—–GH’s Tamara Braun has fianally made mob wife Carly Corinthos her own

*Tamara Braun stepped into some pretty big shoes when she took over the role of trouble-maker Carly Roberts Quartermaine Corinthos from Sarah Brown in 2001. But fans adjusted, and Braun now finds herself at the center of a front-burner story that asks the age-old question, Who’s the daddy?

SOAP OPERA WEEKLY: So you like the story?
TAMARA BRAUN: I love the Ric and Sonny and Carly and Jason and Courtney stuff. That mix is good because we don’t know what Ric’s deal is and there is something very mysterious and devious about him. And it’s so nice to see someone really strong up against Maurice (Benard, Sonny). It challenges him. There’s a great enery here right now.

WEEKLY: Are you one of those actors who compalins to the producer, “I don’t want to play that”?
BRAUN: No, I’ve never done that. I definitely go up if I have questions, though.

WEEKLY: Like, “Why am I doing this?”
BRAUN: Yeah, “Maybe I’m missing something that you can help me see,” And if not, we try to come to a happy medium. Because you know what? Everyone here wants to keep the integrity of the character.

WEEKLY: Whatever integrity Carly has (laughs)! One of the things that bugs me about Carly is that she never learns from her mistakes.
BRAUN: That bugs me, too. “I think people would be interested in seeing growth. If you’re going to make a mistake, make a new mistake. Stop with the secrets! But I do think, in all fairness, that there’s been a bit of growth. One of the tings Maurice and I have talked about is that Carly cannot lie to Sonny anymore. Because if he keeps taking her back, he looks like a fool and it doesn’t get her any awards for being a good citizen, either. Not that she ahs to be, she’s not the good character on the show. People love to hate her.

WEEKLY: Right. How’s the rest of you life?
BRAUN: It’s good! You say I had a baby … (Braun was holding one of the babies playing baby Kristina prior to this interview) That felt soooo good!

WEEKLY: You live near here, right?
BRAUN: Yes. I live in an apartment nice and close to work. The other day I overslept and it was likt, “Oh my God! I’m coming in!” And there was time to get here.

WEEKLY: And you have a boyfriend?
BRAUN: Mmhmm.

WEEKLY: And he’s a photographer?
BRAUN: Mmhmmm.

WEEKLY: But you don’t like to talk about him?
BRAUN: Well, I like to talk about him to other people, but not to the press (laughs) because he would like to keep our relationship private, so I respect that.

WEEKLY: Do you go to evenst together?
BRAUN: He’ll come to stuff with me, but he won’t stand and pose for pictures. We like to keep ourselves private, because I think that relationships are really delicate. If someone’s in the public eye, that’s their job, but if the “significant other” is not comfortable with it, you have to respect that. I just know that in my relationship this works for him.

WEEKLY: Do you hang out with anyone from the show?
BRAUN: It’s funny, because Rick (Hearst, Ric) and I were just talking about that. He’s like, “No one ever hangs out on this show!” I think it’s because a lot of people have families. I’m an old lady, I go home, eat a sandwich, learn my lines, and I’m back here. But Rick was saying on The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless everyone would meet for drinks. I’m like: “We should get that started. You’re going to be the ringleader!” So hopefully, we’ll do that, because I think it’d be a really good time.

WEEKLY: Kin Shriner (Scott) would go.
BRAUN: Yeah, he’s cool! Nancy Grahn (Alexis) would go. She has holiday parties at her place which is a nice time for everyone to get together. She puts on a really nice party.

WEEKLY: The Sonny/Carly fans won’t like that you’re hanging out with the “enemy”! Do they write you a lot of letters?
BRAUN: Oh, all the time — letters, gifts, flowers, baby stuff for the baby we don’t even have yet! It’s great. They’re very enthusiastic.

WEEKLY: You know there is the Sonny/Carly fan base, Sonny/Alexis and Sonny/Brenda group, and they sort of fight with each other.
BRAUN: I know! Who’s got the time? But it’s good that they’re passionate. When I started here I got all kinds of mail saying, “I’m not going to like you,” and then, when I started, “You suck,” I’ve gotten letters from those same people now apologizing and saying that they were wrong. They wanted to hate me, but they love me and they love what I’ve done with the character. Those letters mean a lot. To have created a fan out of somone who definitely was not going to be supportive is a great feeling!

WEEKLY: So who’s the father of Calry’s baby?
BRAUN: I swear I don’t know! Intially, I’d be reading mail or the fans would send me some e-mail of converstations they’d post back and forth. And I’d go, “No, this isn’t happening.” Five weeks down the road, “Oh, they were right. This is happening.” It’s wild. I want that leak. I want to know what they know.

WEEKLY: They know that Carly is in trouble…again.
BRAUN: Right. She finally has what she wants, but it’s not a happy time for her because she hasn’t been honest with her husband. Can’t we have one happy pregnancy on this show?

WEEKLY: No! *