‘Young and the Restless’: Beth Maitland Talks Traci’s Shocking Discovery About Fiancé Alan

Stephanie Sloane March 26, 2025, 10:30 am

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Beth Maitland - 'The Young and the Restless' — Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

The Young and the Restless‘ Traci Abbott (Beth Maitland) is getting closer to the truth that something is amiss with her fiancé Alan Laurent (Christopher Cousins); namely, that he is the one responsible for kidnapping Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) and Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford).

“It’s been a couple of decades, maybe 15 years, since Traci had been in a relationship of a romantic nature that was not too troubled,” begins Beth Maitland of her alter ego’s state of mind. “She has been so surprised by this gift that has fallen from the sky into her lap that she never in a million years expected. This romance at this stage of the game for her has caused not only elation and surprise and happiness and completion, but is setting us up for all of the questions that are about to be revealed, that Traci is not exactly sure who that man is across the table.”

An illuminating conversation with Sharon strongly connects the dots between the kidnapping and the text messages that she saw on Alan’s phone, which gives Traci pause. “This is the first time that she is suspicious of him,” notes Maitland. “Traci is full-hearted and lovely, but she’s not stupid. And being a writer, she has a very active imagination, sort of like Murder, She Wrote. Things click into place, and something just isn’t right. Nerve endings are starting to not lay smooth, and I think Traci is starting to see some warning signs. Sharon starts to reveal information about her abduction that starts lining up with messages on Alan’s phone.”

After her conversation with Sharon, Traci’s wheels are turning as she looks back on her recent interactions with Alan. “The timing in question starts to fall into place for her,” adds Maitland. “In her writer’s mind, she starts to put a few things together, and Sharon is the catalyst. Sharon confirms for her some suspicions; the seeds have been planted and are starting to grow.”

Beth Maitland, Christopher Cousins - 'The Young and the Restless'

Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

The enormity of Alan’s possible evildoing causes serious distress for Traci. “It sends her right into crisis mode, because not only is this late-in-life, absolute surprise of happiness being completely yanked out from under her, it also indicates that there are threats that she feels responsible for, to both Sharon and Phyllis, and to her sister Ashley [Abbott, Eileen Davidson],” points out Maitland. “She feels responsible for putting people in harm’s way because she didn’t figure this out sooner or see through him. So, there are lots of layers for Traci in that all of this causes her to want to help to put a stop to this and find out what the truth is.”

Unsure of her next move, Traci turns to her brother Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) for counsel. “She is in full panic, and Traci needs his feedback,” explains Maitland. “She needs to run all of this by him and have him be her voice of reason for a change and tell her if he feels she’s off-base or overreacting. It’s a series of very emotional, very desperate scenes, laying it all out, putting all the facts on the table, and trying to actually sort through this and get to the bottom of things.”

The actress admits she was waiting for the other shoe to drop in Traci’s burgeoning romance. “I was absolutely not surprised,” muses Maitland of the Alan twist. “I mean, you can’t be happy on daytime very long, or if you are, you’re relegated to go upstairs to wash your hair and never come back. The good news is that we start from the perspective that Traci already has a life she loves, she has people that matter to her, she has purpose, and she has a career that she also loves. She’s everybody’s go-to for a sounding board and a moral compass, so Traci already has a complete, happy life.”

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However, Maitland is aware that not everyone will be as thrilled to see Traci’s happily ever after upended. “There’s a huge fan base of women of a certain age, and people who have watched Traci go through all of her four decades of pain, that want her to be happy, and we’re disappointing those people somewhat,” Maitland acknowledges. “But if Traci was happy, she would be even more boring than just being everyone’s shoulder to lean on, so I feel like there has to be something to tear it up a little bit. Nothing good lasts for long, and here’s something to do, and I long for something to do! Trust me, in the next couple of weeks, you’ll see I make the most of it.”

Maitland is thankful for Traci’s part in the tale and that her character has a hand in cracking the case. “It’s definitely a generous story gift to Traci to be able to be a part of unraveling all of this,” offers the actress. “But it also, I think, speaks to the fun that can be had in daytime if you go ahead and embrace the formula that we’re in. It is such a fantastic, soapy, delicious idea that the big conflict for viewers watching entertainment is this famous catchphrase, the willful suspension of disbelief, and the audience’s agreement that everything doesn’t have to be completely factual.

Monty Brinton / CBS

“When you turn on a daytime drama, you willfully agree that this may not make a whole bunch of sense, or it may not ever happen in real life, but it’s a soap opera, and that’s what we do. So, there’s a whole aspect of this that is delightful, that these kinds of stories still get to be toyed with,” she concludes.

Something that she appreciates after all her years in Genoa City, especially as the show celebrates its 52^nd anniversary on Wednesday, March 26. “I’m winding up my 42nd year in about a month, and I will start my 43rd year on the show,” Maitland marvels. “I could not be more grateful. I could not be more surprised. I feel like this is where I’m meant to be. I never am happier than when I have dates on the calendar and I know I’m driving to that studio.”

The Young and the Restless, Weekdays, CBS