How Y&R's Courtney Hope Prepared For The Heartbreaking Loss Of Sally's Baby

Soap operas are really great at presenting dramas that are so captivating, they can leave the audience in tears. That's exactly what happened on "The Young and the Restless" when Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) had to make the impossible decision to choose between the life of Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope) or that of their unborn baby. Sally's boyfriend is also Adam's brother, Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow), but he was dealing with a horrific conundrum of his own as villain Cameron Kirsten (Linden Ashby) was forcing him to choose between the life of Sharon Newman (Sharon Case), or their daughter Faith Newman (Reylyn Caster). As a result, Adam was left by himself to make the difficult choice, and he chose to save Sally's life. When Sally awoke and learned of what happened, she was beyond angry at Adam for letting their baby die. 

Hope is no stranger to real-world pain, either. While her highly publicized break up with "General Hospital" star Chad Duell (Michael Corinthos) doesn't even compare to losing one's child, the actress still found the courage to open up about it to her fans. She also recently sent love to grieving parents everywhere after portraying Sally's heartbreaking loss on Instagram, and was touched by the outpouring of viewers who could relate to her character's tragic situation. 

Now, Hope has taken time to discuss preparing for the scene where she learned her baby died, and the subsequent stress she endured after shooting it.

Courtney Hope spoke with Michael Fairman TV about Sally Spectra's devastating loss on "The Young and the Restless." She'd been informed that her character would lose the baby a month prior to taping the episodes, stating, "When they called me to tell me she would lose the baby, I was like, 'What? You're kidding?'" The producers gave her a breakdown of the scene, and she remarked, "I just was immediately heartbroken. I am glad that I did find out because I immediately that night went to the drawing board and really started to gather other people's stories and really sat with it. I was able to have that month to really sit in that loss and what that would look like."

After shooting the tragic scene, she met with her brother and his girlfriend for lunch, remarking, "I actually felt like I was going to pass out. I eventually came home and slept. My body didn't understand the difference. My brain knew it wasn't real, but my body just didn't." Hope wanted to be respectful of the material, and also knew that she had to take care of herself as emotional scenes can take its toll on actors. "That's what we sign up for as actors and it's what I love to do and that's tell stories," she stated, adding, "Sometimes that means, me being that vessel. It's not always an easy story to tell, but that's life, right?"