She was the blonde bombshell, who stole the heart of Pine Valley prodigal son Adam Chandler, JR and the hearts of the fans, from the first time she landed on All My Children. It is hard to believe that the lovely and MEGA talented, Alexa Havins has been on our screens for ONLY a year, wowing fans with her portrayal of wild child turned sophisticated mama, Arabella “Babe” Carey Chandler. 

As soap fans, we tune into our favorite shows each and every day, longing to see our favorite characters intertwined in heart wrenching plots and passionate love stories, but over the last few years on the alphabet network, it seems as if the “wind of change” has blown through the studio, and our beloved characters make a quick exit, only to be replaced by some newbie who has no ties to any other character or core family on the show.

This easily could have happened to the lovely Alexa, but AMC got smart and intertwined her character into one of its core families, the Chandlers. One year later, Havins is still going strong, making her mark and continuously wowing AMC fans, while drawing in fans from another show as well, in the front burner baby switch storyline. 

And from what other show is she wowing fans you may wonder? Well, it is none other than All My Children’s sister show One Life to Live, where Havins has portrayed her AMC character in many crossover scenes related to the baby switch storyline currently playing on our screens.

These crossovers have lead Havins to go toe to toe with some of One Life to Live heavy hitters, such as Dan Gauthier (Kevin Buchanan) and Heather Tom (Kelly Cramer), who play the adoptive parents of Babe’s son, Ace. 

“Dan is SO Awesome, I just love him and we clicked together from the start,” she says with a laugh. So if things don’t work out with Jamie Martin, could the fans expect to see Babe Carey become the next Mrs. Kevin Buchanan?

“Dan and I always laugh about this,” she says. “We got along off screen, but once that camera turned on, something magical happened between the two of us and the chemistry was there…Honestly, everyone (my family, costars) commented on this chemistry and I asked OLTL executive producer Frank Valentini if we could explore this,” Havins continues enthusiastically. 

But soap fans don’t hold your breath waiting for this pairing to happen, especially since Babe kidnapped Kevin’s “son”. “If it does happen it will be sometime in the future, I mean she just kidnapped his son after all.”

Of course Havins considers a pairing between Babe and Kevin to be a great idea, but she says that they could carry the pairing a little further. (Excitedly) “I think it would be AWESOME to see a triangle form between Kevin, Babe and Jamie…now that would be one FANTASTIC storyline.”

And at the center of the kidnapping storyline is Babe’s son by JR Chandler, little Ace Buchanan, AKA James Anderson. “We are getting ready to film a HUGE location shoot in Florida, surrounding this storyline,” Havins says excitedly.

Could the fact that the next generation of the Chandler family is alive and well, be one of the reasons why Babe is on the run. “That is the whole point of the storyline…Babe does not want her son to become like Adam or JR, she is trying to save him from turning into them.” 

Any parent out their knows how hard it is to travel with a baby, let alone being on the run and unless you have lived under a rock for the last few months, then you certainly know that Babe and little Ace are being accompanied by rebel with a heart of gold, Jamie Martin.   

According to Havins, the location shoot will have another element intertwined into it…a love story. “It’s going to be a sweet love story between Jamie and Babe,” she says softly. “Here is this little family, who is on the run, doing whatever they can to survive and be together and we will see their true feelings for one another begin to grow and come into focus… Jamie is Babe’s knight in shining armor and I LOVE this pairing.”

Ok so lets get this straight, we have a Chandler, a Martin, a beautiful blonde and a baby…HMMM sounds reminiscent to a storyline from the eighties involving Tad, Dixie and Adam. “It is DEFINITELY a flashback to that story…a woman in the middle between a good guy and a bad guy and there is a child involved… the fans are seeing it and comparing the similarities and I honestly think Megan (McTavish, head writer) did that on purpose,” says Havins.

Now that it appears as if Babe will venture into a new romance with Jamie, I asked Havins if she was sad to see the JR and Babe pairing end. “I am a little sad and it was fun while it lasted, but the storyline ran it’s course and Babe and JR will always be connected to each other through their son, so it should make for some interesting storylines in future years, besides I am ready for Babe’s next love interest…she needs a little love in her life.”

So now that Babe has her child back, the burning question on everyone’s mind is when will her best friend Bianca finally learn the truth, that her daughter Miranda is alive and well and has been living in the Chandler mansion, all these months. “It will be a really BIG November and December with lots of twists and turns I didn’t really expect,” she reveals. 

But will these twists and turns be enough to satisfy the audiences opinion on this powerful storyline. If you have checked out any soap message board or picked up the latest edition of your favorite soap magazine, then you have seen the outrage this storyline has caused among All My Children fans.

First and foremost, the fans want to see the storyline over with and the babies returned to their rightful mothers, but secondly there is outrage over how Babe and Krystal could get away with keeping the biggest secret that is beginning to rock Pine Valley to it’s core. 

“As Alexa, my opinion is that.. No, a child should not be away from it’s biological mother… when I first got the script it was hard for me to see how this could not be construed as being evil and manipulative. I went deep into Babe’s head to justify why she would do this and that is the vulnerability and the sympathy that we are seeing on screen,” Alexa says with vigor and emotion.

So this vulnerability and sympathy is what is leading Babe to keep this secret all along? “Babe is the kind of person that thinks with her heart and not with her head, she is quick to make decisions and as evidence through the fans response, those decisions are not always the best or even the right decisions,” she says passionately. 

In other words, soap fans Babe had a motive for keeping this secret even though her reasons may appear selfish. “I think her motives weren’t selfish, even though they appear to the fans as being selfish,” she adds. “Babe did all of this for JR. Her actions were always about JR, which is unfortunate and please let the fans know that Babe is a tough, tough character to play and I am trying to give her as many different levels as I possibly can. Without a bad guy there is no conflict, and I think that the fans realize this.”

The other question is whether or not Babe will be ready to face the firing squad and the ramifications of her actions, once she returns to Pine Valley. “Babe looks for the silver lining in every situation, again she wants everyone she is close to be happy, her mother, David, Bianca, everyone… she wants Bianca to hold her little girl in her arms, just like she is doing with her son.”

And speaking of holding their onscreen children, how does Alexa enjoy working with the littlest costars in this storyline. “They are developing their own personalities,” Havins says laughing, but I enjoy working with them.”  And with those personalities come challenges or “huge, huge challenges” Havins puts it. “In the beginning, they were content because they would be sleeping or taking their bottles, but now they are rambunctious and don’t always follow the script,” she says with a laugh.

She continues laughing, “For example the director wants the baby to lie down, but the baby doesn’t want to lie down, the baby wants to sit up and when I am supposed to be feeding him he is not hungry, so their personalities are coming through and it is becoming a huge improv each day. They try their best to have the blocking done for the scenes, but sometimes the baby dictates what Eden and I do and we just go with it and the camera follows us.”

Speaking of Eden is Alexa enjoying working with her counterpart in this storyline Eden Reigel, who plays Bianca Montgomery. “I LOVE working with Eden,” she says.  “We have not had much time to spend hanging out other than at work, but we are enjoying working with one another.”

Not only is Babe’s family is expanding to include her son but also the father she never knew about. “Never ever would I have thought that David Hayward would have turned out to be Babe’s father, not in a million years,” says Havins with a chuckle. “But the fans wanted it.”

Of course being the daughter of the dastardly David Hayward would be a heavy burden for anyone to carry, but not for Havins. “Vincent is great to work with and I love the father/daughter scenes we are creating and I am sure that there will be more for the fans to look forward to,” she says excitedly.

Now that Babe is on the run, and her mother and father seem to be getting closer to one another, the inevitable question is whether or not Babe will eventually play matchmaker for these two. “I think at some point she probably will…she wants her momma to be happy, whether she is with Tad or David.” 

But will all of the members of Babe’s new family welcome her back home with open arms? After all, Babe’s cousin Maggie Stone is confused about her feelings for Bianca and was there for her through all of the tragedy she encountered.

“I don’t know what the writers have in store, but I would like to see Maggie confront Babe regarding finding her in bed with Bianca and keeping Bess’ true identity a secret for all of these months, I think it will come sometime down the line, after all these two ladies only learned they were cousins a few short months ago.”

It appears as if all of the sadness and tears will be over for Babe as she settles into her new life with Jamie and little James, and they live happily ever after. Isn’t it funny how real life imitates what we see on screen as Havins and Jamie portrayer, Justin Bruening are a couple off screen as well. 

“I am sooo happy with Justin,” she gushes. “He and I are always together, eating, working out, studying our lines, it is GREAT to be able to work with the person you love and care about on a daily basis, he is it,” she says adoringly. 

At the time of this interview, Bruening was away on a personal appearance and Havins was getting ready to attend her first ABC Super Soap Weekend at Walt Disney World and resorts in Orlando, Florida. “I am very excited to be meeting all the fans and putting faces with the names that have sent me fan mail or posted at my message board,” she says excitedly. 

Also, Alexa is excited about the re-launching of her official website and fan club www.alexahavins.com. “It is going to be really FANTASTIC,” she says, “and I hope the fans will come and check it out and perhaps leave me a message over at the board.” 

So soap fans, keep watching the show, “it is getting good and I am blessed and LOVE being part of this outstanding cast…this last year has been great.”

We at SoapTown and I would like to personally thank Alexa for taking time out of her busy schedule and weekend to give us our 2^nd exclusive interview. Special thanks also goes out to her manager, Mattie Semdarek for lining it up and for providing us with the fabulous photos of Alexa used throughout this interview.

For more information on how you can write to Alexa or become part of her official fan club, please check out her official website listed above or email her Fan Club President, Michelle at AlexaHavins@aol.com.