Steffy Forrester Finnegan (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) has been put through it as of late. The Bold and Beautiful beauty thought she slew her monster-in-law only to learn it was Sheila’s (Kimberlin Brown) surgically altered stalker, then she learned that perennial rival Hope Logan (Annika Noelle) had been lusting over, and macking on, Finn (Tanner Novlan), and then there was the little matter of her murder-minded cousin-in-law imprisoning her in a literal cage; and not to mention all the trials and tribulations she weathered since she was first nabbed as a youth.

Jacqueline MacInnes Wood On The State Of Steffy

And to hear Wood tell it, those traumas are never far from Steffy’s thoughts, always bubbling on the surface. “[The writers and I] always try to keep Steffy’s composure and try to have her be poised, but it’s [always] brewing. She’s fiery! It takes that one thing to set her off,” says the actress to TV Watercooler.

“I always like to say that Steffy is fierce and loyal, but there’s a lot of trauma there. There are so many things that she has been through. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I try to play a lot of that in my scenes. We’re human – some days you’re fine and then some other days, you’re not. It can be likeable, but it can also [make her] unlikable. But that’s who Steffy is. She’s very protective of her family, and the family name.

“She’s protective of her whole family, not just Finn. She’s a mama bear to her children. So, it takes that one thing to possibly set her off and she’ll turn into a warrior. She’s feisty and really, really fun to play!

“But I do understand that she’s been through everything – from her daddy issues to being kidnapped and having her mom being gone for so long. She hasn’t been able to lean on her mother. [She lost] Phoebe. The list goes on and on. So, I try to always have something there because I don’t think she’s ever had it perfect, right? I think that sometimes she can be addicted to the drama.”

And that addiction will soon be satiated, what with the outing of Hope and Carter’s (Lawrence Saint-Victor) burgeoning romance and the truth concerning Taylor’s (Rebecca Budig) ‘Broken Heart’ diagnosis.

On the latter, Wood teased: “You’ll see Steffy and Taylor getting more closure on certain things coming up and being really open, honest, and raw with one another.

“But yeah, in the moment, it’s kind of a switch [for the two]. They’ll switch roles and Steffy has to be the mama bear [to her own mother] in that situation.”

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As for the state of ‘Sinn,’ Wood crowed: “You know what I think right now is that they are super sexy and fun. They’re just really settling into one another. They’ve been through so much, and they’re just finally getting to breathe.

“Even though Hope went after Finn, Steffy still knows her husband. That kiss was her and not him. He’s super honest and she trusts him and they’re enjoying this moment. They can be super real with one another and he’s finally her safe space.” Finally, indeed.