Bold & Beautiful Exclusive: Ahead of an Overdue Steffy/Hope ‘Tipping Point,’ Lawrence Saint-Victor Teases the Move That Carter Fans May Find ‘Very Jarring’

Ever since confessing that he imagines his colleague in lingerie, unlucky-in-love Bold & Beautiful heartthrob Carter has had one singular hope for the future: a relationship with Hope herself. But in his efforts to safeguard her struggling fashion line, he is anything but endearing himself to Forrester Creations’ co-CEO, Steffy. Is he thinking with his head or his heart? “It’s a mix of both,” Lawrence Saint-Victor tells Soaps.com. “A healthy mix. First of all, the Forresters are like family to him, so business is always personal for him. But now, with his feelings for Hope, he’s seeing how she’s been sort of devalued by Steffy and how that’s bleeding into Hope For the Future.” 

Business and Displeasure

It’s understandable that Steffy would be miffed that her sometime stepsister kissed her husband. But to sabotage the line, that’s just bad business. “Carter said something that I thought was really brilliant,” Saint-Victor recalls. “‘If the line is suffering because its head designer [Thomas] just kinda bailed on it, then instead of pulling back resources, it needs more support, not just more time. If we’re keeping it, we should throw everything at it.’”

Needless to say, Steffy’s perspective is, to put it mildly, different. She was none too pleased when Carter surprised her on October 22 with his pitch to have her cousin Ivy design jewelry for HFTF. And the conflict in the executive suite is only going to escalate in the Wednesday, Oct. 23, episode when Carter stands his ground with Steffy. Career suicide? “I don’t think so, not at this point,” his portrayer says. “Carter feels like he’s part of the family, and sometimes family doesn’t get along. I don’t think he thinks his career is anywhere near in jeopardy.

“Maybe he should,” he adds with a chuckle.

The Buck Stops Where?

Not only is Carter confident that Steffy’s co-CEO — his bestie Ridge — will have his back, but there is also no reason that the COO should have to worry about pushing back with Steffy. “He is in an important enough position at Forrester that he should be able to question his CEOs and have a discussion,” Saint-Victor argues. “In fact, that’s what rubs him the wrong way about Steffy. She might be feeling disrespected by Carter, but he’s feeling disrespected by her. He’s like, ‘I’m your COO. Why aren’t you hearing me? You can say no, but let’s really talk about this first.’

“She’s making him feel like just some employee,” he continues, “and that’s where some of their personal clashes start to happen.”

And from there, escalate. This week, “just the way Steffy’s dynamic has been with Hope comes to a tipping point,” the actor teases, noting that at times he’s felt as if he were watching Jacqueline MacInnes Wood transform before his eyes into “Stephanie Jr.” 

A Line in the Sand

Steffy may be shocked to hear the word “no” come from Carter’s lips, but Saint-Victor sees it as being totally in character. The exec has just so rarely been called upon to use it that “it can be very jarring to see him not back down, to see him push something. But I do think he has a bit of a healthy ego.

“If you were to ask him, ‘Are you the most creative person at Forrester?’ he’d say no,” he admits. “But if you were to ask him, ‘Are you the smartest guy in the room?’ he’d say, ‘Yeah, I am.’ He doesn’t lead with that, but at the end of the day, he knows that what he wants to do is most likely the right thing.”

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