The Bold and the Beautiful is renowned for its endearing and compelling characters, Over 37 seasons since the CBS soap’s premiere in 1987, fans have watched the Forresters manage a fashion empire. Viewers have also enjoyed seeing the perfectly dramatic journey of Dr. Taylor Hayes.
Taylor is everything I look for in a soap opera character. She’s smart, has an impressive career, picks herself back up after experiencing hard times, and has been at the center of several juicy love stories. She even passed away and fans got to watch her as a ghost – and it doesn’t get better than that. But, like Ivy Forrester (Ashleigh Brewer), Taylor is sometimes absent, making fans worry. What’s going on with this beloved The Bold and the Beautiful character?
What happened to The Bold and the Beautiful‘s Taylor and is she still on the soap opera?
While Taylor Hayes is still on The Bold and the Beautiful, she’s now portrayed by a new star. In December 2023, Deadline reported that Krista Allen was fired from the soap opera and Rebecca Budig is now playing Taylor, as of August 6th, 2024.
Taylor has been a staple on The Bold and the Beautiful for decades, but fans have sadly had to get used to not seeing her all the time. Hunter Tylo was the first star to play Taylor and took on this character from 1990 to 2002. She took a two-year break and then came back until 2014. At that point, Taylor seemed to get her happily ever after in Paris, but fans missed her. When Tylo reprised the role from 2018 to 2019, Taylor then became a missionary.
Everyone cheered when Allen played Taylor in 2021 since this meant the therapist would become a regular part of the show again. Then her shocking exit in 2023 suggested that Taylor was gone forever. Budig’s casting is great news, and in the episode that aired on Aug. 6th, Taylor told Steffy she would be living in L.A. again, suggesting that many juicy plotlines are on the way. While Taylor’s arc hasn’t been as dark as Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown), she has been just as entertaining.
Allen explained in her interview with Deadline that she was shocked to be told that she wouldn’t be back as Taylor. She realized that Taylor wasn’t getting screen time, which was disappointing for her and for viewers. Allen said, “the fans accepted me and it became this beautiful love affair with the fan base as this new Taylor.”
Given her history in the soap opera world (having starred in All My Children, General Hospital, and Guiding Light), fans would love to see Budig in this role for years to come. But in the surprising and forever-changing world of The Bold and the Beautiful, it seems best not to predict anything. If there’s one thing that seems clear, though, it’s that Taylor is so popular that she’ll never leave the soap… even if more actresses play her in the future.