CBS
To Paris With Love: Thomas (Matthew Atkinson) returned to L.A. with son Douglas (Henry Joseph Samiri) — and a new fiancée, Paris (Diamond White).
Fans of Bold and Beautiful got a shock on Monday’s episode when a newly returned Thomas revealed not only that he and Paris are romantically involved, but they are engaged to be married! Considering that when he left town a mere matter of months ago, he was brokenhearted over Hope not being able to commit, “Thope” fans have questions! Thomas’s portrayer, Matthew Atkinson, spoke with Digest about the surprise turn in his character’s love life — including his reaction to learning about it.
Diamond In The Rough
When Atkinson first found out about the engagement, “I think that initially, my response was. ‘I have no response,’ because I’m so used to so many things that I don’t expect happening,” he reasons. “However, I think that I was pleasantly surprised because there was sort of this moment in the past where Thomas and Paris came together and there was this fun little flirtation, but it sort of was dispelled within, I don’t know, a week or two. And so I didn’t get to work with [Diamond White, Paris] very much. I think that because of that, I was like, ‘Oh, this is cool.’
“Because when you’re shooting, especially on our show, you work with the same people all the time, and some of those people you love so much, but when a new character gets thrown into the mix, it makes it kind of refreshing and fun,” he continues. “And so I was excited to finally get to work with Diamond instead of just sort of being ships passing in the night.”
Feelings, Oh, Oh, Oh, Feelings
Thomas left town upset that Hope couldn’t accept his marriage proposal and now he’s found a woman willing to commit, but the million-dollar question is: Is what Thomas and Paris have real? Atkinson hedges, “I’ll say that normally I have a decent conversation with Brad [Bell, B&B’s head writer and executive producer] about this sort of thing, and I didn’t have that conversation with him on this, so I’m not entirely sure if my thoughts coming into this align with his. But what I will say is from my work coming into this and shooting these scenes, the perspective I had from Thomas was he’s literally doing everything he possibly can to move on from Hope and sort of the devastation of being with someone you love, finally getting the person that you love and then being with someone you love and then them not showing that reciprocal excitement to progress the relationship. He had to move on. But coming back and being with her in person, I think it’s a constant process of trying to push down [unresolved] feelings for Thomas.”
Atkinson maintains that the true test of just how over Thomas truly is will come in the form of how he reacts to being in her presence. “I would say that you don’t know if your feelings for someone are behind you until you are put in front of the person and speak to them,” he points out. “I think that Thomas has the perspective that he has moved on from Hope, and then he sees Hope — and he has so much love for her that you can’t help that some of that comes back.”
Which is not to say the actor thinks Thomas can’t eventually truly mend his broken heart. “I think that he could completely get over Hope,” he asserts. “I just think that it’s only been a few months [since they split]. I can only bring my own personal experience into this. Knowing what it’s been like being a guy who’s dated and being in my twenties or whatever, and having a situation where you really care about someone, three months [is] just not enough. I mean, everyone wants to believe that three months is enough time or four months or six months is enough time to get over a significant relationship. It’s not. It’s just not. I mean, maybe it could be if it was a shorter relationship that just happened to blow up really quickly. But from my perspective, I think that the amount of time that Thomas has had is not enough to truly move on, though as many people do and Thomas is doing, he’s made a decision to move on. And I don’t think that’s a bad decision.”
As Atkinson sees it, Thomas is “just trying his best to move on, and he’s not doing it in the proper way, but I don’t think most people do. Most people don’t spend time completely alone for six months to a year after a significant relationship. More often than not, there’s a rebound or something like that. I don’t think that Paris is a rebound for Thomas, but I do think that he wasn’t completely over that relationship [with Hope] before he got into a new one. And I think being in another country helps,” he laughs. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Start Spreading The News
When Hope finds out that her ex-lover is poised to walk down the aisle with another woman, she is flabbergasted — and not in a good way. Thomas is “hurt” by that, Atkinson shares. “I think that Thomas genuinely has always cared and loved Hope. And seeing her hurt hurts him,” he notes. “The last thing he’s ever wanted to do is hurt her. So I think that it just makes him sad. I think he empathizes with Hope in those moments.”
Thomas’s family soon finds out about the engagement and they have a different type of reaction. “I think that they’re as surprised as the fans will be,” says Atkinson. “I think that they are excited and happy for him, but they’re also wondering those questions about the things I just sort of mentioned in my perspective about Thomas. Sort of like, ‘Is this too fast and are you still in love with Hope? And is this a long-lasting thing? This happened so quickly, should we get on board with it or is this going to dissipate?’ ”
Given the friction between Hope and Steffy, can Thomas expect a show of support from his sister? “Here’s the thing,” Atkinson says. “Each individual person has their own perspective, and I think Steffy’s just so excited for him to be into someone that’s not Hope. And so sometimes that can blind, a little bit, your objective viewing of the situation. I think that even still, Steffy is surprised by the news, but I think because she wants Thomas moved on and because she doesn’t want Hope, from her perspective, messing with his life anymore, she’s just incredibly stoked that he’s found someone else and he’s moving on. That doesn’t mean that she’s not surprised by it, though.”
Of course, Douglas’s opinion is probably the one that matters most to Thomas. Is he on board? ”Well, Douglas seems to be so happy,” Atkinson reports. “Now he’s got what seems to be multiple moms that love him so much and he loves them. I mean, he’s got this amazing relationship with Paris that he’s developed while they were over in France, and he’s got this still wonderful relationship with his adoptive mother, Hope. And so he’s just got all the love in the world. I think from his perspective, and from how I see him written in these scenes, he’s living the dream.”
As for Thomas, he’s been away for a few months. How has his time away changed Thomas? “I think he’s become wiser,” opines the actor. “I can always speculate. I would hope based on that wisdom that he’s earned, he won’t make the same sort of mistakes he’s made in the past.”
