Affair and Aftermath
Will ALL MY CHILDREN's Slaters survive?
Alicia Minshew (Kendall) and Thorsten Kaye (Zach) weigh in
Soaps In Depth - May 19, 2008
By Kimberly Roots

SOAPS IN DEPTH: From everything we’ve heard, though Zach is mad, he’s saying, “We can work through this.” How does that make Kendall feel? ALICIA MINSHEW: Part of her doesn’t believe him, because she feels like he’s got to be hurt, he’s gotta be angry. Part of her thinks. “Throw something! Yell! Scream! Punish me: I deserve to be punished!” THORSTEN KAYE: It’s going to be a lot harder on Kendall than it is on Zach, because she is not getting the redemption that she thought she would. She’s not getting the forgiveness. She’s not getting the okay to move on, that what she did was all right and we’ve fought through it and can move on. Zach took this problem, put it in a box and put it away and that’s not the way she deals with things. She needs to be yelled at. And she wants to be responsible for her actions, and if somebody tells her not to worry about it, I don’t know if she knows where to go from there. IN DEPTH: Is the fact that she slept with Aidan, then kept it secret, a deal-breaker for the couple? KAYE: “Deal-breaker” is a tough thing. It changes the deal a little bit. I think Zach is trying to be the bigger person and say that things like that happen and that you can come away from that and still be a couple. The thing that gets to him is the whole trust issue. “I understand why it happened. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me about it.” I think that got to him more than anything else, that “you don’t trust me enough to tell me.” That’s something that he’s dealt with for a long time, with his father, with everybody not telling the truth… Not trusting somebody and to continue lying about things and not telling [him] about stuff that happened in L.A., that’s where it gets ugly. I think eventually that could be the deal-breaker. MINSHEW: I think they can definitely work through it. I mean, a lot of couples have worked through adultery. And when you consider the circumstances: This was a non-emotional thing with Aidan. Non-emotional. It was in a moment of grief, and then she regretted it the second it happened. If there was an emotional tie to this, that’d be different. So I think if she can get him to really see what she was experiencing they can work through it. That’s what therapists are for. (Laughs) That’s what marriage counselors are for. And I think they’ve been through so much [turbulence] together that I believe they can overcome it. IN DEPTH: How do Spike and Ian play into this? MINSHEW: Zach and Kendall went through so much to bring both of those children into the world! I think that won’t be the reason they stay together, but that’s definitely something that links them and bonds them as family. That’s just another one of the many reasons why they should definitely try to work it out. IN DEPTH: If they end up splitting, would Kendall be okay on her own? Would Zach? MINSHEW: Thorsten and I were talking about this. She is a bit needy, so she needs someone to fill the void. But I almost think that she would do so well alone. She’s come such a long way. She’s a mother. She’s focused on her children, she’s got a company. I personally think that she would be great – I mean, God forbid – if she had to be away from Zach, I’d rather see her figuring out who she is, what drives her, why is she so needy. I’d hate to see her run to the arms of somebody else. That would just be disgusting. KAYE: I don’t think [Zach] is somebody that would jump off a bridge, but as you know, once you’re aware of what’s out there, it’s really hard to then go back and live a life that was okay before. You know, knowledge is a real dangerous thing. So if you know that there is a chance to have a family and to be loved like that, unconditionally, then it’s really hard to walk away from that and say, “I’m okay by myself.” I think he would survive by himself, but I think he’d be a much different person.