Why She Returned

Bringing Gabrielle back to Llanview was a coup for One Life To Live, especially for Executive Producer Gary Tomlin.  Tomlin isn’t the first producer to try and convince the actress who made Gabrielle a household word, Fiona Hutchison, to return to the role she created.  In fact according to Hutchison, every producer in recent years has taken her out to lunch or dinner to try and win her back, but it’s been a no go… until now. 

“It’s not that I wouldn’t have wanted to return, because I’ve always been open to the idea of Playing Gabrielle again... I just didn't honestly think it would happen.  The reason why was that every time I'd have these meetings, I would have this gut feeling that it wasn't the right thing to do," she explains.  What did do the trick this time around?  "He (Tomlin) told me what he wanted,  told me everything, what his vision was and it was a breath of fresh air, she says, smiling.  "All the other times I'd had these meetings they didn’t know how they were going to bring Gabrielle back.  And they had no story in place to do it.   I think one of the most important things in bringing a character back is that you have to bring them back with a purpose and an objective.”

“It's Like An Addiction”

Bringing Gabrielle back as Asa's wife and having her torment poor Max has proven to be quite a good beginning. It's easy to see that the chemistry is still there, even though both are trying to fight it.  Hutchison didn't have any concerns about the possibility that the chemistry between the two characters had been lost.  Since Gabrielle has been gone for 10 years, she was worried about something more important to her: her own emotional well-being. 

"Playing Gabrielle for me is like opening Pandora's box.  It's very dangerous for me, for my emotional life, because she's a dangerous character.  I can't really put it into words because it would be like me talking about where I go and what I have to do when I think of having to play her. It's a scary place for me to go.  Sometimes it’s dark; most of the time, it's very painful playing her.   So I was just concerned about my well-being, because I needed a lot of therapy when I finished playing Gabrielle the last time – it really messed me up big time.  Who knows?  Six months into playing her again, I might be back in therapy,” she laughs.   "It's a little bit like an addiction you know it's not good for you, but you just have to have it.”

During her time away from OLTL, Hutchison appeared on GUIDING LIGHT as Jenna, not once, but twice.  She also created a show called TEA WITH FI, which she sold to the AMC cable channel. "I didn't sell all the rights, I still own the name, and the TV rights come back to me the end of the year. So I shall do that again!" she tells us. Hutchison also hosted a show called "Royal Families Of The World”, appeared on stage in such good productions as "An Ideal Husband" and spent valuable time with family.

Family Comes First          

Married to writer/actor John Viscardi, whom she met when he played Tony Father on OLTL, the couple has two children, Hutch, four-and-a-half, and Trevor, 3. "Life is good.  John is busy writing and he's directing a play," she tells us.  Hutchison says that she and Viscardi have things worked out so at least one of them is always with the boys.  That includes taking the boys to and from school and spending as much time with them as possible. "We're both busy now, but the job may stay or go -- the thing you never get back is this time with your children. Everyone has to work.  You've got to put food on the table, pay the rent, but other than that, I don't want to feel like I've missed something."

Hutchison has great respect for OLTL's writers and hopes they continue to write Gabrielle the way that they have been.  She herself hopes that they keep her character on the edge.  "By
keeping her on edge, they'll keep Max and Gabrielle on the edge.  I want her to stay where she's not too comfortable.  I think the set-up that we've got so far insures that there's some discomfort in the way the year,” she laughs.  "As long as they want to rip their clothing off each time they see each other... well, you know," she teases with a big smile, "the more obstacles in the way, the better!"