Weekly: Rumor has it the writers are not allowed to break up Danny and Michelle. Have you heard that?
St. Alban: No. But I wouldn't be surprised, because every time they have tried to break them up the fans have not been happy at all. We say, "It's a great story," but then we hear the fans' opinions and we are like, "Wow, they don't like it." There is a lot of great story to be written with them together. I love working with Paul (Anthony Stewart, Danny), so if they want to keep us together, I'm fine with that too.

Weekly: How has your relationship with Paul changed over the years?
St. Alban: We were close friends right away, but we are definitely a lot closer now. We go on vacation together! We don't fight, and we don't have to be by each other's side or with each other every second. It is a good, healthy working relationship, to be independent of each other and yet like to be together, too.

Weekly: Where have you guys gone on vacation?
St. Alban: I don't know if he'd like for me to say, [but] we have gone away... Actually one of the trips we went on was for the GL fan event at Marco Island (Fla.). We rented a house together. We went to Florida together another time (with St. Alban's husband, photographer Chris Puleo). Now my traveling life is over for a while.

Weekly: How has motherhood changed you?
St. Alban: I don't know if it has changed me. When my sister had her first baby, I remember thinking she was always a warm person, but she became so much warmer. If anything, that's maybe how I would change. But I can't see it myself yet.

Weekly: How come you had to go back to work so soon?
St. Alban: I told them that I thought four weeks would be OK. They actually gave me five weeks. Then she was 11 days late. So two of my five weeks were taken up because she wasn't here. They would have given me as much time as I wanted, without pay, of course. But you have to tell them ahead of time, and it was hard for me to know when she was going to be born. I don't want to screw them up by not showing up when they need me. I was OK to go back, although at one point I was running to the set wearing Manolo Blahnik high heels. What is hard for women when they go back to work is the emotional part. I am lucky I can bring the baby with me, although it felt really strange -- she was there, but she was in the other room. It was the most time I had spent away from her since she was born.

Weekly: Is Paul doting on her?
St. Alban: He was holding her and she was actually smiling at him. It was cute.

Weekly: What is Paul's best quality?
St. Alban: He is...what is the word...insightful. You can go to him with a problem and he can always come up with an intelligent solution and make you feel comfortable with it. If I have any kind of problem, I always feel like I can go to him. He is one of those people who understands the psychology of people very well. Even with the Danny and Michelle stuff, he has been very insightful and helpful. Sometimes I will get the scripts and I won't get what they want me to play. He has great ideas about what to do. It is a great quality to have in a friend.

Weekly: Is he the baby's godfather?
St. Alban: I haven't chosen the godfather yet, but that is not a bad idea. We were taking pictures yesterday and there was me and Paul and the baby. I was like, "This is so funny. Who is the father?!"

This interview orginally ran in the Oct. 21, 2003 issue of Soap Opera Weekly