| If you think she's outspoken and unpredictable as Guiding Light's indomitable Reva Shayne, talk to Kim Zimmer face to face. One of the best known and the best loved performers in daytime, Kim Zimmer goes on the record about her fourteen year relationship with actor/director A.C. Weary; her life as a mom to her four-year-old daughter, Rachel, and her son, Max, who is approaching two; her ambitions, her disappointments, and of course, just what she thinks about her larger-than-life soap character, Reva. On Juggling Motherhood, Marriage And A Career "It ain't easy. I'm usually working four or five days a week. When Rachel was born I said, 'She won't change my lifestyle,' and she didn't. We took Rachel with us everywhere we went. We would take spur-of-the-moment vacations and drop her off at Grandma and Grandpa's or something. It's fine with one; you can't do it with two. Not only are we four and a half years older, so are Grandma and Grandpa. And Max is a handful. So, we don't do any of that anymore. So, it's like my husband is third in line for attention. I feel more sorry for A.C. than I do anyone because, really, it's my kids, my work, and then it's, 'Hi, hon.' If I've got any time left over, that's for A.C. --- if he's home. I don't feel as guilty when he's gone directing or something. A.C. and I just celebrated our seventh anniversary and we were together seven years before that. He's got it made. He's got a wife who makes six figures; he's not crazy (laughs). He does not like the routine of daytime, it's a little too 9 to 5 for him. He's been offered shows (as both an actor and director) before, but he's turned them down because it's got to be the right project. It's fine. I don't mind being the breadwinner." How She Handles It "I always thought I can do all of this: I can be a working mother, a wife to my husband, a housekeeper to my house. I'm the superwoman. Well, I found out I couldn't do it all. After the second baby, it still took me thirteen months to admit it. I had a woman who was coming in during the day. She wasn't a live-in or anything, and the minute one of us got home, she left. And we never had her on weekends; we never traveled with her or anything. But now, we've hired Kara, a wonderful girl from Iowa who lives with us. She loves our kids and our kids love her. So now it's a lot easier to travel with them. Plus, now A.C. and I can say, 'Well, let's go play tennis for an hour.' The income doesn't hurt either; the fact that we can afford to do this. I don't know how people do it who can't afford to have someone help them and have a full-time job. I couldn't do it." On The Difference Between Her Children "We were the first ones in our circle of friends to have a baby, and Rachel was a great kid. So, our friends decided, ah, it's easy, we'll have a baby, too. Well, they all had boys and they were little demons. They cussed us up and down. Now I know why. Max is one of those babies. I used to think, well they just aren't disciplining their children, that's why he's such a pain in the butt. Well, now I have my own and I'm so sympathetic. Max is a little hell raiser. I mean I wouldn't want Max any other way, but he is a new soul. And I think Rachel is an extremely old soul. It was like the day she was born, she looked and me and said, 'Don't worry about a thing. I've been here before.' And Max on the other hand, is brand new. He's like, 'Give it to me, give it to me now.' He's just like that. He's into everything, he wants to know it all, feel it all, taste everything, put it all in his mouth." How Her Family Helps Her Keep Things In Perspective "Every time my GL contact comes up for negotiations, my agents say, 'We don't want you to re-sign.' Well, that's all fine and dandy, but I know how many of my friends have left soaps and have gone out to be big stars, and they come running back with their tail between their legs. I've got two children to support. My husband helps. But it's a good job, it's a job that's treated me well. And then I listen to my father who has no concept of walking away from a six-figure job. Those conversations help keep me in touch with the real world." The Ups And Downs Of Her Trip To Hollywood "I went out to L.A. for six weeks last year and that was a real humbling experience. There is still a stigma about daytime and nighttime --- at least there was with me. I guess they figure that I'm too recognizable. But that's not true because they didn't even know who I was, a lot of these people. But you're also talking to twenty-two-year-old casting directors who don't know their head from a hole in the ground. They say, 'So what have you been doing?' You want to say, 'What have you been doing, asshole? You tell me and then I'll tell you. I have two Emmys on my mantle, I have a Soap Opera Digest Award and you're twenty-two-years-old.' I auditioned and I auditioned and I auditioned and in a way, knowing that I had GL to come back to almost made me relaxed. I went in with the attitude that this would be a nice job to have, but I didn't need to drool at the mouth to do it. I was very laid-back in interviews. Oddly enough, the one audition where I just chewed the scenery --- that was the one I got. I was offered a pilot, but I turned it down. It wasn't the one to do. Why? Well, why should I turn down what I have going for me right now, to go out to L.A., uproot a family, move to L.A. to do half hour sitcom with a cast of ten people? It would be different if it was my own show. I was looking for a special project; that was my L.A. trip. We also had the kids with us. We took them to Disneyland, Sea World, Universal Studios, everything. So, when the agents would call and I'd have an audition, it was like, rats. We had a lot of fun." What's Left For Reva to Go Through "Oh, there's plenty they haven't put me through. So many emotional things. I have never played a split personality or an illness that I believed in. I really want to do something that's not necessarily controversial, but something that would be...tough. I'm not challenged any more on this show. I haven't been in the last year, last year and a half. The old Reva fought tooth-and-nail for everything she ever got and that was when I got to chew scenery. Those were the good old days. And now I don't know if I've gotten older, and I'm in that older age category now. I'm so envious of Beth Ehlers, who's playing Harley, because I see Reva all over again. It was that same kind of no-holds-barred kind of attitude, and that's what Reva's missing right now. As generous as she is, Reva is also very selfish and if things aren't going according to her game plan, she's not going to sit back and say, 'Oh poor Alan, poor Alan.' They really got off track during the writer's strike." Her Ultimate Dream "I'm not looking for my own show. My ultimate dream would be the Susan Lucci deal: To be able to stay on GL forever, have that stability for the children and to be able to do a movie-of-the-week a year. I have this in my contract. I have people send me scripts, but with two kids, it's so hard. I want somebody else to do my footwork for me." On The Fate Of Reva And Josh "I think with Reva, it's like with Kim. When the challenge is over, man, it's boring, once I have 'em nabbed. That's why I would love if they finally got Josh and Reva together, they got married, they're in their honeymoon suite, and they look at each other and go, 'This is what this has all been about. Can we annul this like tomorrow?' I think that would be a gas. After years and years, since they were seven-years-old, they're the ultimate star-crossed lovers. But when they're finally together, they're at a loss." |