As previously reported, Kym Douglas appears on the Thursday, June 22 episode of “The Young and the Restless” as Zelda Wilford, an agent working with Traci Abbott (Beth Maitland) on her latest book.

In an interview featured in the latest issue of Soap Opera Digest, on newsstands now, Douglas, who is the real-life widow of the late Jerry Douglas (John Abbott), recounts her experience working on the set of the daytime drama series where her late husband worked for more than 30 years and what it meant to roam the same halls he did.

Highlighting the difference between working on a soap compared to her previous work on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “Home and Family,” Douglas says, “I’m representing my late husband at his [TV] home that he was at for over 35 years. And I’m also showing our son, Hunter, his dad’s legacy and that his work will live on and he touched a lot of people and maybe even continues to do so through the character John Abbott, who [Co-Creator/Former Head Writer] Bill Bell so brilliantly created. And so this had a different level of intensity and integrity for me. It’s one thing to just be funny and make them laugh on ‘Ellen,’ but this was a whole different heartfelt [level] so I had extra pressure.”

Even though Jerry Douglas’ character, John, died on screen in 2006, one thing is certain: the character will never be forgotten. So, according to Kym, the reason for that can be attributed to the fact that “John Abbott didn’t really falter in his views, in his love for his family and in his fairness to his fellow man. I want to tell you, Jerry had his faults and wasn’t perfect, but the way he raised Hunter and the kind of husband he was to me, he truly lived those principles — and I’m not making that up.”

As for how she’s dealt with the loss of her husband of 36 years, Douglas reveals that up until recently, she hadn’t truly felt it, telling Digest, “I come from the school of ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ and that’s been kind of my motto in life.” She added, “When I got hit with Stage 3 breast cancer, I’d pop on the wig, go on ‘Ellen,’ be happy and show beauty tricks even though I had no eyebrows, no eyelashes and no hair. It’s, ‘Chin up, let’s go.’ My mother at 94 passed on, but the next day I gave a speech in front of 150 women. Since Jerry died, I realized that I just kind of pushed everything back and had not really experienced the real loss and pain. Going to ‘Y&R,’ I had to face that the man who was my shining star is gone, so I’m just starting to feel the grief for the first time. I finally gave myself that permission.

In a tweet posted earlier this week, Douglas shared a behind-the-scenes photo of herself and real-life son Hunter from the set of “The Young and the Restless,” where she stated, “Join my Son Hunter and o on Thursday, June 22 nd for a very special episode honoring my late husband and Hunters Dad Jerry Douglas on  The Young and the Restless on @cbs.”

Check out the photo below.

Note: In her interview with Soap Opera Digest, Douglas refers to her “Y&R” character as “Zelda Winston,” however, Soap Opera Network has re-confirmed with a representative from the show that the character’s name is “Zelda Wilford.” Additionally, despite other outlets reporting otherwise, Hunter does not appear in the episode.