What Will ‘B&B’s Sheila Do Now That Steffy Outed Her for Finn’s Murder?
Kimberlin Brown is looking at taking home Daytime Emmy gold now that she’s been nominated for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Drama Series: Actress for her role as Sheila Carter on Bold and the Beautiful. Alas, Sheila’s looking at a different kind of metal — the stone-cold iron bars of a prison cell now that Steffy (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) has remembered that Sheila was the one who shot her and shot and killed Steffy’s husband/Sheila’s son Finn (Tanner Novlan).
TV Insider chatted with Brown about her Daytime Emmy nomination, what scenes she submitted to win, and Sheila’s state of mind these days as she grapples with the realization that she murdered her own child, obliterating her chances of ever being part of a family.
You’ve been amazing in this story. Even though Sheila’s a killer, we have sympathy for her.
Kimberlin Brown: Thank you. I appreciate that. I’m having a good time.
Sheila’s always taken delight in doing her evil deeds. But she’s not enjoying anything these days. Her shooting Finn has gutted her.
Sheila truly believes that she’s changed. That’s all she really wanted to show anybody. Finn was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. So was Taylor [Krista Allen]. Sheila to prove that she just wanted to get to know her son and her grandson and love them the way a mother and grandmother would. This is definitely devastating. It is not what Sheila had planned on doing in any way, shape or form.
Because Sheila couldn’t tell anyone what she’s done, she’s even more alone.
I have been reading online comments. It’s been encouraging to see fans take the story and see it from Sheila’s perspective. I’m very lucky. Sure, some fans are ‘How dare you?’ and ‘Don’t hurt Steffy!’ But there are fans who are rooting for Sheila. At the end of the day, people want to be happy and be loved. That’s what Sheila wants. That’s where the positive comments about Sheila are coming from.
Have we ever seen Sheila quite like this?
Not in this capacity. Shooting your own child? That’s something that I think any mother would struggle with. Sheila never wanted this to happen to Finn. She wanted to love him and be a part of his life. Not destroy him and his life.
Congratulations on your Daytime Emmy nomination!
Thank you. I appreciate it. It’s an honor to be in the company of a wonderful group of women. I’m just thrilled.
How did you learn that you received a nomination?
Brad [Bell, executive producer/head writer] called me. I have to be honest [the day the nominations came out]. I was busy. It’s avocado season. I was with my workers in my avocado farm. It was a wonderful surprise. Brad said, ‘When you come back, you come back big!’ It was a nice surprise.
View this post on Instagram
Can you talk about the scenes on your submission reel? Most times, actors use scenes that tell a story.
That’s funny you say that. I started out wanting to do just that with my reel – the story of Sheila’s return and meeting her son. But then I realized I wanted the reel to do more. I wanted to show Sheila’s different relationships with different people – her son, Deacon [Sean Kanan], and Steffy. I also included the scene of Sheila talking to [the late] Stephanie [Susan Flannery] in hell.
That was a good one. Sheila took delight in surviving Stephanie.
Definitely. There was nothing more that Sheila wanted to do then to rub [things] in Stephanie’s face. It was actually [co-star] Annika [Noelle, Hope] who said to me, ‘I hope you remember that scene.’ It was so much fun doing. It didn’t really work with the story of Sheila meeting her son and the timeline but it was a nice departure. It showed color and depth. I included that and several scenes with Deacon. Sheila’s return has been about happiness, sorrow, regret, and vengeance – so many different things.
Sheila gets to let her hair down a bit with Deacon
I have a wonderful time working with Sean. It was important for us to make things different. It’s different than any other relationship she has with other people on the show. We wanted to come up with something that was different. We see Shelia crack jokes and make fun of people in a fun, non-harmful way.
Recently, Sheila nearly took her own life by jumping off the hospital roof until Taylor (Krista Allen) intervened and then, Sheila ended up saving Taylor. Were you and Krista on flat land doing the fall off the hospital?
Actually, we weren’t. We were really quite elevated.
View this post on Instagram
How challenging was that?
It’s always challenging when you’re on a location shoot. You’re dealing with sounds and lighting. You’re limited with time before the lighting changes too drastically. It’s an acting challenge and a production challenge. Everyone came together and did a great job.
There have been so many surprises in this story – starting with Sheila shooting Finn. It was surprising to see Sheila help save Taylor and also, Steffy’s amnesia didn’t last all that long.
Absolutely. It’s absolutely her worst nightmare. That’s why even though Deacon [Sean Kanan] told Sheila not to go to the hospital – how could Sheila stay away? Steffy remembering is going to determine what happens next.
Why did Sheila keep Finn’s possessions – but how could she not keep them as they were her son’s?
I’ve gotta be honest. I don’t think her original thought was to keep these things of Finn’s to remember him. She was in a hurry to make it look like [a robbery]. When she touched those things of his more recently, it was very emotional. It moved her to where she threw up. This wasn’t something she planned. She never intended this to happen. I think sometimes people surprise themselves in real-life. Sheila knew when she looked at her son and she saw him take his last breath, she went into preservation mode.
Sheila is incredibly resourceful. I can imagine she’ll deny Steffy’s accusations. There are a number of ways she’ll try to get herself out of this. She could claim Steffy isn’t recalling correctly…her past drug use.
Yes. All of the above. Self-preservation is an interesting thing. [But] the more she tries to self-preserve, the deeper she may get into trouble.
Now that Steffy remembers, how would you set up what Sheila’s going to do?
She’s definitely going to have to pull out all the stops [to keep her freedom]. The sad thing is if Steffy had given Sheila a chance, then none of this ever would have happened. But that’s what makes wonderful drama on daytime. Like you said, there have been surprises every time you see the show. Well, I can only tell you that it’s not going to stop here.
Bold and the Beautiful, Weekdays, CBS