Y&R’s Hunter King Shares Her Real-Life Love Story With Fiancé Nico Svoboda (EXCLUSIVE)
Let’s be honest: THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS’ Summer hasn’t exactly been lucky in love. First hubby Austin cheated on her before he was murdered, fiancé Luca held her hostage until he was captured and carted off to jail, her ill-fated pursuit of her mom’s beau, Billy, resulted in a night of revenge sex with him dumping her the next morning, and hubby No. 2, Kyle, only married the beauty so that she would donate part of her liver to the young woman he really loved. Phew! Thankfully, Hunter King’s love life is at the exact opposite end of the spectrum than her alter ego, with the beauty becoming engaged in 2018 to Nico Svoboda, who is a cameraman on Y&R’s sister soap, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL.
“We’re best friends,” she replied simply when asked how she knew Svoboda was Mr. Right. “It’s easy to hang out and talk about nothing. We don’t need to go out to have fun. It’s just fun to be home with him. And he gets along with my family. It’s nice to have your best friend as your life partner. As long as you have a friendship, I feel like that’s so important!”
King first met Svoboda when he worked as a cameraman on Y&R, which posed some unusual difficulties. “After our first date — he didn’t even kiss me on our first date — I had bedroom scenes the next day!” she recalled with a laugh. “I was like, ‘He’s never going to ask me out again!’ But he did!” Still, the actress says she was thrilled when she left the sudser for a brief time to focus on the sitcom LIFE IN PIECES, and upon returning, Svoboda had become a B&B cameraman. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be awkward when I have kissing scenes,’” she chuckled. “Kissing scenes are part of the job and he knows that, but it’s still weird when he’s right there. So I was happy when he got the job on B&B!”
Like any other newly-engaged couple, King and Svoboda have thrown themselves into wedding planning. Initially, they found a venue but scrapped it when their stress levels and guest list kept growing. “We liked the venue because you could do anything you wanted, whereas other venues, you had to pick Package A or Package B, using their caterers and vendors. Our venue, you could bring in all your own stuff… but it then created so much work!” groaned King. “We wanted to make it easier on ourselves. So we decided that if we’re going to spend the money on the wedding, why not make a vacation out of it? Now we’re looking into a destination wedding.”
In fact, the lovebirds have already taken a whirlwind tour of London, Amsterdam, and Paris. “We loved Amsterdam and Paris,” shared the Emmy winner. “Amsterdam is so beautiful… we’re not sure we’re going to do Europe. We’re still looking. Any excuse to travel!”
While King is happily settled down with the love of her life, she believes that her alter ego has, if not settled down, then at least matured. “Summer is trying to see things in a different way, trying not to let history repeat itself,” she reflected. “She’s not doing things just to get attention, and she’s trying to live with more standards.”
King paused, then grinned mischievously when she remembered exactly who Summer is related to! “Summer is Phyllis’ daughter, so you have to keep that in mind,” she laughed. “Both of them seem like they’ve matured, but they can catch you off guard with the crazy stuff they pull. So, you never know!” In other words, Summer may no longer be a wild child, but she still is a wild card!
For more from your favorite Y&R stars, keep reading the CBS edition of Soaps In Depth magazine.
This story originally appeared in our print magazine
