"I'd Like To See Marty Fall In Love"
Soap Opera Magazine
By Sheila Steinbach
She's been a self-destructive party girl who was raped at a wild fraternity bash...she's suffered through an agonizing bout with a life-threatening disease...and she falsely accused a minister of making homosexual advances to a young parishoner.
She's Marty Saybrooke, the beautiful but troubled young woman who has stirred up incredible turmoil on OLTL ever since she hit the Llanview scene a year and a half ago.
Viewers were introduced to her at the Llanview hospital where she was being treated for lupus, an incurable disease that can cause painful symptoms and in extreme cases, even death.
Although she was feeling alone and vulnerable, Marty resisted offers of help, and tried to put up a tough front. Rejecting good advice, she continued to drink and party and live for the moment.
Last spring, she met Rev. Andrew Carpenter, and mistook his genuine concern for her as love. When he discouraged her amorous advances, Marty turned on him with all the fury of a woman spurned.
Marty, Powell (Sean Moynihan), Todd (Roger Howarth) and Zach (Josh Philip Weinstein)
She almost wrecked his career and his life when she started a vicious rumor that the minister made homosexual advances to young Billy. The resulting furor split the congregation and created havoc in the community.
Later, in the single most horrifying incident of her chaotic young life, Marty got drunk at a fraternity party and was raped by Todd, Zach and Powell.
At first, only Rev. Carpenter, Cassie and Sheila believed her shocking story. But after Marty summoned up the courage to press charges, she found out others also cared about her, including Suede, the man she is now involved with. With a lot of support and help from her friends, Marty was able to face her problems head-on and she finally got justice.
Where does Marty go from here? Susan Haskell, who has played Marty throughout all her tribulations, shares her insights about her character with SOAP OPERA MAGAZINE, and attempts to predict what will happen to the unpredictable Marty.
"First, she'll continually have to deap with the rape, Susan says. "It's not like that goes away. Women I've spoken with say it changes your life forever. Marty's still working through the anger and loneliness she's faced ever since the rape.
"Also, Marty still hasn't come to terms with the things that happened to her as a child. She's just starting to realize what kind of control she can take over her life, where-as before she didn't feel she had one."
Although Marty now has Suede by her side. they still have problems they must work through. "It's upsetting to Marty that she can't get close to Suede now when she really wants to the most. There's a block, and she doesn't know how to deal with it. She looks to Suede to help her cope, but he's having troubles of his own.
"It's tough. They don't have the experience to deal with this situation. Sexuality has never been a problem for them before, but now everything has changed. I'm hoping Suede continues to be patient with Marty."
Suede (David Ledingham), Marty and Andrew (Wortham Krimmer)
Fear continues to grip Marty, months after her rape. Although Todd's in jail, he has sworn to get revenge because she implicated him and testified against him. Marty will always be afraid of him.
"I don't think it's foremost in her mind," says Susan. "When she's around her friends, she's not constantly looking over her shoulder. But when she walks into her house alone, or when something suddenly triggers a memory of the rape, I think it will definitely be a concern for her."
But Susan believes there are some positive things that have come out of Marty's devastating experiences in the past 18 months. For the first time in her life, she has friends.
"She was always fighting people off. She never wanted anyone
to get close to her. Then, after the rape, she had to let people get
close to her for her own survival, to get through it all. She
realized it wasn't so bad, it was okay."
What would Susan like to see in the crystal ball for Marty? The actress quickly replies: "She goes to college and gets good grades. She's a bright person and it would be nice to see her excel at something.
"I'd also like to see her fall in love. It's something she's been wanting for a long time. But it's going to take awhile. It will be exciting to see what she does."