Hunter Tylo (Taylor Hayes Forrester)

Hunter Tylo has been named one of People Magazine's most beautiful people. She made headlines when she was fired from the primetime series Melrose Place after the shows producers found out she was pregnant. She has faced a marriage crisis with another very well known soap actor/husband. Hunter's daughter Katya was diagnosed with retinablastoma and had to undergo surgery and chemotherapy at a very young age. Yet through it all Hunter continues to play one of the soap world's most enduring characters on the top rated The Bold and the Beautiful. As Dr. Taylor Hayes, the beautiful psychiatrist whose marriage may be falling apart due to a terrible secret, Hunter is completely compelling. And her first book, the autobiography Making A Miracle, is about to hit the stands in paperback.

SC Michael had the chance to sit down with Hunter in a very frank, revealing and often humorous look at the woman behind the real life soap opera.

SC Michael: I am here with Hunter Tylo, who plays Taylor Forrester on the Bold and the Beautiful. Now, the photo shoot today: your thoughts first of all on the fashions you're wearing from David Meister?.

Glamour Plus, Hunter Tylo

Hunter: I think David Meister is a really creative guy and what I like about it is that all of his designs are affordable. They are for what I call working women who are trying to raise a family, and maybe she's a single working woman and she doesn't want to have a guy buy her a nice dress. So that's why I believe that these gowns are perfect for working women and that is why I also sell the gemstones moissanite. I am into affordability for us women who are making investments but don't want to spend a fortune.

SC Michael: In Hunter Tylo's closet, what's in there? Of course women across America emulate you and want to look like you. You know that, right?

Hunter: Well, if you read this book, there are no more skeletons. In my closet, let's see, I noticed about six months ago that I had a lot of my old maternity dresses in there and I was belting them or having them tailored a little bit and I was kind of tired of that. For four years, it feels like I've been pregnant. I noticed I had a lot of greys or blacks or a lot of dark colors so I started putting in more jewel tones in like green -- stuff I wouldn't usually wear because people would tell me, "You have blue eyes so you should wear blue." I am getting out of that rut and getting into purples and greens, because my closet was pretty dark. Now it's real colorful. You walk in and you see a little more sparkle. And if you look on the floor, you'll see a lot of trashed up scripts from the show that I am done with -- and I just save them, I don't know why. So I've got scripts on the floor. I've got a photo box full of photos that I have never put in an album. I need to do it, drastically. I've got a lot of old Christmas cards that, I always figure that I'll mail them but then I can't figure out who got that one before. They keep adding up and I should just get rid of them.

SC Michael: Now I know that in September, E! Television is doing a celebrity profile on you. You are the first soap star to have a celebrity profile. And you have quite the interesting life.

Hunter: I think that part of the thing that my career has been about is I've expanded outside of just being an actress on television to being someone who stood up for what she believes in and she went through a court battle incident and keeps having babies and that stuff. And also I think that I've had a lot of trials and whatnot in my life that people can relate to. I almost had a major family disaster where I got a divorce and we worked it out, and I think that I have a lot to say on giving women in particular and encouragement that, you know, life happens and you go on...

SC Michael: During the court lawsuit, were people supportive of you? What were the women saying to you? I know that you started Chosen Child from that.

Bella and Katya, two of Hunter's most cherished possessions!

Hunter: Hunter's Chosen Child is a website, you can click on hunterschosenchild.com. What I did is, I started that after the lawsuit to help other women who were having financial difficulties or challenging situations with finding out that there's a baby on the way. Because I know about that more than anybody. I have four children. My oldest is in college and I am even surprised to hear that. I keep on going, You're my kid? Who are you? Go to school, get out of here, get a job! That's my oldest son and then I have another one in diapers. So I always say, from diapers to college tuition. Because of what I went through with the court trial, I am hoping that we can help other people who are going through this, whether it is being fired from their job, or maybe being a young girl and you got pregnant and you don't know what to do and so we help to find a home to go to if you don't, or get medical care or scholarships for daycare -- you can always use that. That works really well. We found that giving scholarships is one thing that the women and the men really need. We've also been reaching out to help fathers. We had one situation where the mother had, I guess she couldn't handle the situation where she had two autistic babies and the father had left and he could afford to leave his job and he needed special school and so we help in situations like that that are unusual. I hope to have it grow even more so, but…I did get a lot of criticism. From what you were saying, what you asked. For daring to bite the hand that so-called fed me. But once people understood what really happened, that I was willing to live up to my contract, that I wasn't asking for a special favor, [that] I was just saying let me do my job, I think that they understood a little bit more. If you read the book, Making A Miracle, it will become even clearer whey things turned out the way that they did. I still don't understand decisions that Melrose Place made, but nonetheless I am glad that I made the choices and I did get support from people.

SC Michael: When women read this book -- or anybody in the entertainment industry or women who are pregnant read this book -- are there lessons to be learned?

Tylo's best-seller, soon to be in paperback

Hunter: I think that they will come away with a lot of hope that no matter what struggle they are going through, they can get out of it. Things will be OK. Life isn't over. If you have a problem drinking and fighting with your husband and it doesn't seem like it's going to end, you know, you can think about ways to get past those things. And I lived through it. My kids were being really naughty at one point and just some of the things that I dealt with as a mom and as a family. It's about trying to make it…you know the juggling act that we have to do today.

SC Michael: Would you play yourself in the movie if this became a movie?

Hunter: Well, I'm the only one who could do it right. Absolutely. Except I don't know if I could live it all again. Man, I am telling you. I would love to do the Loretta Young story because I can't tell you how many emails I've seen from online and from even your site, that "Hunter Tylo is just like Loretta Young when she was about her age".

SC Michael: Making A Miracle is coming out in paperback, I know, in a month or so?

Hunter: I don't know. We are still getting all of the details firmed up and it is about to go into all of the foreign markets. If in the meantime you want to get it, go to hunterschosenchild.com and if you make a donation to hunterschosenchild. There is an autographed copy that is a gift for you.

SC Michael: I want to switch it to Katya. We've all followed her battles. Can you tell us a little about it and how she's doing? And you're working very hard with that organization.

Hunter: In addition to what I went through with Melrose Place, I do talk about the whole thing that unfolded with Katie when she was diagnosed with retinablastoma when she was three months old and I went through the period of chemotherapy. Right now she's 2 ˝ and she's doing great. She's a beautiful, adorable little child. I'm a proud mom, but [she's] complete with her terrible two tantrums. Biting other children at preschool and all the things that go on with toddlers.

SC Michael: But you must be so proud that she went through all of this and where she is now and that she survived this… she's a true survivor.

Hunter: That's what I talk about too, is that she taught me a lot about life and how we take everyday for granted. Especially, when it's a bad day, we wish that day hadn't happened. In reality, everyday that we have is a gift. So I talk, too, about how she has just surprised me, sitting in the bed having chemo. We thought it was a horrible thing and [were] anticipating all the bad stuff that would come, but she didn't know any different. She was a really encouraging light to my husband and I.

SC Michael: Now, there was a big event?

Hunter: For the last two years, I've been working with the Miracles Event. Rosie O'Donnell was the first person that we awarded for all the wonderful work she's done in charitable events, fundraising for children. And Donnie and Marie last year. And we are working on our next star for November. But last weekend, August 27th, we were in Orange County and we are did a fundraiser there. It was hosted by Lenscrafters. This was to especially benefit the children who don't have insurance, those kids who come in from other countries or who need special treatments. We found out with Katya that her treatment was running about $75,000 a month. So that's what this will benefit. They are going to give me some kind of award so I need to go home and write my speech.

SC Michael: Are you close with the Ashfords?

Hunter: Yeah. I guess the day before Katya lost her eye, Matthew and Kristina found out that our daughters had the exact same thing. Their daughter was diagnosed 6 months before ours and they were going through the hell that you go through. They called our home and said, listen; we know what you are going through. And I had no idea that this had happened to Matthew because we worked together when we were on Days. It was very ironic that both our children had it because it is such a rare disease. He said, I am going to tell you right up front, Hunter this is going to be hell, it's not going to be easy but we've got our daughter and she's in great hands. Dr. Lynn Murfrey is the [best] specialist in the world for retinablastoma and he happens to be right here at LA Children's Hospital. So he said, you couldn't be in better hands. He reassured me that everything was going to be great, he's just a doll. He's been really supportive and we've become good friends. Our two little girls -- I think a really great day was on Katya's birthday, which was in January, they came over and we had a Barney party, and to see those two little girls sitting on Barney's lap getting their faces painted... We looked at each other and thought, you know everything is going to be ok.

SC Michael: Let's talk about B&B for a moment. Now Taylor, the beautiful psychiatrist, is she going to figure out that this woman, Morgan, is pregnant with Ridge's child?

B&B co-star Ronn Moss... great on-screen chemistry!

Hunter: I just wish that Taylor would get a clue, period! I wish that her psychiatric expertise would kick in already. I mean, she's retarded!

SC Michael: Where did she go to school to get her degree?

Hunter: I don't know, I think she got her degree out of a Cracker Jack box or something. Because, you know -- I keep saying to the producer and the directors, you know, she is a psychiatrist, don't you think maybe she has a clue? They go, NO NO! She's so sweet and so funny and just so nice.

SC Michael: Would you like to see her find out and punch her?

Hunter: No, I'd like to see Taylor figure it out then manipulate HER. That is what I'd like to see. That would be very clever for a psychiatrist to do.

SC Michael: You started out on AMC, then you did Marina on DAYS, then B&B. How do your experiences compare to one another?

Hunter: They were all very different. Working in New York, first of all, is very different from working in LA. I was Deborah Goodrich then and I had not met my husband yet. New York has a whole different energy to it; it's just a theatrical type of town. I learned a lot working on AMC and my favorites where Eileen, who played Myrtle, and Michael Knight. He made me totally nuts and I learned a lot from him. When I went over to Days it was a whole different thing, a very LA thing. It's very movie star, you know, it's an actor thing and there's an attitude that goes with it. Not a bad thing. I had a lot of fun at Days. They kept throwing me in a tank though. I kept searching for a key at the bottom of the ocean. I hated that. If you wondered if I liked doing all those dives, I didn't. I hated that. It was a little small tank that couldn't have been more than 4 feet wide. And you go down in the cylinder, which is about 12 feet down. I did that I don't know how many times, with full clothes on so you can't swim. And there's a microphone down there and they were like "you look like you are struggling…you gotta look like you are looking for the key, you are happy now. You found the key." So I hated it. I hated that part. Then I went over to B&B only intending to stay for three months, and then a year, and then a three-year contract, and I am still there 11 years later. I like it a lot.

SC Michael: I know you must talk about marriage in the book, to Michael. I know that there have been ups and downs in that marriage, as in the life of soap actors.

Hunter and Michael Tylo made headlines with their marriage and separation

Hunter: You know, we were just talking about the fact that we just fell into our own niche… accepting what each other does for a living. When we were first engaged it was really intense. Because I don't care what actors tell you and you can watch every interview on this dot.com thing, and you'll see, I'm telling you, if actors tell you they don't get jealous when they see their spouse kiss someone else, it's a lie. My husband and I, especially because it was still young in our marriage, we used to have these major fights about it. It didn't help because he didn't want to upset me so he would lie to me about it. He tried to keep me from watching his scenes. He'd be like, "Let's go to lunch at 12 ok? C'mon," and I was like, "No, let's see your work." "We got reservations!" I knew that something was up. We were watching the show. We have come into our own a lot over the last six years. We've grown up a lot. You know, though, Michael will come up to the set and go, "Hey Ronn, you and Shari still together? Good." He's just glad that there is a girl interfering in the storyline.

SC Michael: You've done so much in your career. What is something that you would love to do that you have not done?

Hunter: I would like to play a really crazy murderer type. Or something really physical like a gymnast or like that movie Entrapment. I'd love to do something really physical like that. Like a James Bond type of thing.

SC Michael: When people think of you what is something that people would be surprised to know about you?

Hunter: You think I am going to tell you? I think most people know. I like reptiles. I like to let them crawl all over me. I love snakes and lizards. They're great. I think people are still surprised to find out that I like snakes. And I am not afraid in the least to go and pick up a rattlesnake.

SC Michael: She's somebody that's good to have on a camping trip.

Hunter: Very true. If somebody goes "Oh my god, there's a scorpion over here," I go "Where? Get a jar." You know. That's me.

SC Michael: My last question for you: When people tell you that you are one of the most beautiful women in the world, what does that feel like. Is that easy to take when people say that to you?

Hunter: I used to get really uncomfortable about it, and go, "Oh, stop." But it does feel good because I work hard to take care of myself. It is part of my job as an actress. You have to take care of yourself it is what works in this business. And I've got a kid in college so I need all the kudos I can get.

SC Michael: Well I think you look just phenomenal and thank you so much for being here.