When I went into audition for the role, I was not familiar with Mia (Korpf, character originator) or her performance. I had NO CLUE that Blair was an Amerasian character,” shares Deprive. “I remember reporting for one of my first days of work and was talking to the various cast members, refreshing my mind on how Blair was connected to them when someone asked whether or not I knew Blair was Amerasian…all of a sudden it was like the wind was knocked out of me, as I wondered how the show was going to explain that Blair was now a blonde haired, white female with a southern accent,” DePaiva says with a laugh. 

Now 17 years later, DePaiva is Blair Manning and the character is as stronger as ever, even in the face of danger. “I don’t know what it is about this girl, but she somehow finds herself in the wrong places at the wrong times,” she chuckles referring to characters recent kidnapping by Ross. “I honestly felt that everyone did an amazing job with those scenes,” she shares. 

And of course, Blair’s ex-hubby Todd came riding to the rescue. “I guess you could say he was Blair’s knight in shining armor so to speak.” But isn’t that the case each time Blair gets in over her heads?? I had to ask DePaiva if this was the beginning of a road to reconciliation between the former spouses?

“Todd and Blair’s relationship is a love/hate one, they always seem make each other these promises and get back together only to have something occur that rips them apart and moves them so far out of each others lives you would think that their would be NO chance for a reconciliation between the two,” says DePaiva. “Somehow though, they always manage to find their way back to one another….at this point I honestly don’t know what the writers have in store for Blair and Todd and if a reconciliation between the two is even in the cards,” she shares. “Blair and Todd will always be part of each other’s lives in some capacity, thanks in part to the children and grandchild they share with one another.”

Our conversation about Blair’s love life continued and I just had to know how DePaiva felt working with all her hunky leading men. “It’s a dirty and hard job, but somebody has got to do it,” DePaiva shares with a laugh. “Trevor (St. John, Todd) is an amazing guy and brings a lot to our scenes and it is always a lot of fun working with him and Michael (Easton, John) what more can I say than fantastic.”

Speaking of Michael Easton’s John McBain, I was curious to see what exactly DePaiva’s thoughts were on the John/Blair pairing. “You know I really loved the John and Blair romance,” she shares. “Their relationship was so much different than the ones Blair shared with Todd and Spencer, viewers were able to see a different, somewhat softer side to Blair when she and John were together.

She continues, “John brought something out in Blair that allowed her to let her hair down, really open up to him and just have fun. Michael and I had fun in our scenes together and I think that carried over to what the viewers saw at home.” Now that there is tension in the John/Marty relationship, could Blair capture the brooding officers eye once again?? “Who knows,” says DePaiva.  “I would definitely be up to revisiting John and Blair if the writers chose to go down that path again.”

But in the meantime, Blair will settle into her life as mom and grandmother to little Hope. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the writers have in store for Blair in the upcoming year,” shares DePaiva. While Blair seems to have downtime in Llanview, DePaiva’s life outside of the fictional town is about to take off with upcoming projects.

“Jimmy (DePaiva, her real life hubby) and I recently filmed an infomercial for Time Life Music,” she shares. “They are getting ready to release a CD with some of the most popular love songs from various decades and asked us to be the host of the infomercial and offer our thoughts on the songs.” She continues with a laugh, “Jimmy and I both commented that we felt old, listening to some of those songs as we remember when they came out for the very first time.”

Additionally, DePaiva has been tapped as the host for another infomercial as well.  “I was asked if I would be the host for the new product no-no,” she shares. “No-no is a fairly new hair removal system and skin care line, that have been showcased on The View, The Today Show and a few others. They are in the process of launching some new product lines and approached me about being part of their infomercial and I agreed,” she says. 

It’s DePaiva’s other passion that takes her out of the television studio and into a studio of another kind…one that encompasses her love for music. “I’ve always, always had a passion for music and can find strength in it,” shares DePaiva who spent much of her childhood singing at school, church and in various 4-H talent shows. It was love of music that opened the door for an 18 year old DePaiva to do a solo performance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. “Being given the opportunity to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, was amazing,” she shares. Little did DePaiva know that performing on the Opry stage, would also open the door for her to perform on another stage, this time at the CBS studios in New York City. 

In October 1986, DePaiva broke into the field of daytime when she was cast in the role as sweet, innocent, country girl with a heart of gold, Chelsea Reardon on the now cancelled Guiding Light. “I had a good time on Guiding Light and in the role of Chelsea,” she shares. “The people over there were great to work with and I learned so much about daytime, blocking, and the shooting pace…it also gave me the chance to work on and bring my acting skills to a variety of levels.”  In January of 1991, DePaiva turned out the light on her stint in Springfield and decided to see what else was out there. Two years later, she was cast in the role of Blair Cramer on One Life to Live.

“I never forgot about my music or my love for it,” she shares. “Had I not become so involved in the field of acting and exploring my interest in it, I might have focused a little bit more on my music and really pursued it. “Luckily for DePaiva she found a way to incorporate both her passion for acting and music and even joined two fellow daytimers and they have been wowing audiences ever since.

“A few years ago at The Broadway cares event, Bobbie (Eakes, Krystal AMC), Kathy (Brier, Marcy OLTL) and I had the chance to perform a few acts together and had a GREAT time doing it,” shares DePaiva. “We just started talking and brainstorming after that event, realized we had a great time on stage together and everything just grew from their.” 

She continues, “we are working on a performance for this year’s Broadway Cares event and hope to collaborate on an album of songs that fans will be familiar with in addition to our own creations sometime in the upcoming year.”

The Divas of Daytime, can also be caught touring and DePaiva encourages the fans to check out her official website for locations and dates. “What we want everyone to understand is that this is NOT your typical show involving performers from daytime…yes a lot of daytimers have preceded us with comedy and music shows, and these shows seem to be themed around that performers character or respective show…if you don’t watch the show or are not familiar with the character then you may not enjoy the show as fully as you hoped.”

“We want to reach out to those who are familiar and not familiar with daytime, and have them see that we are your average singing group, with a tastes in a variety of musical areas…we are even discussing the idea of changing the name to our group to something other than The Divas of Daytime, so that people don’t think their going to see some show based around the soaps and our soap characters.”

In the meantime, DePaiva will continue “as long as they will have me,” on ABC’s One Life to Live. “I’ve had a lot of blessings on this show,” she says. “It brought my husband Jim (DePaiva, ex-Max) into my life which lead to the birth of our son JQ…I'm definitely having a blast playing Blair and I hope the viewers are enjoying the role too.”