thought he was kinda screwing around her sister [Natalie], so there were many reasons why she wasn't a fan of John and she had no reason to trust him over Stephen -- no reason at all."

And Tico? "Marrying Tico was the most ridiculous decision she could ever have made in her whole, entire life. That was out of her torment over her boyfriend, her love, her fiance' [Antonio] sleeping with someone else [Sonia' and just walking out on her. Just, 'See ya! Bye!' I think that you justify stupid decisions with your pain.... She was devastated over what happened with Antonio. So, obviously, not the best choice, especially marrying him."

Do you think that Jessica is a smart woman? "Yes. I think because she lived a sheltered life, she might be, in some ways, more trusting and naive than other people. But I think that she's really a very, very smart girl. Very very smart..... After all those things [she's gone through], for her to even have a successful relationship with her mom or Antonio, even for a little while, or be a role model to Jamie or a good sister to Natalie, I think that's huge and makes her smart and together and strong. She's pulled Natalie out of a lot of her messes and been there for her. She's been there for her mom during her heart transplant, which is another major thing as well -- her mother almost dying. I mean, it's amazing that she can even wake up in the morning [laughs]!"

Do you ever get frustrated with Jessica's decisions? "Yes! Big time. But that's part of playing the good girl on the show. You spend most of the time being kidnapped or drugged or something because obviously, being the good girl, that's just what happens. I mean, I don't think that should be the rule of thumb and hopefully, that's going to be changing."