‘The Young and the Restless’ Interview: Burgess Jenkins Says Playing Billy Abbott Was Physically and Mentally Exhausting

“The Young and the Restless” newcomer Burgess Jenkins announced he was leaving the CBS daytime drama a few weeks ago after less than 18 months portraying Billy Abbott. He sat down with CBS soaps in Depth to talk about the raw feelings involved when acting in a scene such as Adam’s [Justin Hartley] reveal. He said that it wasn’t a simple scene to film because of the complex emotion involved.

“I had to put myself through hell for those scenes [when Billy learned of Gabriel’s true identity]. There were so many layers of emotion- anger, sadness, guilt, and rage. Billy had always blamed himself for Delia [Sophie Pollono] death. It’s been his own personal demon. Adam’s return brought back those feelings- something he tried to sweep under the rug for over two years,” explained Burgess Jenkins.

Jenkins said that it was difficult to film the scenes about Delia’s death. “I have an eight-year-old daughter-same as Delia- so the storyline had a rawness of palpable to me,” Jenkins explained. “I didn’t have to go too far to imagine the horror of a parent living this nightmare. It is truly a parent’s worst nightmare to lose your child to an accident that you could have avoided. You can’t just say you are angry in a storyline like this. You have to feel the pain to make the audience feel your pain,” he explained.

Burgess said that by the end of the day, he was totally exhausted- physically and mentally. “You are emotionally worn out. I remember in high school; I played football. We’d have two practices a day in the middle of the season. I was more worn out after a day on set [shooting the Delia/Adam storyline than two football practice’s a day. It’s so exhausting! Your mind becomes like Jell-O, your body says ENOUGH,” Jenkins explained.

Burgess explains that there will never be peace for Billy Abbott in this storyline. “You can never completely get over losing a child, but you can learn to forgive and forgive yourself. Billy is reaching that point,” Jenkins added.

Fans have seen Billy evolve over the past few months from being angry with Adam to forgiving him for accidentally running over Delia. On Monday, he comes to the conclusion that Delia’s death is Victor’s fault because he is directly responsible for the way Adam reacts to everything. “Adam is damaged because of Victor. Everything always goes back to Victor. Victor basically killed my little girl,” Billy tells Phyllis [Gina Tognoni].

How do you feel about Burgess Jenkins’ emotional scenes in the courtroom? Who do you think will replace him in the next few months?

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