One Life to Live: Start Talking with Kristen

Talking Back

Hey everybody. I am officially 17 years old as of yesterday. YAY! I can’t believe that next year I’ll be 18.

This week Todd got what’s coming to him and I’m sure a lot of you are happy about that. Not about the accident with Sam but finally having to pay for his actions.

This week I decided to respond to your comments on the blog. First, I want to respond to Jackie who posted on the latest blog and she wrote:

“…keep in mind millions of people are watching, some even learning from your character experience. Don't be like Britney/Jamie Lynn Spears or Nicole Richie their poor examples of Motherhood.”

I want to thank Jackie for addressing this issue because it’s so important that people understand that we are not saying that what Starr is doing is right or wrong. We are not giving an opinion on what someone should do in this situation. It’s more important what our viewers take away from watching this story. We don’t want to preach a point. We want to show a teen having to go through making a teenage mistake and all of the consequences.

Next, I want to respond to Alora who wrote:

“…I am only 12 years old but at school we are talking about that stuff and to watch your show it makes me understand how it is if you are pregnant at a young age…”

I think it’s really awesome how this storyline is not only reaching adults and older teens but young pre-teens like Alora. It makes me happy to know that our story is reaching people of all ages and also helping with what you are learning in school. This blog is a key example of the statistic that a main way to reach teens (and adults) is through recognizable characters in the media. This is a statistic that I just learned from being a part of this story and writing this blog. Sometimes when you read statistics, they might just seem like random facts but your comments on this blog are evidence that it’s true and that it works.

The next post is the reason why I enjoy this storyline so much. Being able to hopefully bring children and parents closer is the main objective. Hannah is only 11 years old and she wrote this amazing post:

“…I just wanted to take the time to say how much this story line has changed me and my mom's relationship. She talks to me more about this stuff and I talk to her everyday…You have made me and my mom closer and we talk more about these things and I’m only 11 so thank you!...”

Thank you so much for writing this comment. You have no idea how much this means to me. It makes me so happy to know how much I could help you and your mom to start talking about this important subject.

Thank you everybody so much for your comments. I love reading them. Down the road, I will do more blogs like this and please don’t take it personally if I don’t respond to your posts (I will try and I definitely read them). Thank you for your support and keep writing and talking! I really appreciate it.

Until next week.

XO,
Kristen

Start talking with your parent or child with tips from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy:

Over the course of a year, teenagers spend more time watching TV than they do in school. And in the average day teenagers spend more time watching TV than they do hanging out with friends. So it makes sense that what they see on TV has an impact.

In fact, 8 out of 10 teens say they wish the media showed more about the consequences of sex. Everyone sees a lot about talking about sex, wanting to have sex, and having sex but the consequences of sex aren’t always given as much time. Three-quarters of teens say that when a show or character on TV they like deals with teen pregnancy, it makes them think about the consequences of sex.

But it’s not just teens – two-thirds of parents say that something in the media has sparked a family conversation about sex, which is a good thing because when it comes down to it, teens want to hear most from their parents about these matters.

For tips on how to talk about these matters in your own family, go to http://thenationalcampaign.org/parents/talk.aspx.

Secrets

What is the biggest secret that you’ve ever kept?

Everyone has secrets but a 16 year old’s secrets might not - should not—be as big a Starr’s. Her biggest secret was found out this week by her mother. One of the two people that she didn’t want to find out (Todd, of course, is the other one). When you have a secret revealed, you feel extra vulnerable. It’s a really hard thing to tell your mother that you had sex for the first time, especially after lying to her. Starr felt ashamed.

This week, Starr also saw the sonogram for the first time and that was a huge moment for her. The reality of her baby kicked in. And it even kicked in for me, Kristen Alderson, to look at that picture like that. I really felt like it was real. I’ve played Starr for more than half of my life, so she is a part of me. It almost felt like it was my child. It made me feel really emotional and it actually helped me with the scene. It really sunk in for Starr in that moment. Now, she needs to figure out what she is doing. She needs to make a plan for her life and her baby’s life.

Starr returned home this week and now she is going to have to face everyone in Llanview—friends and family. She is going to have to deal with people being disappointed in her. And there are a lot of people with a lot of opinions in her life—her mom, Cole, Dorian, Langston, Markko to name a few. There will be lots of people telling her what to do, which is good and bad at the same time. The good is that she now has the support and input of her friends and family. Which, in a small way, is bad, too because Starr wants to stay true to what she thinks is good for her baby and herself. With so much input, it is going to be difficult to be true to herself. But then again, she is still a young girl who needs her parents.

What we are taping now, Starr is almost four months pregnant. I just started having to wear “the bump.” It’s the smallest one the costume designers could find. It’s kind of strange because when you think of being pregnant, you think of huge bellies. But this “bump” makes me think of the first stages of pregnancy. No one really thinks of what you look like at three months. The baby “bumps” will get bigger and bigger and I will get to experience all of the stages—three months, seven months, not just the big nine month pregnancy belly.

To answer the question that I asked you—what is the biggest secret that you’ve ever kept? Personally, I tell my mom everything. I don’t have any big secrets. If I do have any secrets they are the ones that my friends swore me to keep.

Until next week. For everyone who thinks Todd has been mean to Starr (and everyone else), you’ll love next week’s episodes.

XO,
Kristen

Start talking with your parent or child with tips from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy:

• It’s important for parents and their kids to have open lines of communication about topics like sex. Even if it’s embarrassing, it shouldn’t be off-limits. You never want the first such conversation between teens and their parents to be the one where someone says, “Mom, I’m pregnant.”
• Once there is a pregnancy, all the possible roads ahead are difficult. That’s why prevention is so important. There are lots of things in life you have no control over or you don’t see coming, but pregnancy isn’t one of them. Teen pregnancy is virtually 100% preventable—either don’t have sex or use protection every single time. Learn more at stayteen.org.

Special Guest Star!

Hey everyone! I decided to mix it up and do things a little bit differently this week. We have a special guest blogger...(drum roll) Brandon Buddy (Cole Thornhart). We appeared on The View on Thursday and both shared out thoughts immediately before and after the show!

Kristen Alderson at 11:00am on Thursday May, 15th: Right now we are backstage at The View watching the "Hot Topics." I’m kinda getting nervous and very excited at the same time. We hope that our segment will make a difference to families and teenagers looking for guidance on the topic of teen pregnancy prevention. I hope to get all of the info that I plan on getting out there - out there. Brandon is here with me and is going to be right by my side helping me along which is such a comfort. He looks really cute, too!

Brandon Buddy at 11:25am on Thursday, May 15th: Hey this is Brandon. I am extremely excited and nervous. I want to be able to say the right things so The View audience who hasn’t seen OLTL will want to tune in and for the people who do watch OLTL, we hope we will give a better understanding about how we feel on the subject. Much love.

Brandon Buddy at 12:30 on Thursday, May 15th back at the OLTL studio: I’m glad that I got to make the point on the show about how Cole is not like most guys. He is trying to make it work. Unfortunately, most don’t stick around. Something else that I wanted to share is that just because the girl is the one who could get pregnant, it doesn’t mean that all of the responsibility is on her. Guys need to be smart too. They shouldn’t pressure girls. It takes two to tango. Thanks for your support. If Kristen lets me, I will blog again soon.

Kristen Alderson at 12:40pm on Thursday May 15th back at the OLTL studio: Did you watch? If not, click here. It was a rush. It was a good rush. I was nervous because there was a lot we wanted to say in 6 ½ minutes. But it felt good. I haven’t watched it yet. The segment went by so quickly and it’s hard to remember exactly what I said. The whole thing was kinda surreal. But I do get to talk to all of you each week on this blog, so I am pretty comfortable discussing the subject of teen pregnancy. It was cool getting to hang with the great people from the National Campaign for the second week in a row. What I didn’t get to say on The View was that by telling this story, ABC and OLTL are not preaching to our viewers. We are putting our story out there so teens can learn from Starr and Cole’s decisions and hopefully never have to be in a situation like theirs.

Kristen on Friday, May 16th: A lot of drama happened this week. The most important thing coming out of this week is that Blair will finally learn about the pregnancy. It will be a relief to Starr to not have to keep it from her mom anymore. But there is a big scare because Starr fell down the stairs. Will she lose the baby?

It was an honor to be on The View this week. I really hope that it will broaden who this story will reach.

Until next week.

Xo,
Kristen

Start talking with your parent or child with tips from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy:

• Sometimes the hardest part of talking about sex is getting the conversation started. Still, dealing with that awkwardness is a lot easier than dealing with a pregnancy before you’re ready. So far this month almost 170,000 people have taken the quiz at stayteen.org. It’s a great ice-breaker and can really get you thinking.
• But sex isn’t the only thing in a relationship. Not for Starr & Cole, and not for anyone. Relationships involve trust, respect, cooperation, communication, fun, silliness and just spending time together. What is your relationship reality? Enter the Stayteen video mash-up contest by going to stayteen.org. Just upload a quick video clip from your phone or camera and you could win $500!

A Night to Remember

Hi everyone!

Wednesday, May 7 was the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and I had an insane and awesome night. I was honored with ABC Daytime at the Candie’s Foundation’s Event to Prevent. To be on a guest list with Taylor Swift, James Taylor, Teddy Geiger, the Lohans, Mischa Barton and many more is crazy and to be an honoree was completely insane! The videos that were shown about what the Candie’s Foundation does were so inspiring. I felt honored to be a part of their hard work and dedication. I was interviewed by People and Seventeen magazines -- I love, love, love reading those magazines so that was really exciting. You can imagine that I would be nervous to give a speech before such a great audience but once I got on stage, it was cool and I was really proud to be there. I also got to meet the great people at the National Campaign who have offered us such amazing support.

So this week on OLTL, Starr and Cole started their new lives together away from Llanview. Cole is really trying to make things OK for Starr. When they first arrived at the beach, they were fighting. Starr was starting to doubt her decision but now it’s getting better. Starr was thinking “why did I run away if we are just going to fight?” On Monday, they had a talk that needed to happen. This is such a great example, that if you can just talk, you will get to a place where you will feel more comfortable and hopefully you can talk it out. Talking really does work.

Starr and Cole are trying to live in the moment. If they think too far ahead, it will really mess them up. They are making the best of the moment. Cole is trying to do his absolute best. We see them trying to have fun. They are trying to just act their age and not worry about all of their adult problems -- just take a break from all of the drama and live in their own little world. But once Starr gets the call from Todd, it checks her right back into reality. He starts saying that she is his little girl. She was always daddy’s little girl. They had such a great relationship. But she isn’t daddy’s little girl anymore. She’s had sex and she is going to have her own child. She’s not Todd’s little girl anymore.

Next week Brandon Buddy (Cole) and I are going to be guests on The View to talk about our story and teen pregnancy. I am really looking forward to hearing what they have to say about our teen pregnancy story. Also, I’ve been on the show twice but have never been interviewed so that will be cool. BTW, The View airs on weekdays at 11 am, but check your local listings.

Next week is a very DRAMA-FULL week on OLTL. John and Blair have some leads on where Starr and Cole are and now Todd is hot on their trail. Of course, OLTL will make sure it is a crazy, exciting, suspenseful and as dramatic as possible.

Talk to you next week. By the way, did you take the National Day quiz?

XO,
Kristen

I wanted to pass along this message from my friends at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy:

• So far this month more than 100,000 people have taken the quiz at stayteen.org! If you’ve taken it already then you know that it’s a great way to put yourself in the middle of a scenario and to think about what you would do in the heat of moment. That’s the key to preventing pregnancy -- knowing what you would do and having a plan in mind before you’re faced with the situation in real life.
• More than 750,000 teen girls will get pregnant this year -- many of them will say they didn’t think it could happen to them. But it can happen -- every time you have sex there’s a chance of pregnancy. Even the first time.
• If you still haven’t taken the quiz, go to stayteen.org. And if you’ve already taken it, tell your friends to do it too!

On the run!

Hey guys. Can you believe that it's already May? It's an awesome, eventful month! It's the National Month to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and next Wednesday, May 7th is the National Day. ABC Daytime is being honored by the Candie's Foundation at the Event to Prevent here in NYC and on the 29th I'm turning 17!

For Starr, May has already started out with tons of drama and it's just the second day. Cole and Starr ran away from Llanview! Cole was so desperate to try to get Starr to run away and spend the rest of her life with him. He was trying to convince her that they could do this, get a place of their own and be a great little family. He tried to convince her that this is their last resort. He was so determined because he lost his entire family. This is his second chance.

Starr, on the other hand, is scared to leave especially being pregnant. She doesn't want to go to some strange place and have this baby without her mom. Cole is looking at the situation like it's forever but for Starr, she is thinking that she would have to leave for at least 2 years - until she is 18. It's a really long time to be without her family. I can't imagine being away from my family for more than a weekend before getting homesick. I definitely can't imagine forever!

What convinces Starr is that she sees it as the only way to keep them safe. She is thinking that she can always come back home. Starr is feeling 1,000 different things all at the same time Cole means the world to her but she isn't thinking about their relationship right now. She can't think about anything other than leaving Llanview and her family. I wouldn't be able to do it.

So this week I took a test. Not THAT kind of test. The National Day Quiz at stayteen.org. I got a 15 out of 18 which makes me an expert. I think that if I took it before I started this storyline, I would have done well but not as well as I did. There are definitely some facts that I have learned from being a part of this story. It's a pretty cool test. I would love to hear how you do, but answer as truthfully as possible and see what you really know.

I guarantee that Starr and Cole's journey out of Llanview is going to be anything but boring. Next week, I'll tell you all about the Candie's Foundation's Event to Prevent. Taylor Swift and James Taylor are performing, which will be fun! It is really cool to get this award for something that I am so proud to be a part of.

Until then,
XO
Kristen

Start talking with tips from The National Campaign for Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy:

• Like Starr and Cole, most teenagers who get pregnant say they never thought it could happen to them. But it can happen, and it does, to 750,000 girls every year. The key is to know what do in a sexual situation before it happens. Do you say no? Do you insist on using protection? What if drugs or drinking are involved? What if the guy is a lot older than the girl and she feels pressure to do more than she’s comfortable with?
• Take the quiz -- it's based on real life scenarios from real teens, and can help you better understand how risky things really are. Put yourself in the middle of a tough situation – a 16 year old girl getting ready for prom and planning to have sex for the first time or a “friends with benefits” relationship where one person becomes interested in something more. What would you do? Go to stayteen.org and take the quiz!
• One in three girls gets pregnant before age 20. Don’t be the one. Take the quiz at stayteen.org, see how you score and share it with your friends