In an interview with Dutch newspaper HLN, Thorsten Kaye has revealed his plans to take a temporary leave from The Bold and the Beautiful (B&B), as well as his thoughts on replacing Ronn Moss as Ridge Forrester.
“I have already agreed with my boss [executive producer and head writer, Bradley Bell] that next year, or the year after, that he should write me out of the story for a few months,” Kaye said, according to an English translation of the interview shared by Twitter user @Chlea_Toast.
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Luckily for B&B fans, this planned break has nothing to do with burnout or waning interest in playing the charismatic Ridge Forrester. Instead, he’s looking to spend that time-off on an ancestral pilgrimage with his wife, actress Susan Haskell, and their two daughters, McKenna and Marlowe.
“I was born in Frankfurt [Germany] as Thorsten Ernst Kieselbach. I already looked it up — it is both a municipality in the state of Thuringia but also the name of a small river. I spent my childhood in Mainz, on the Rhine.”
“I still have family living in that region,” he added. “I hope to go there one day with my wife and two daughters in search of our roots.”
Family is a focus of the wide-ranging interview, in which Kaye also discusses his family’s decision to remain on the east coast, rather than move closer to his job in Hollywood.
“We thought about it, but in the end, my wife and I decided not to. I don’t see Hollywood as an ideal place for my daughters to grow up,” he said. “I think it’s pretty blasé here. The temptations here are too great for teenagers in my opinion.”
It turns out that Hollywood isn’t even an ideal place for Kaye, despite how effortlessly he channels that L.A. sophistication as Ridge.
“In Hollywood, it is not so important what you can do or how you are, but the outfit or designer clothes you parade in the street with. This is not the real world to be honest,” he admitted, adding, “I don’t really feel at home here either. The only place I like is Venice Beach because there you can be who you really are.”
Despite the transcontinental commute from his real family to his Forrester clan, Kaye seems to be enjoying the ride, joking “I now know all air hostesses personally. I’ve even invited a few to the set.”
The soaps veteran, who has portrayed Zach Slater on All My Children, Patrick Thornhart on One Life To Live, and Ian Thornhart on Port Charles, was also direct in sharing his concerns about replacing Ronn Moss as Ridge Forrester — in no small part, because he didn’t realize the role he was taking before he’d signed the contract!
“Bradley Bell, the big boss, invited me for an audition. When such a person asks you, refusing is not an option,” he explained. “It would provide me with job security, something a father of two can’t afford [to pass up]. I signed the contract that same day not knowing what role it was for.”
“I must say that I broke into a sweat when I heard the role I had signed for,” he admitted.
The two Ridges have since met, and Kaye has nothing but warm regards for his predecessor, Moss.
“We don’t really know each other well. I found him to be a very sympathetic, warm man. And handsome!” Kaye shared.
“I realize too well that I’m not as sexy as he is but that doesn’t bother me,” he added, with a laugh. “Fans have come to terms with a Ridge who’s a little less sexy, who looks a bit more like their neighbor than Brad Pitt.”
While he may have had his trepidations about becoming Ridge, it’s clear that Kaye has proven any skeptics wrong. Not only was he ranked one of 2020’s best male soap opera stars, but he also has two Daytime Emmy nominations for the role.
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Ryan Pratt
Ryan is an avid runner, reader, hiker and music collector. When he isn't writing and editing for Fame10 Soaps, he's relishing in the fine company of his two cats, Penny and Gus.