Susan Walters
		Practically Speaking! Susan Walters could give her alter ego some much-needed advice on life!

	Diane Jenkins seems to have lost everything. Kyle is living with his father and stepmother, and the architect is still sitting under a cloud of suspicion over the conflagration that almost killed her. She’s alone, save for an occasional date with Andy Richards. But don’t count her out! "She’ll bounce back," her portrayer, Susan Walters, insists. "She figures if she’s patient enough, she’ll get everything she wants!" Including her former fiancé? "Oh, I don’t know. She’s not passionately in love with Jack. She never has been. In fact, it was always about winning, and about making a family for her son. She wasn’t so interested in the man himself; Diane has no illusions about Jack Abbott." She does, however, have plenty of ambition on her son’s behalf. "She is a really good mother, and she has always, always wanted what would be the best life for Kyle. That meant making a family with Jack." The best of intentions don’t always work out, though, as that family’s center is Phyllis. Walters smiles. "She knows that Phyllis will screw up. She always does. It may only be a matter of time." Real Love Her character’s life may be on hold as she waits for what she wants, but Walters herself has the happily ever after every woman yearns for. She married her onetime LOVING costar Linden Ashby (he played her cousin, Curtis Alden) 17 years ago, and has two darling daughters, Grace, 12, Savannah, 11. "I consider us so far to be beating the odds; we’re really a success story. We married in our early 20s, after only dating for two months and being engaged for five, and that’s pretty risky. But it’s worked out!" The secret to their success may be that they’re in the same business. "Yes, it is advantageous," Walters concedes. "We both know how things work, the ups and downs, and the enormous disappointments." He just gets it, she points out. "My mom will ask why I don’t just take the day off to do something with the girls. She doesn’t understand that you don’t do that!" Walters says. "So it’s great being married to someone who wouldn’t ask me to take a day off!" Perfect Pair She and her better half have much more in common than their profession. "We’re very similar. We both have highs and lows. Linden and I are usually in the same place at the same time. There are no dramas, but we’re lucky in that we balance each other out. "We are good friends!" she adds. There have been tough times, Walters admits. "We’re more of a roller-coaster couple, but as we’ve gotten older, the downs are not as low." Of course, a lasting romance is often a matter of chemistry. "He totally does it for me. I’m even more attracted to him now than when we met. He totally does it for me, and that tends to smooth out the rough waters," Walters says with a hearty laugh. The two have made it work personally, but do they want to share screen time again? "Yes. Linden is one of best actors I’ve ever worked with." She pauses. "You should see him playing Ashley and Nikki [when I make him run lines with me]. He’s amazing. But you know, he’s not good at Michael, which is funny."