Beginning with the show’s Thursday, May 28 episode, actress Denise Richards reprises her recurring role as Shauna Fulton on “The Bold and the Beautiful.”
Richards first joined the series in 2019, during which Shauna’s storylines included her close bond with her daughter, Flo (played by Katrina Bowden), as well as her romance with
Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye), a relationship that later soured, prompting Shauna to return to her native Las Vegas and marking the last time audiences saw Richards on the soap opera.
In an interview with PEOPLE, Richards discussed returning to the show and other projects she has in the works, touting a “whole new chapter” in her career.
“It’s nice to be back,” said Richards to the outlet. “It feels like I never left. It’s such a great family environment, and I love my character. She likes to cause a little trouble.”
In a preview, Richards, as Shauna, is seen entering Bill Spencer’s (Don Diamont) office at Spencer Publications, where she greets the powerhouse executive and his son, Wyatt (Darin Brooks).
Cliff Lipson/CBS
“The Spencer men are so handsome — especially you, Bill,” Shauna tells a displeased and shocked Bill. “Congratulations, by the way, I heard about [your company], Logan. You are a real player in the fashion world now.”
“I mean, too bad things didn’t work out with Eric Forrester,” continues Shauna. “Katie [Heather Tom] must be on the hunt for a new designer. Remember, Bill, I ran some very high-end boutiques in Vegas, and it just so happens I’m available now. I can just imagine getting in on the ground floor of the newest game in town. Wouldn’t that be something?”
Talking about bringing her character back to the Los Angeles-based set series, Richards explains that while it “can be very intimidating going into a set where people have worked together for so long,” that isn’t the case with “The Bold and the Beautiful.”
“Everyone’s just very embracing and very supportive,” Richards told PEOPLE. “The actors I was working with made it so much easier to step back in.”
Richards’ return comes just as Brooks is also back at the show, something she welcomed. “I loved that Darin was returning, too,” the actress said. “I like that with Wyatt and Shauna, our characters, we’re light and fun, so we’ll see where we go. A lot of times we have no idea what’s going to happen, too, which is so fun getting the scripts every Friday.”
Before making her soap opera debut on the long-running half-hour series, Richards was once up for a role on “General Hospital,” though she didn’t get the part as it went to someone else.
“I tested years ago when I first started acting for ‘General Hospital’ and didn’t get it,” recalled Richards. “I’d had friends on soap operas and always thought it was such a great experience, no matter what level you are at in your career.”
As for joining “The Bold and the Beautiful,” the former reality TV star (“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”) remembered that before her initial run, she was “terrified,” but “knew I had to do it.”
Richards went on to tell PEOPLE about the number of pages soap actors run through each day, which led to “a little bit of a panic moment,” though she credits former co-star Rena Sofer (ex-Quinn Fuller) for getting her through it after receiving a call from Sofer with words of advice.
“She said, ‘I know it’s overwhelming. Don’t think of it as you have all of these pages, think of it as one scene at a time,'” recalled Richards of the conversation. “And so I did, and somehow I was able to memorize all the pages.”
Today, Richards speaks highly of the soap world, going so far as to tell “every actor [she encounters] they should do a soap at one point or another in their career, especially if they are starting out.”
“I love being on set and working with all different people,” Richards says of her latest run at “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and as a working actor, which allows her time to work on other projects, some of which will be announced in the near future. “I’ve always just had such a passion for it and glad I’m still working. This is just a whole new chapter for me in general.”
