Soap Opera Digest
February 5, 2002
Real-Life Soap Friends

Two of a Kind: Catherine Hickland (Lindsay) and Hillary B. Smith (Nora)

What drew you to become friends?
Smith: "Joie de vivre. Corps d'espirit. Joy of life. And an indomitable spirit."
Hickland: "We're both strange combination of girly-girl, total broad and completely bawdy sense of humor."

What were your first impressions of each other?
Hickland: "I'm a very slow-to-trust person, so her openness was one of the things I doubted. I couldn't imagine anybody could be that cool."
Smith: "Incredibly friendly and not at all stuck up. She said, 'I've been dying to meet you; I'm such a fan of your work.' Quite a compliment, coming from someone of her caliber and resume."

Do you guys hang out off the set?
Hickland: "All the time. I remember the first time I thought, 'I can't function without her.' Now, any time she has a day off, I feel completely lost. It's sick, sick, s---."
Smith: "I used to stay at her apartment all the time because I live out of the city and our hours were so late that she'd take pity on me and take me home. We do girl stuff--we gossip, play with makeup, swap clothes. She's mad for my kids. If they're ever missing, I know where they are."

Do you have nicknames for each other?
Hickland: "Puss-Puss!"
Smith: "That's because every time she would walk into her house, she'd go 'puss-puss,' and because I was staying at her house, I felt like one of her animals. So, I became 'Puss-puss.' And she did, too."

That's lovely.
Hickland: "Except that it makes everybody around here want to puke."
Smith: "But it doesn't matter, because it's just for us."

Have you had any fun fan encounters when you're out together?
Hickland: "We have one of those every time we go out--people just don't understand it. It doesn't compute."
Smith: "Everyone stops and goes, 'You're together! You like each other!' She tries to convince them that I'm the bad one and she's the good one. She's desperate to be liked."