I was thinking about this while washing dishes last night and it’s been nagging me ever since: if the characters in Bold and the Beautiful were real, how old would they be? This thought stemmed not from the concept of SORAS, but something I remember reading a while back that on the show, it was noted that Thomas was born in 1987, the same year as his current portrayer, Adam Gregory. Also, we are aware that the show is literally taking place in 2012 since before both New Year’s and the Christmas episode, the year was mentioned. Now we have our constant–Thomas is 26 this year. Let’s do a little math around that, and let’s try to do this character by character.
Bold and the Beautiful — Thomas was born on TV in 1998. If 1998 is supposed to be 1987, then we can assume that the show’s story began sometime around the late ’70s to early ’80s. So let’s say we started in 1980.
Dr. Taylor — His mother was brought on in 1990, over one-third of the way in between the show’s debut point and Thomas’ birth. Between 1980 and 1987 in real life, that would have put Taylor in the picture circa 1982. She was already a thriving doctor/therapist, so she more than likely had a minimum of eight years in college from age 18. Let’s add a buffer, since she was likely pretty seasoned at her job, and put Taylor at 29 at that time. This would mean that she was 34 when she birthed Thomas, putting her at…60?!
Ridge and Brooke — One would likely assume that they’re around the same age as Taylor, and since men seem to usually be slightly older than their female partners, we’ll put Ridge at 63, like his portrayer Ronn Moss, and Brooke at 60.
Steffy and Phoebe — They first appeared as newborns in 1999, so if 1998 is 1987, then let’s birth them in 1989. They’ll be the same age as me, 24.
Hope — Hope is the wildcard in all of this as she was SORASed long after the twins were. Let’s see what I can do with this one… She was conceived on the show in 2002. 1999 on TV is 1989 in real life. 2013 on TV is 2013 in real life, and when I say “real life,” I’m saying it from the show’s standpoint. Hope was born three years into this 14-year TV gap, about one-fifth of the way in. 24 (Steffy’s age) minus 20% (one-fifth) puts her at a young, fresh and immature 20, just as I predicted before. By this math, though, and flashing back to Jacqui Wood’s debut in 2008, Hope was still played by a little kid. It’s hard to imagine grown-ass Wood playing an eleven year-old Steffy, but hey, that’s SORAS!
Rick and Bridget — Rick was born on TV in 1990. Thanks to the math I did with Taylor, 1990 on TV is 1982 in real life and Rick is about 31 and Bridget would be about 29 or 30. I could have sworn they would have been older…
Amber — See, for Amber, we don’t have much to go on other than that she was a nanny for Rick. If 1998 on TV is 1987 in reality, then 1997, Amber’s debut, would simply be some time in 1986. Rick would be about four years old. Huh?? But wait, on the show, she arrived in LA at age 17, which would make her 44 now. Um, okay…
Eric and Stephanie — I’ve always assumed that Stephanie was older than Eric. They were very young during the presumed Stephanie/Mass/Eric fiasco in which Ridge was conceived and I’ve already placed Ridge at 63, so let’s age them all into their early 80s, Mass too, so I can get this s*** over with. This was an instant reminder of why I despised Algebra.
SORAS can make your brain hurt, I swear.
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–Javan H.
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