‘The Young And The Restless’ Star Elizabeth Hendrickson Dishes On Motherhood & Unexpected Experience

The Young and the Restless star Elizabeth Hendrickson recently gave birth to her first child. The new mom sat down with Soap Opera Digest recently and dished on her unexpected experience becoming a mother during the coronavirus pandemic, as her on-screen alter ego, Chloe, prepares to have a son.

Hendrickson’s daughter, Josephine, was born March 27, several days after the sudser shut down production due to COVID-19. Initially, the actress planned to return to the CBS daytime drama after six weeks of maternity leave. However, due to the pandemic, her leave ended up being about five months, which allowed her more time to bond with her child and feel ready to start working again.

The star said that when her daughter was 6 weeks old, she realized how difficult it would have been to start working again had things been different. Hendrickson would have done it, but felt she would have been a mess on the inside. Now that her daughter is quite a bit older, returning to Y&R was a pleasant experience.

“My husband works from home and is incredible with taking care of her. If I was gone for 12, 14 hours a day, I would have a problem being away from her, but I’m only gone for 5, 6 hours total, so if anything, its was nice for me to get out and be ‘normal,'” said Hendrickson.

Although she had her baby amid some trying times, the new mother enjoyed her pregnancy thoroughly. She dished it was difficult for her to get into Chloe’s mindset since her on-screen alter ego desperately wants to not be pregnant anymore, which isn’t a feeling Hendrickson had near the end of her nine months. In fact, she said she would do it all over again if the opportunity arises. (To be fair to Chloe, because of the production shutdown, the fictional character has had an awfully long pregnancy.)

“When I slipped on the pregnancy pad, I put my hand on my belly and said to our wardrobe guy, ‘Oh, I miss this so much,'” she revealed.

She noted she would’ve appreciated being magically pregnant again for her upcoming scenes on The Young and the Restless.

Speaking of Chloe, the word is she will have her baby sometime in early October. Both she and Kevin (Greg Rikarrt) are in for a bit of a surprise, too, because his mother Gloria (Judith Chapman) returns in time to welcome her newest grandchild.