Romy Park Responds To Backlash Against Bold and Beautiful’s Poppy
Now that Bold and Beautiful has revealed that Finn is the father of Poppy’s daughter, Luna, fans are having a big reaction to the messy development. After all, Poppy may not be related by blood to Finn, but he was raised by her sister (his adoptive mother, Li) and grew up viewing Poppy as his aunt. Poppy’s portrayer, Romy Park, has seen some feedback to the story and spoke up about how she has chosen to see her character’s side of things.
It was to her Instagram Stories that Park began her defense of her character after receiving the following question from @tridge.famkly.bold.beautiful that said, “Ok so Poppy had ‘nice times’ with Finn, yet she went partying and slept with other men.” The viewer went on to ask, “what does that say about her as a character?” and tagged the actress.
“Good question,” began Park, using the social media post as an opportunity to share her thought process regarding her character with her followers. “My answer is Poppy is someone who acts with her emotions in the moment without thought to what the repercussions may be and how that can affect those around her. Because of that people inadvertently get hurt. But she does not intentionally try to hurt people. She is not malicious. She has a good heart. She thinks WITH her heart and not her head which leads to making poor decisions that can be misinterpreted as selfish. But I don’t believe her intentions are to be selfish.
“I think she is someone who has been hurt a lot and has had a difficult life, but she doesn’t take that out on other people,” Park continued, shedding light on her character’s motivation. “Poppy is a bit of a lost person and -I surmise- suffering from some kind of trauma herself which manifests in bad decision. So then she hides or lies like a child might—but out of fear.”
The actress went on to address the sexual aspect of Poppy’s character. “As far as her ‘free love’ mentality—she equates sex with love,” Park asserted. “She wants to feel love. She wants to belong. Hence her line to Finn saying that when Bill, Luna and herself were making plans as a family that is something she only ever dreamt about. And when it turned out Bill wasn’t the father she said ‘and then that dream was destroyed…again.’ The ‘again’ is very significant and was intentionally written. Poppy’s first and true love is her daughter. It’s her heart breaking because Luna doesn’t love her back. So, Poppy has truly lost everything because Luna was/is her world. When Poppy was wrongfully imprisoned, her concern was for Luna rather than herself. That is not the thought process of a selfish mother. She might not have been the best mother, but her heart as always in the right place.”
Park also shared how her real-life exploration of psychology has impacted her approach to playing Poppy. She wrote, “My character development for Poppy was influenced by the stories of others, which I encountered during my hiatus from acting to study therapy. It was through my field study that I attended numerous group therapy sessions. It expanded my mind and my heart and I grew enormously as a human being. It was then that I learned I must never judge anyone at face value. I must not be quick to make conclusions about someone’s character based solely on their actions, personality, etc. and that I must first understand their experiences and what shaped their life and that the best quality that a therapist or [counselor] possesses is compassion. It is an important quality for the human race in general, but particularly for those who work in the service of others…people or animals.”
