Katherine Kelly Lang on the character that changed her life
It has been 33 years since Katherine Kelly Lang filmed her first scene as Brooke Logan on The Bold And The Beautiful. But the soap star reveals why she has no intention of walking away from Brooke any time soon.
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It has been 33 years since she filmed her very first scene as Brooke Logan, one of the most – if not the most – famous soap opera characters in the world.
And to this day, Katherine Kelly Lang can still remember exactly how she felt when she stepped out onto the set of The Bold And The Beautiful on that March morning in 1987.
“It was magical. Everyone was so excited to be there and the scenes were incredible,” Lang tells Stellar.
Even then, she says she had a hunch the series – set in Los Angeles and centred on the fashion industry – would go on to become a huge success. “It felt like it started out with a bang. The vibration was really high.”
In the years since, like legions of soap actors who’ve come before and after her, she has seen her character live and sometimes die through every kind of storyline imaginable.
Lang, now 58, has also watched many a castmate come and go – her “epic love story” partner Ridge Forrester has been played by two actors (Ronn Moss and Thorsten Kaye) – and she is now one of only two originals left on the show, alongside John McCook as patriarch and former husband Eric Forrester.
“Working with John has been amazing since the beginning,” Lang says. “We have so much history.”
That history may not have been made if Lang had chosen to follow in the career path of her father, Olympic ski jumper Keith R. Wegeman. Which is almost exactly what happened. “I wanted to go more the sports route,” she admits. “I wanted to be a jockey at first, then an Olympic equestrian.”
It was her mother Judy Lang’s onscreen work in the 1960s that would influence her more even if, she reveals, she didn’t take to the craft at first. “When I was acting as a kid, mostly in commercials, it wasn’t very enjoyable.”
It was only after taking on a more substantive role in the 1979 roller disco comedy Skatetown, U.S.A. that the acting bug well and truly bit.
In the film, Lang portrayed the sister of Patrick Swayze’s character. She recalls the beloved Dirty Dancing actor who died in 2009 with fondness, calling him “incredible. Everyone was in awe of him. He came from the ballet world and had this amazing posture and way of walking because of his dancing. Everyone would just stare at him.”
The same could be said of Lang, who was the opposite of a soap diva as she effortlessly modelled classic pieces – including a suit, a trench coat and double denim – during Stellar’s fashion shoot.
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It was through a far less glamorous lens that Australians got to see Lang when she joined the cast of Network 10’s reality series I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2019, as she aimed to raise money for a cancer charity. (Her father died from colon cancer when she was 13.)
Despite having to eat dubious food in the “tucker trials” as well as sleep in a jungle in the wilds of Africa, she came away from the experience with lasting friendships.
“Regardless of how it was in camp, we all love each other,” she reflects now. “Every time I’m in Australia, I try to see them.”
Lang’s love of Australia is very much mutual, as evidenced by the success of her fashion line, Kelly’s Kloset, in this country.
“Australia is the perfect place for my kaftans. The balmy, beachy weather makes them the perfect thing to wear,” she says. “The Australian people love watching The Bold And The Beautiful and have been fans of the show for many years. I’m grateful that they’ve opened their arms to my kaftan line.”
As a mother (and indeed grandmother; her daughter Zoe had her second baby in April) to two sons, a daughter and a step-daughter, all in their 20s and 30s, Lang admits even her family occasionally raise their eyebrows at her TV alter ego’s antics.
“When they [do] watch, they say, ‘Oh, Mum, you’re at it again,’ because, you know, Brooke is always up to something.”
And Lang plans to keep it that way for as long as she can. “I don’t have plans to ever leave The Bold And The Beautiful,” she says. After all, she’s learnt a lot from Brooke. “She taught me to follow my heart, never give up and stay true to myself.”
For more information on the Kelly’s Kloset range, visit itvsn.com.au.