Cait Fairbanks and Camryn Grimes Preview Tessa and Mariah’s Wedding on Y&R (EXCLUSIVE)
As Mariah and Tessa prepare to tie the knot on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS, portrayers Camryn Grimes and Cait Fairbanks admitted that the “reel” and “real” worlds are beginning to blur for them. “It’s kind of starting to feel like a real wedding,” Fairbanks confided to Soaps In Depth with a chuckle. “Like we’re actually getting married.” As the actresses laughed together about how funny it would be if Michael Mealor (Kyle) was an officiant in real life, Grimes joked: “He would have a lot of explaining to do to [my fiancé] Brock!”
Thankfully, for fans of the couple, it looks like the drama will be coming primarily from the ceremony itself, so they should be very happy with the episodes featuring Y&R‘s first same-sex wedding. “That was on our mind the entire time,” Grimes confessed. “As long as they don’t hate us at the end of this, we’ll have done it. But they’re incredible fans and they’re so loyal. And honestly, their support and their love and excitement for this couple is kind of what made the event so important and so special. Their eyes, we knew, were gonna be on us. So it just made everybody work that much harder.”
Fairbanks agreed and explained that they always have the “Teriah” fans in mind given that the characters are under a bit of a microscope. “It feels kind of like a glittery microscope,” she clarified. “It’s not a scary microscope. For me, it’s informed me so much about what being in a lesbian relationship is like. I pay attention to the things they say on Twitter. I pay attention to the critiques, of course. Because honestly, I would say 100% of them have been valid.”
Weddings are notoriously long shooting days on a soap, and Grimes reported that they did have a 16-hour day during the taping of these episodes. “They’re just extremely taxing,” she said, “but the group of people that were in attendance… I came home tired but I was never grumpy or grouchy. We were just having fun the entire time.”
Fairbanks shared that sentiment but also credited Y&R director Steven Williford with helping a great deal. “He really was giving us these really beautiful pep talks,” she smiled. “And I really think that actually 100% got me through the day. We had these beautiful reminders throughout the day about how important this was. And that really changed the way I performed that day for sure.”
While both actresses enjoyed spending so much time with their co-stars on set, Grimes admitted that her favorite part of Mariah and Tessa’s wedding was the vows. “For a practical reason because once the vows were done, you can kind of relax a little bit. It was like this big monologue,” she confided. “But also on a deeper level as two people who have been playing these characters, they’ve become very real for you.
“And especially in a moment like that where you’re staring at your scene partner, you do feel the enormity of it,” Grimes added. “The emotion hits you. And I think it makes for an incredibly — hopefully — authentic performance.”
So make sure to RSVP so you don’t miss a single moment of the celebration as Mariah and Tessa tie the knot. The wedding episodes kick off on Monday, May 20!
