Christel Khalil returns to The Young and the Restless as Lily Winters on Wednesday, March 13, marking the end of her maternity leave. The actress, who gave birth to a second son last year, enthuses, “It was nice to have that time at home with our newborn and be in that cocoon, but then it was really nice to come out of that and feel like, ‘OK, I’m back in society and working and having some adult time.’”
Khalil, who started on the show in 2002, received a warm welcome when she came back to film on her first day. “I thought, ‘Oh, people here actually like me,’ ” she laughs. “Everyone was like, ‘We missed you. We didn’t realize how much we missed you until you were gone,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, thank you!’ ”
While Lily was away visiting daughter Mattie, Daniel (Michael Graziadei) slept with his ex, Heather (Vail Bloom), so Lily is less than thrilled to enter her home to find Daniel and Heather having a cozy meal with their daughter, Lucy (Lily Brooks O’Briant). “She knew that Heather was interested in Daniel and that she probably would want to be back together with him, but I don’t think she thought that Daniel would also want to be back together with Heather,” notes Khalil. “So, I think she was just feeling kind of insecure about Heather [before she left], but trusting in her and Daniel’s relationship. Coming back and seeing what she sees is kind of like, ‘I knew this was gonna happen.’ ”
Lily is even more upset to discover the extent of Daniel and Heather’s new connection. “She finds out from Daniel what’s going on and I think she’s at first just in shock,” previews Khalil. “She’s hurt by what happened, but also trying to be really levelheaded about everything. As time goes on, it hits her more and more, how horrible it really all was.”
Christel Khalil and Michael Graziadei on ‘The Young and the Restless’ in 2006 (Robert Voets/CBS via Getty Images)
Working with Graziadei, with whom she was first paired 20 years ago, has been a high point. “It’s been great to show this relationship come full circle,” Khalil offers. “It’s nice always when we bring back some piece of history from a while ago. It was such fun coupling back then and you saw them as kids and now you see them together as adults. I think that it was really fun to play and for the audience to see.”
Khalil reveals that the discovery of Daniel and Heather’s fling will change the Lily fans have come to love. “I am excited to start a new storyline with Lily,” she teases. “She’s taking charge. I think people are going to see a different side of Lily. There’s going to be a lot of drama for sure, but it’s going to be fun to see something that people haven’t really seen before when it comes to Lily and how she deals with things.”
