Steffy's been in the thick of things on Bold and the Beautiful for a couple of months now and she isn't going anywhere. Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, who's played Steffy since 2008, took a two year break from starring on the show and now she's back full-time.
She made guest appearances during her break and was convinced to return by Bold's executive producer Bradley Bell who lured her back with Steffy's new powerhouse position at Forrester Creations.
I caught up with Jacqueline recently and she dished the inside scoop on Liam:
Tashi: Why has Steffy been so attracted to Liam for so long?
Jacqui: Because he has a big dick.
Tashi: Haaaaaaaa! Fair enough. Good to know.
Jacqui: Haven't we all been there?! I think it's a mixture of so many things like a real genuine love. I feel like it's not only a physical thing but it's a mental thing, it's an emotional thing.
There's just a certain something that she gets from him and I feel like she sometimes doesn't feel that she's her complete comfortable self with other people, even though other guys in her life could be exactly like her. They could be spontaneous, adrenalin junkies, wild and they could be exactly like Steffy but she still doesn't feel home with them.
Liam is quite the opposite so they're very Yin and Yang but she does feel like it's home for her.
Tashi: How much of you is Steffy and how much of Steffy is you?
Jacquiline: I've been very lucky with social media - it feels like fans know and see pieces of me because I'm extremely vocal on social media. I do speak my mind and I am who I am so I love that my fans see those flashes of Jacqui.
It's almost 50/50 because I'm a strong woman and I do speak my mind and I have a voice. I use my voice but I'm not like Steffy where I feel that sometimes she doesn't have a backbone in certain things where I would.
Those are the moments where... sometimes you want to hate this character and go: "It's a bad situation, you need to get out of it," so I feel that her strength and conviction - that's very much me who tells it like it it is - but I'm not malicious, I don't do it in a malicious way. I do have a really big heart - I'm a softie and Steffy is sometimes just a little harder.
I've said this before, Steffy can be your best friend and always be there for you but if you cross that line, you don't want that side of her. I love playing that but it can be really challenging because me in real life wouldn't play it that way. She's very sassy, she's my spirit animal sometimes as you can say.
Tashi: How does she feel about Liam's relationship with Ivy - and about Ivy?
Jacqui: She left Liam so he could be with Hope. She saw that they had a connection and saw genuine love there. They had history and so she wanted to step back and was like: "I need to see where that goes. I need to figure out the things going on with my life and all these obstacles - go be with Hope."
When that ended, she didn't really know Ivy. She knew her, but not that well. They're family but they didn't have history. She doesn't have that deep connection with her and Steffy wants to be a little malicious and it might be selfish but she feels that if it’s not with Hope, Liam is still hers.
Tashi: She's been through so much over the years, what's been the single most influential thing that's happened to her?
Jacqui: I can't pinpoint one thing but of course losing her sister (Phoebe) was very tough and especially with the situation. I mean she lost her virginity to a guy who was with her sister. It's very complex. There are so many layers and so many things but you can see that trickle down to Steffy having a problem with saying goodbye.
She didn't get to say goodbye to her sister, she's constantly looking for love, she does feel broken, she feels empty but I can't pinpoint one thing because Steffy's like a lot of the characters who raised her.
She's used her body to get what she wants like Brooke who raised her, she still has that warm heart like Taylor her mom, she's watched her father flip flop from woman to woman for years and years and she kinda does the same with men and also with her namesake (Stephanie). Being sassy and fierce and telling it like it is and if she doesn't like someone she's gonna slap someone so she's been influenced a
lot.
Tashi: How has killing Aly changed her?
Jacqui: Yes, there's that one. There are so many things that have impacted on her. That absolutely has changed her. She tries to restrain herself but she's a hot head. She can be very aggressive and crazy. She can snap. She can be very angry if you push her buttons and losing Aly, she blames herself.
Even though she knows she didn't do it and Aly was the one who came after her, but in her mind, she does feel guilty. Even though she didn't do it, she knows the kind of person that she is, that she can take things a little too far so she has a lot of weight of Aly on her shoulders as well.
Tashi: If she was your best friend, what advice would you give her?
Jacqui:: I would want to shake her and say: "There's a big, beautiful world out there and you don't need to focus on just Liam and I think you need to spend a little time not having a serious relationship." Just finding herself and not diving into another relationship to find things that she needs to find on her own.