In our latest feature on the ONE LIFE TO LIVE star (in the 6/15 issue), John-Paul Lavoisier discusses his many loves, from poker to Farah Fath (Gigi), but so much of our juicy interview didn’t make it into the magazine that we had to include it in a Web Q&A. Read on to learn more about Lavoisier.
Soap Opera Digest: You have lived in New York since 2002. Do you have any desire to move to L.A. and become a beach bum in Santa Monica?
John-Paul Lavoisier: Uh … I’ve said this many times before: I hate the beach. I am incredibly unhappy when I’m at the beach. I can’t just sit. Last summer [Fath and his family] took a vacation to this island off the coast of Georgia and I kinda had fun. We were drinking beers on the beach and playing cornhole. Looooove cornhole. But no, I will never be a surfer dude or a lifeguard or those people who hang off the boats, what are they, parasailers?
Digest: Could you ever see yourself on another soap?
Lavoisier: Yes, I could. If I was no longer on ONE LIFE TO LIVE for whatever reason and another soap opera called me, I would be hard-pressed not to consider it because it’s something I really love to do. And I’d be interested in seeing what other characters somebody would be interested in having me build over a long period of time. I’ve been doing Rex now for over eight years and it’s Rex, so it’d be interesting to see what ideas another show might have for me to have a long run at that’s very not Rex.
Digest: Did you ever think Rex would last this long in Llanview?
Lavoisier: No, absolutely not. Especially because my first year, they didn’t really know what they were going to do with me. I spent every week assuming I probably wasn’t going to work anymore. I had a contract, but I just figured when my contract was up, you know … they let so many people come and go. So I was shocked when they offered me a four-year contract and then another one, and with the bringing on of Gigi and Shane and them keeping me close to Bo, I figured, “Oh, okay, they’ll probably come at me with a third contract,” and they did!
Digest: Last year, there was the major plot twist that Rex is Mitch’s son, which was later revoked. What do you make of that whole thing and where it’s going?
Lavoisier: I understand that they wanted to make Mitch his father because the audience was like, “Let’s go already,” and they had Roscoe [Born] back on and a lot of people thought that Mitch was Rex’s father anyway. Also, around that same time I was going through contract negotiations, so they were probably covering their butts in case I was no longer going to be there and now that I have another long-term contract, I think they can invest the final answer now, but I don’t know!
Digest: It seemed at one point that they were going to make Schuyler Rex’s brother. Were you surprised by the direction that story took?
Lavoisier: Sure. It looked that way because they made Schuyler Roxy’s kid and then we were both Roxy’s kid, but then I was not Roxy’s kid. Again, I don’t know if all this was a combination of writing Schuyler off and also me being in contract negotiation.
Digest: Did you ever imagine you’d be playing a dad at this point in your career?
Lavoisier: No, never! When I got into this business I never in my wildest dreams would have ever considered myself even playing a father. I guess if you had asked me 10 years ago, “Hey do you think you’ll ever play a dad?” my answer would have been, “Yeah, when I’m 60 I guess I’ll play a dad.” But I haven’t really thought about it in awhile. I have really gotten used to the idea of seeing Austin [Williams] and having him call me dad.
