Beth Maitland on Traci Learning the Shocking Truth About Alan on Y&R

Traci was flying high when Alan proposed to her on The Young & The Restless, but she quickly came crashing down to Earth again when she saw the curious text alerts on his phone. And then, a conversation with Sharon about the kidnapping raises her suspicions in a big way!

“Traci is full-hearted and lovely, but she’s not stupid,” Beth Matiland told TV Insider of her alter ego. “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.”

While fans may have been startled by the revelation that Traci’s new beau was Sharon and Phyllis’ kidnapper, Maitland was expecting something to throw a monkey wrench into their relationship. “I was absolutely not surprised,” she declared. “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.”

Is that actually Martin, not Alan, Traci has been with all this time?

Still, there were a great many Y&R viewers who were thrilled to see Traci find love again and are now upset that it’s all falling apart. “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 allowed. “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.”

The actress urges even those disappointed fans to keep watching as Traci takes action to protect herself and the ones she loves from this new threat. “Nothing good lasts for long,” Maitland said, “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.”