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Suzanne Rogers was thrust into a front-burner storyline when Maggie Kiriakis’s husband, Victor, was unexpectedly killed in a plane crash on Days of our Lives. The grieving and very wealthy widow suddenly found herself with a new admirer, Victor’s old “friend” Konstantin, who was secretly scheming to con her out of her millions. Rogers weighs in to Digest on the plot twist and her thoughts about the savvy Maggie being duped (at least temporarily!) by her would-be groom.
What were your thoughts on the Maggie/Konstantin relationship? Did you ever think it ever had legs as a romance?
“I don’t think Maggie was ever really, completely warm and fuzzy about him. And he was always kind of being the pursuer. In my mind, Maggie kept thinking, ‘This is too soon. He professes to have been such a friend of Victor’s, so what is he doing this for?’ I mean, it’s one thing to come and hold somebody’s hand, but it’s another thing to make a move. Maggie sensed that and kept backing up when he would come [towards her]. Physically, that’s what I was playing. In my mind I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute. Victor is the love of Maggie’s life, post Mickey. What is he doing?’ That’s kind of how I played it. I don’t know if that’s what [the writers] wanted, but that’s the way I played it anyway.”
Maggie was more interested in a friendship with him.
“Yes, as a friend, he was fine, but he wanted more. He kept bringing her flowers, bringing her this and bringing her that. He brought this tablecloth to her and said, it was from [Greece]. Then they found out it was not. It had [a local store’s] tags on it. Other people were seeing different things and little red flags kept coming up. But Maggie was like, ‘No, no, no. He’s fine.’ It was like she was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Were you concerned about Maggie being manipulated and therefore looking dumb?
“I had to be careful. I said, ‘Look, this character is not stupid. She ran two restaurants, and Victor made her the CEO of Titan before Alex. She is not a stupid woman.’ And then I was told, ‘Well, when they’re in grief, women do stupid things.’ I said, ‘No, they don’t. If anything, she is more alert than before, because she has to be. She’s now the head of this family.’ So that’s what I was playing, what I was trying to [communicate].”
In the real world, we do hear stories of men preying on lonely women and widows for their financial assets, and some of them actually do lose their savings. Is that something you were aware of?
“Oh yes. Absolutely. I have to say, I just don’t see [how you can be] that lonely or needy that you do that. I guess it’s because I went to New York at 17, and I was on my own from that time on. I have never been, knock on wood, needy. Yes. I’ve needed. I loved the man I married. I loved him, but I worked the whole time that we were married. The steady salary that was coming in was mine. I came from a small town, and my parents always scrapped for everything that they got. So that’s how I am. And I’m tight. I’m a tightwad [laughs]. Not a tightwad to my friends. I mean, if they need something, it’s yours. But I have to give it to you. You are not going to take it from me.”
Were you happy when you found out that Maggie was going to catch on to Konstantin’s trickery and turn the tables on him?
“Oh my God. I was so glad because I wanted her not to be the victim. We have to put up with enough as women, and I thought, ‘She cannot be the victim. She has gone through and done so many things. She’s been married to two brilliant men. She wouldn’t be stupid and let this guy [deceive her].’ So, adios.”
What would you like to see next for Maggie?
“Right now, she’s enjoying her daughter [Sarah], seeing her happy with [Xander], and they have this beautiful daughter. So I’m enjoying that. I just don’t want Maggie to become weak and in a rocking chair and not doing anything. I mean, she’s got to do something. Right now, her motherly instinct is coming out. I like to be needed.”
What about the possibility of her having a new romance?
“No. I think she needs to like [herself] a little bit more. And Maggie should be on guard a little bit more, since this [ordeal with Konstantin] happened. But I don’t know. I guess it depends on the situation.”
Would you be open to her returning to the role of restaurateur?
“Well, Chez Rouge is gone, and Tuscany is gone. She owned both of those. When she moved up to being the CEO, when Victor made her CEO of Titan; that was a feather in her cap. She knew she had arrived in his eyes, and she knew in his eyes that she could do it. And that was what I tried to play.”
