DC #392: Beth Chamberlin Interview

As fans of the 72-year-old Guiding Light reel from news that CBS has canceled daytime's grande dame, one of the serial's most popular heroines, Beth Chamberlin is doing the work of her career. As tortured heroine Beth Raines Spaulding, Chamberlin is turning in one gritty, emotive performance after another as the character she's played on and off since 1989 grieves for her late, younger lover Henry Cooper Bradshaw (John Driscoll), while dealing with the return of the love of her life, Phillip Spaulding (Grant Aleksander), whom the last time he was in town, kidnapped her children in a manic spree. On today's episode of the Daytime Confidential podcast, Chamberlin visits with Luke and Jamey, offering her heartfelt reaction to news of GL's cancellation. Does Chamberlin see a future for Guiding Light on the web, or on cable? Chamberlin shares how the close-knit cast and crew of Guiding Light are handling being cancelled in the midst of a creative renaissance for the soap opera. She also reveals what it's been like having Aleksander, whom she calls one of her closest friends, back in Springfield, and discusses her real-life bond with actress Tina Sloan, who portrays her mother Lillian Raines on the show. Chamberlin also provides personal memories of three of the young women who have inhabited the role of Phillp and Beth's daughter Lizzie— Hayden Panettiere, Crystal Hunt and now Marcy Rylan, revealing her pride in the success each young woman found on and off the sudser. Did she ever think she'd see Panettiere on primetime hits like Ally McBeal or Heroes? Has she had a chance to see Hunt as Stacy on One Life to Live? What's her and Rylan's process for making Beth and Lizzie's mother/daughter connection come across so relatable? What about Beth's former stepdaughter Susan, is Chamberlin still in touch with Brittany Snow? What does she think about the young actress landing the lead role in the Gossip Girl spinoff Lily? She answers these questions and much more. The soap star also comments on the newest edition to the Spaulding family, breakout teen hunk Zack Conroy, who plays Phillip and Beth's youngest son James. Then Chamberlin talks about her other passion, The Kettle Bell Way, the fitness regimen that finally helped the actress/wife/mother/author get the body she's always wanted, without having to stick to a strenuous diet or spend her life at a gym. This is a super-sized episode of the Daytime Confidential podcast Guiding Light fans won't want to miss.