Soap opera star claims 'people tried to run me off the freeway' over villainous TV role

Tracey Bregman is soap opera royalty, but there are some people who haven't been too fond of some of her storylines.

Bregman recently claimed that her most famous character, Lauren Fenmore on "The Young and the Restless" was originally so poorly received that she received death threats. She went as far as to say that "people tried to run me off the freeway" due to her character's behavior.

Lauren Fenmore made her first appearance in the long-running daytime drama in 1983, and Bregman has been playing her ever since. While the character is a fan favorite now, it wasn't always that way. In the beginning, Lauren was a bully, and Bregman recalled specifically that her character's treatment of co-star Beth Maitland's Traci Abbott was a tough pill for fans to swallow.

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Tracey Bregman spoke about the backlash she received in the early days of her time on "The Young and the Restless." (Donaldson Collection/Getty Images)

Speaking on the "Soapy" podcast, she confirmed she received backlash for her character's harsh words, and said that it was also difficult personally to say those kinds of things to Maitland.

"That was very, very difficult because Beth is one of my best friends for 42 years," she said. "And I knew, because we were so close, how she was really feeling about a lot of things."

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Beth Maitland, left, and Tracey Bregman became friends on "The Young and the Restless." (CBS via Getty Images)

She recalled a story based on Maitland being "a little overweight and being conscious about that," saying, "Then I had to say the worst things to her, and Beth will tell you that I cried more than she did over it because I could barely get it out sometimes."

There were "fun times" during filming too, but Bregman said, "I will tell you, it was a double-edged sword playing the mean girl because I would get death threats and people tried to run me off the freeway."

The podcast's hosts, fellow soap stars Greg Rikaart and Rebecca Budig, were shocked by that, to which Bregman said, "No, it was bad. There were some bad parts that I never really talked about, actually."

Tracey Bregman attends the on-set celebration to commemorate 13,000 episodes of "The Young And The Restless" at Television City Studios on October 24, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)

Bregman has played the role of Lauren in over 2,000 episodes – 1,847 on "The Young and the Restless" and 377 on "The Bold and the Beautiful."

Before she took on the character, she got her start in soap operas by playing Donna Temple Craig in "Days of Our Lives" in over 150 episodes from 1978 to 1980.

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While Lauren eventually became more likable, another soap opera villain wasn't as lucky.

Last month, "General Hospital" actress Eva LaRue spoke about her departure from the show after just one season, admitting it was "hard" for her personally that her character was despised by fans after being a fan favorite during her time on "All My Children."

Eva LaRue, shown with Carlo Rota, appeared on the most recent season of "General Hospital." (Bahareh Ritter/Disney via Getty Images)

"It was hard for me, actually — for me as a person," she told Soap Opera Digest. "Because in daytime, when you play a character like Maria Santos, love her or hate her, she was not ever meant to be a vilified character. And so it was hard from being that character, being a fan favorite, to being, like, literally hated."

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She added, "The GH fans couldn’t stand [her character]! So that was tough, because especially if you are accustomed to being rooted for, to be rooted against is not as comfortable."