The Young and the Restless star Lauralee Bell feels a connection to Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s love story thanks to her current soap opera story line.
“I always say this, Travis and Taylor [are] who we are playing right now,” Bell, 55, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, June 25, referring to her TV character, Christine “Cricket,” and her musician boyfriend, Danny (Michael Damian). “We’re the soap version of Travis and Taylor!”
Earlier this season on Y&R, Danny asked Cricket to join him on his band’s world tour, including a stop in Los Angeles. The trip from Genoa City gives the characters the chance to cross over to The Bold and the Beautiful, which is set in L.A.
Us exclusively revealed on Thursday, June 27, that Cricket and Danny will be featured on two B&B episodes airing in August.
“I’m about to tape it,” Bell told Us of the crossover, noting that she wants to “use that energy” that Kelce and Swift, both 34, have “in my character.”
The actress teased: “Hopefully [Cricket and Danny will] have a Taylor and Travis moment, and he’s gonna have me on stage like she just did!”
Bell’s remark came in response to Kelce surprising Swift’s fans during her Sunday, June 23, show in London when he took the stage for his Eras Tour debut. The NFL tight end made headlines after he joined Swift’s troupe of dancers for the Tortured Poets Department section of the performance.
Kelce was one of three dancers who assisted Swift as she got dressed for “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” He wore a suit and top hat as he carried his girlfriend on stage and later helped her with her wardrobe change. The athlete also did a little jig for the screaming crowd.
“Wembley Stadium round one was so surreal. Looking out into crowds of 90,000 fans each night and hearing that VOLUME,” Swift wrote via Instagram on Monday, June 24, reflecting on the London shows. “Those were some of the loudest crowds I’ve ever heard. Acoustic sections went OFF.”
The Grammy winner, who has been dating Kelce since summer 2023, then gushed over her boyfriend’s set. “I’m still cracking up/swooning over @killatrav’s Eras Tour debut,” she wrote with a heart-face emoji. “Never going to forget these shows.”
Bell, for her part, could get her chance at a surprise stage performance when Cricket supports Danny during their two-episode cameo on B&B.
“Danny and Christine are invited to the Forrester Estate for a party celebrating the success of the relaunch of Brooke Logan’s (Katherine Kelly Lang) ‘Brooke’s Bedroom’ fashion line … or so they think,” the show’s official logline reads. “Little do Danny and Christine know, Brooke and Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) have invited them to pitch a new business venture. Not to be outdone, Danny decides to give a surprise performance of his own to share with the partygoers.”
Bell told Us that when it comes to Y&R and B&B, the cast and crew “haven’t done a concert of that magnitude,” so fans should prepare for a big performance.
“We’re doing a remix of a big song from before, but you’ll have to wait and see what it is,” she teased, pointing out that this year marks her and Damian’s 40th anniversary as Cricket and Danny.
Fans met Cricket and Danny on The Young and the Restless in 1984 when she was an aspiring model and he was beginning his rock career. The pair wed in 1990 but later split and have since tried to date on and off a few times.
Many celebrities have soap operas to thank for launching their careers. Before becoming an Oscar winner, Julianne Moore got her start on As the World Turns in 1988. She portrayed sisters Frannie Hughes and Sabrina Hughes, which scored her a Daytime Emmy in 1988. Moore eventually exited the series to kickstart her film career. Like […]
As of March, the couple were officially back on, and Cricket agreed to take a break from her law career to go on Danny’s world tour.
“Cricket is being a free spirit, she’s usually very regimented. She knows if she didn’t take this opportunity now, she wouldn’t ever do it,” Bell explained to Us of her character’s choice to take a leap of faith with Danny. “This is their time.”
The actress noted that after Cricket’s split from Danny, she “didn’t have a whole bunch of loves, just two, so going back to her first love made so much sense.”
Cricket and Danny’s appearances on The Bold and the Beautiful will air on CBS Tuesday, August 13, and Wednesday, August 14, at 1:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT.
With reporting by Travis Cronin
