Colleen Zenk is reflecting on her surprising departure from The Young and the Restless.
“I’m sad Jordan went away so quickly,” Zenk, 72, told TV Insider in an interview published on Tuesday, January 28. “I thought that Ian [Ray Wise] and Jordan would go out like Bonnie and Clyde together.”
Zenk’s character, Jordan, died after swallowing poisoned tea during an episode of the soap opera that aired earlier this month. While Zenk wished she could have been on the show longer, she shared that her “biggest takeaway” is that she “can still work this medium.” (Zenk previously starred as Barbara Ryan in As The World Turns from 1978 to the show’s finale in 2010.)
“I can still do this,” she said. “And for my age with no work, I look pretty good on camera, not too bad. For a 72-year-old woman to be given this kind of opportunity, I’d jump in again.”
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Zenk was initially asked to play Jordan in 2023 by executive producer and head writer Josh Griffith. “When Josh first got a hold of me, he said, ‘I’ve got this character. Are you interested? It’s only about 12 shows,’” she said. “And I said, ‘I’m in.’ And then the 12 shows turned into 50 and then I came back for another 22. It’s just been a great ride with a great group of people, from actors to production.”
Zenk recalled thinking coming onto the Young and the Restless was “daunting” and admitted that she was “completely intimidated.”
“Coming into the show that first week, I was terrified until Eric [Braeden], on our first or second day of work, looked into the camera and he said, ‘Thank God, you hired me a pro,’” she said.
Zenk shared that she “wasn’t given really any direction” on Jordan. “I just had to go with what was on the page and figure Jordan out myself,” she said. “The only thing I kept saying to Josh Griffith was, ‘If I go too far, pull me back.’ He said, ‘You can’t go too far.’ I went, ‘OK.’ That was very freeing as an actor. I had to jump in with both feet and not even think about how out there I was being.”
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Despite her exit from The Young and the Restless, Zenk reiterated to the outlet that she was grateful to get the gig and return to soaps.
“What a gift at my age and my tenure to be given that kind of character,” she said. “And to be able to work with the people that I worked with, first with Mel [Thomas Scott], then Amelia [Heinle] and sweet little Hayley [Erin] and Eric and then Ray [Wise]. It’s been so much fun.”
Through it all, Zenk is appreciative of the support she has received from fans. “I didn’t expect the overwhelming welcome I got when I came back and now I’m getting the overwhelming sadness because they’re saying, ‘No, no, don’t die,’” she said. “So, I’ve had it from both ends and it’s been lovely. It’s been really lovely just seeing the outpouring of love and the respect that I’ve had from everybody.”
