Eileen Davidson on DAYS Departure: "I Needed to Get Off The Train For a Minute"
Is Days of Our Lives' intense production schedule to blame for one of the soap's most popular stars ever exiting the serial? It sure seems that way, after reading Eileen Davidson's exit interview with TV Guide Magazine's Michael Logan. Here's a snippet:
TV Guide Magazine: Why couldn't they consolidate all your scenes to, say, two days a week? You're gold. You are the reason to watch Days. Steve Burton has 20 days a month off at Y&R. Why couldn't Sony, which oversees both soaps, work a similar deal?
Davidson: It's just not feasible. At Days they work around other people like that and I have no bad feelings about it, but that's just not me. I don't want to keep the show from doing what it needs to do in order to stay on the air. And you can't put Kristen on the back burner because then there's no point to her. She's always got that foot on the pedal, and that's exhausting. Even when we were dark one week a month, I'd go home with 10 scripts. I was driving my son to school or taking him on outings, and always had scripts with me in the car. My stepsons are both going to be in college, as of this year, and I've been watching their lives fly by because I am at work. I needed to get off the train for a minute.
As much as I will miss Davidson as Salem's malevolent Kristen Blake DiMera, I applaud the soap superstar for doing what's best for herself and her family. Godspeed, sisterfriend!
