Rachel Melvin leaving DAYS, urges viewers not to speculate why
Posted Monday, February 23, 2009 6:40:18 PM
by
Dan J Kroll

Rachel Melvin has given her notice to Days of our Lives executives. The
Emmy-nominated
actress
has expressed her desire to try projects outside of daytime and the NBC's
soap's executive producer says he's happy to see her go -- but it's not why
you
might think. Melvin debuted as Chelsea Brady in May 2005.

After four years with Days of our Lives,
Rachel Melvin
(Chelsea Brady
) has announced that she will exit the show when her contract expires later
this year. The news has been met with disappointment from fans, but the
show's
top executive has offered words of encouragement to the actress.

"I called her and I applauded her move," Days of our Lives'
executive producer
, Ken Corday, said in a statement. "I said, 'It's time for you to spread
your wings and I want to see you in
feature films
and big television.'"

Melvin has already been featured in a handful of primetime
guest appearances
as well as two feature films, the 2008 direct-to-
video release
of Legacy and 2005's horror flick, Boo.

Unfortunately, rumors of why Melvin is leaving have begun to spin out of
control on various sites around the Internet. The chatter has gotten so out
of
control, that Melvin has had to issue an official statement regarding her
intentions.

"I have to admit that I'm kind of disappointed in some of the rumors I've
been hearing in regards to my decision to leave," Melvin wrote on her
official
web site. "People have gone so far as to speculate that I'm leaving because
I 'wasn't getting my way' with storylines, or that I was 'disappointed with
the way the show was going.'

In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, Melvin reveals the surprising reason
for her exit.

"It was never my intention to be on a soap opera for as long as I was,"
Melvin explains. "When you think of soaps, you think 'Oh, beautiful people,'
and
I never categorized myself that way, and I guess I just kind of discounted
the possibility of working on one."

Melvin's exit comes at a time when Days of our Lives has been going through
somewhat drastic steps to trim its operating budget. Those steps have
included
the dismissals of popular actors, prompting many fans to lash out at the
sole remaining NBC soap.

"I understand our show has had to sacrifice many things and has been forced
to take tremendous amounts of cutbacks, which have greatly altered the way
we operate. But to clear the air about the other rumor, my leaving has
nothing to do with the current status of the show or my current limited
amount of
airtime," Melvin continued. "I realize people are disappointed in some
decisions that are being made, but I beg you to look at it as I do: I am not
in
Ken or Gary Tomlin's shoes right now, understanding the pressures, demands,
or logistics of our show and its' current budget. I know at times it can be
frustrating to adapt to storylines you can't get into you, or see characters
you love depart, but everything comes in ebs and flows. Just understand that
everyone is doing their best and no one wants to see the show suffer in any
way, nor do they want to 'sabotage' it.

As for Chelsea's future in Salem, there isn't really much of one. The show
is not making any plans to replace Melvin after she leaves.

"We're not recasting the character," Corday states, noting that "the door is
open any time" should Melvin want to return.

With her final on-screen appearance yet to come, Melvin states that she's
been doing a lot of waiting... waiting for new next job offer and even
waiting
for her hair to grow out so that she can sport a new look, if needed. A
final airdate for Melvin has yet to be announced.


Helen Whitehead,
C N D List Moderator
email: hw58@...