Cady McClain Opens up About Her Emotional Storyline on DAYS

Jennifer had been the rock of the family since Abigail’s death, but in recent episodes of DAYS OF OUR LIVES, it was revealed that she’s been coping with her own grief by self-medicating! Portrayer Cady McClain was pleased to sink her teeth into such meaty material as the soap revisited her character’s addiction.

“This particular character has been carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders,” the actress admitted to Soap Opera Digest. “She’s been trying to hold up the family. It would make perfect sense that she would turn to something to help her when she’s not really letting herself lean on anybody else.”

McClain has eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations under her belt and three wins during her daytime career, one each of her roles as Dixie on ALL MY CHILDREN, Rosanna on AS THE WORLD TURNS, and then Jennifer on DAYS. But even so, this kind of powerful emotional storyline still posed its own challenges.

“I’ve known people in my life who have lived this, and it’s awful,” she revealed. “As an actor, I’m really grateful for the opportunity to try to create some reality around it. People have had children murdered… it really happens. I’ve known that as well through people I have known in my life, and their grief is horrible. It’s huge. So trying to find a way to create something that’s a reality in the heightened reality of soap opera was a challenge. It feels beautiful to me to be able to play the part for someone that I know who’s suffered and help them, when they see it, to know that they are seen. That’s really it.”

Of course, as anyone who has already seen the season preview promo video for what’s coming up on DAYS can attest, Jennifer’s grief is going to become so overpowering she may not survive.  So make sure you keep watching to see more Emmy-worthy performances from McClain as the storyline continues to unfold!