Read on for my full interview with Rachel:
I swear I’m going to talk to you about Melissa & Joey, but first I have to say I totally didn’t realize you played Kayla on Desperate Housewives!
[Laughs.] Were you a fan? Did you enjoy my character being evil?
Of course! Can you still feel that slap Felicity Huffman gave you?
Oh, totally. I still feel a bit of a burn on my right cheek.
First Kayla, and now Holly — I feel like you’re getting a lot of practice playing a manipulator.
I keep getting told that! I swear, I’m not an evil person. I’m a nice girl.
But is it fun to pretend to be evil?
Are you kidding? It’s the best! You get to pretend you’re doing all these terrible, evil things you could NEVER do in real life. Physically or mentally, I just couldn’t do it. Acting allows me to twist my mind around a little bit. Being the evil person is always the most fun.
Holly’s a little bit like Kayla in that sense, right?
Well, Holly’s a little different. She’d never be as evil as Kayla. She just wanted to cause harm an hell to everyone. And even though Holly is controlling and overbearing, she tries to better people. Her heart’s in the right place.
Would you say her overbearing personality is the biggest problem for her and Ryder?
I really don’t think it’s an issue. I think it actually works them. Ryder is soft, and he’s the kind of boy who needs a strong girl in his life to whip him into shape. It makes their relationship wonderful!
I understand Holly is keeping a big secret from him on the June 20 episode. Can you elaborate?
Well, I can’t say too much about her secret, but she does something that affects their relationship. She feels very guilty, and it’s a really funny episode, because you watch her dealing with all her guilt.
Wrapping up, I have to ask — are you rooting for Melissa and Joey to get together?
Personally, I love their chemistry together as friends who kind of pick on each other and joke around. That’s how they are off-camera, and it translates so perfectly on camera. I kind of how like it how they have it. The temptation is cool that there could be something there, but I hope they keep it like this.