Soap Opera Weekly
September 11, 2007
Carolyn's Corner

This week’s guest is Catherine Hickland, who plays Lindsay on One Life to Live.
Carolyn: OLTL went to great lengths to keep the identity of Spencer’s killer a secret. Fans love spoilers, but sometimes not knowing is more fun, isn’t it?
Catherine: What’s amazing is that people were speculating right up to the day Lindsay got arrested [on-air]. Its such a better payoff that way.
Carolyn: You got a little screwed when Ilene Kristen (Roxy) wore a “FREE LINDSAY” T-shirt on the street and got photographed in it.
Catherine: Yea, people saw the “FREE LINDSAY” shirts and it got on the Internet. So when I emceed the OLTL fan club luncheon in August I said, ‘Hey! Don’t be fooled; we shot different endings. We won’t know who did it until the day it airs.” And they all believed me.

Carolyn: How did you explain the T-shirt?
Catherine: I said we have eight different shirts with eight different names on them, so don’t get cocky.

Carolyn: Do you think the fans will be mad at your for steering them in the wrong direction?
Catherine: No. Because in the end, even when people come up and beg you to tell them what’s happening, they really don’t want to know. As a viewer, I know I don’t want to know because it’s so much more fun to have the discovery. That’s what soaps are about. So I feel like I was giving them back some discovery. I hope when they found out they were like, ‘Oh, my God!’ because it was revealed in such a great way at the Woman of the Year luncheon.

Carolyn: Was it hard keeping the secret for so long?
Catherine: Not for me. They said, “Don’t tell anybody,” so I did not tell anybody.

Carolyn: How did you find out?
Catherine: Frank [Valentini, executive producer] told me on a Friday and we shot the Spencer flashback stuff on a Monday. I was concerned it might get out because we tape so far ahead but it didn’t.

Carolyn: It also stayed secret because OLTL called us and said, ‘Listen, Lindsay is the murderer but please don’t write anything about it.”
Catherine: I’ve known that you guys have known about it for a really long time and didn’t leak it, so I appreciate that.

Carolyn: Were you surprised that you were the murderer?
Catherine: Oh, yeah. I had never even been in a scene with Spencer Truman! But I am totally game. I just had one question: “Is this the end? What happens to Lindsay now? Are we saying goodbye?”

Carolyn: Did they reassure you with, “Don’t worry. You will have a split personality or a drug addiction”?
Catherine: Well, I can’t really tell you the ending. They’ve gone to painstaking lengths to keep this a secret.

Carolyn: Does Lindsay know why she killed Spencer?
Catherine: Oh, she knows exactly why she killed Spencer. But the audience won’t know why she did it until something big happens in the courtroom.”

Carolyn: When does that happen?
Catherine: Much later. Actually, we are shooting everything so out of order that I don’t honestly know. I shot my courtroom stuff already, and now we are shooting stuff that happens before the courtroom. So I have no idea where we are.

Carolyn:Where does Lindsay go from here?
Catherine: I really don’t know.

Carolyn: Yes, you do. She had a good reason for killing Spencer, I imagine.
Catherine: Yes. I can only say he was a heinous human being who did heinous things and someone had to do it. Why not me? As for my future, I really don’t know because they have not told me anything.

Carolyn: They don’t have to because you are recurring, right?
Catherine: Right. And I don’t ask. Every day is a gift, and I look forward to whatever it is.

Carolyn: Even if Lindsay has to wear an orange jumpsuit?
Catherine: You know what? Yes. I would wear an orange jumpsuit for the sake of a storyline.

Carolyn: Do you think all the secrecy paid off last Friday when people saw Lindsay get arrested?
Catherine: Yes. If they live in a cave and are not on the internet they were very pleasantly surprised.