Don’t you just love this photo?

It was taken earlier today when Days of Our Lives star Chandler Massey met Kristy McNichol.

They happen to have the same publicist, Jeff Ballard, and he made the introduction.

“She is a wonderful actress and is so warm and down to earth,” Chandler said after meeting McNichol for the first time.

Kristy’s view of Chandler: “What a cutie!  He is so adorable and talented.”

As you know, Kristy earlier this month publicly acknowledged that she is a lesbian and did so because she wants to help LGBT kids who are bullied.

Although Kristy has not acted for more than two decades, the Emmy winner is still well-remembered for her television roles on Family and Empty Nest and such feature films as Little Darlings, Only When I Laugh and The Pirate Movie.

Chandler, meanwhile, is doing an outstanding job as gay teen Will Horton on Days of Our Lives. He’s been so good that the current issue of Soap Opera Digest, which just arrived in my mailbox today, names him as “Performer of the Week.”

“The young actor has had to delicately balance his alter-ego’s fragility, profound hurt and confusion, not to mention his intense anger at [his mother],” the magazine notes. “The material marks the first time Massey has really been pushed to show off all his skills and he has fully embraced the challenge.”

I had written last week that it would air on Jan. 13 and want to make sure we have the correct information out there so you don’t miss Jai on the show!

He portrays the gay character of Mateo, a friend of Sonny’s who may become involved in his latest business venture.

“He hits it off with Will right away and they have an interesting connection,” Rodriquez tells Soaps in Depth. “I think there’s definitely room for Mateo to come back.”

His little stepson went missing and while he was gone, his wife cheated on him with her ex-husband.

Then there’s his moody stepson, Will Horton, who is full of rage as he deals with his mom cheating and his sexuality.

I spoke with Gering on Friday night at the NBC-Universal party in Pasadena.

We talked about the show’s first gay storyline involving his on-screen stepson (played by Chandler Massey).

‘It’s an important story,” Gehring said. “These are issues that people face, people are coming out of the closet, dealing with their sexuality and being comfortable with it. It’s nice to be part of a show that is addressing issues that people face.”

He hopes viewers – gay or straight – will get a lot out of it.

“I’m sure it will probably help people deal with that issue so they might have to go through what [Will] is going through, they might be able to find strength in that storyline,” he said. “Whenever you’re a part of something like that, it’s always good. Above and beyond all of that, I think it’s entertaining. It’s a win-win.”

Gering has been mighty impressed with the work of Massey.

“From an acting standpoint I think he’s done a great job and that always gives the story merit,” he said. “He’s 110 percent committed. He hit the ground running when he got to the show. I’ve been able to see him grow as an actor over this last year and a half. I love the kid, he’s a sweet, cool kid.”

Related Post: Chandler Massey gives Greg In Hollywood first extensive interview about Will Horton coming out as gay on Days of Our Lives

He portrays the gay character of Mateo, a friend of Sonny’s who may become in his latest business venture, according to AfterElton.com’s Langford on Soaps column.

“Mateo has tattoos and is a little more edgy than the Salem boys,” Rodriquez tells Soaps in Depth. “But, he hits it off with Will right away and they have an interesting connection. … I think there’s definitely room for Mateo to come back.”

In a separate interview with Deep Soap, Rodriguez, shared his thoughts on the soap’s handling of the Will Horton storyline so far.

“I think they’re handling the storyline with a lot of sensitivity and being really, really honest… It’s definitely not a cliché.” he said. “The portrayals of young gay people on television are a lot different than they were ten or fifteen years ago. They’re colored with a little more diversity. I think that’s a really good thing.”

Will Horton (played by Chandler Massey) is struggling with coming to terms with things so he heads over to Sonny Kiriakas’s (played by Freddie Smith) house under the guise of returning material from their failed website venture.

Will peppers Sonny with questions about his coming out and Sonny doesn’t probe but does seem to be aware that Will is gay, at one point saying the word “us” when referring to gay people before quickly correcting himself.

The groundwork is also laid in this scene for a new business venture that sounds far more promising – and far less tedious – than the computer venture: a coffee house for gays and straights.

This will be the ideal locale for all kinds of drama to unfold!

Here is an earlier episode this week of Will and his grandmother Marlena (Deidre Hall) discussing his disclosure that his mom, Sami, slept with her ex-husband. This is powerful stuff and Miss Hall is first-rate as is Mr. Massey. This relationship between grandmother and grandson is one of the best things any show has going on daytime. It is dynamite and feels very real.

One Life to Live did for a brief, glorious time a few years back with Oliver and Kyle and Nick and As the World Turns gave us Luke, Noah and toward the end, the amazing Reid.

ATWT is now off the air as is All My Children which had the first same-sex wedding on a daytime soap between Bianca and Reese. AMC jettisoned the characters soon after the wedding. OLTL, which ends its run in a few weeks, quickly abandoned its entire gay storyline last year due to outside pressures.

So now we are left with Days of Our Lives. The show did well in introducing the gay character of Sonny (Freddie Smith) as a self-assured young man who has his sexuality figured out. It has done little with him after a promising beginning but more than made up for it with a developing storyline that has the character of Will Horton at the center of it.

Will is just beginning to come to the realization that he is gay and in the coming months, he will be walking a rocky road. We will be watching, riveted, because the young actor who plays Will, Chandler Massey, has done a brilliant job of making us care.

Whether he’s breaking up with his girlfriend, defending gay friend Sonny, confronting his mother or confiding in his grandmother, Will is the one you can’t keep your eyes off of. Massey is showing us so many layers to this character – especially in the past month – and it is a wonderful ride.

That’s why he is the winner of the 2011 Greggy for Soap Star of the Year following in the footsteps of last year’s winner Eric Sheffer Stephens who played Reid on ATWT.

There are so fewer actors playing LGBT roles in what is left of the soaps that there was a danger of this category not being presented this year. But Massey is a deserving winner and if he keeps up this level of acting, he will be the front-runner for next year’s prize as well as an Emmy nomination.

It’s also so nice to know that the actor playing Will is such a thoughtful and articulate young man off-screen. Chandler has shown up to support various LGBT causes and knows the importance of his character to viewers watching at home – especially LGBT kids and their parents.

Before returning to Georgia to spend the holidays with his family, Chandler filmed an anti-bullying Public Service Announcement for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles:

The long-running ABC soap One Life to Live will go off the air next month – and my little sister is going to have a tough time getting over it!

The soap certainly has its share of hunky men including David A. Gregory who plays the part of Robert Ford.

Robert, 26, was voted best hunk by readers of the website SoapHunks.net which last year voted him hunkiest newcomer.

He’s a hunk with some brains.

In 2008, David graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. Before being cast on OLTL, he endured seven months of unemployment and was considering another line of work besides acting.

David also won the categories of best torso, best pecs, best abs AND best butt.

But, he did not win EVERY category.

Gregory’s former OLTL castmate David Fumero (pictured, far left) won the categories of best arms and best voice, OLTL’s Nick Robuck (pictured left) was the top vote-getter in the best face contest and OLTL’s Andrew Trischitta was voted to have the best hair.

It’s no surprise that OLTL was voted best overall soap but it’s a surprise that the oh-so-hunky Tuc Watkins was not a finalist in any of the categories.

Non-OLTL winners:

Best Smile: Scott Clifton of The Bold and the Beautiful. From the same soap is the beautiful Brandon Beemer (pictured, left) who won in two categories: best eyes and Most Shamefully Clothed (meaning they wear clothes too often!). Brandon was also one of the top five finalists for best abs and best butt.

Best Hunk Over 40: Eric Martsolf of Days of Our Lives; Hunkiest Newcomer: Bren Foster of Days of Our Lives; and Most Missed Soap Hunk: Greg Vaughn of General Hospital.

Our favorite trio from Days of Our Lives didn’t finish in first place in any of the categories but Chandler Massey (Will Horton), Casey Deidrick (Chad DiMera) and Freddie Smith (Sonny Kiriakis) did have several top five finishes.

The adorable Casey was a finalist for best face, best eye, best smile, sweet Chandler was a finalist for best eyes and best smile and Freddie made the final five in the category of Most Shamefully Clothed.

The winning soap actors were determined by online voting by the fans over the past several weeks.

I watched her for the full hour on Piers Morgan last week and was so interested in all that she had to say about politics, love, fitness, movies and so much more.

She has an amazing mind and passion for life. She doesn’t look it but Miss Fonda will be turning 74 in a few days.

Tomorrow, her appearance on Anderson Cooper’s daytime show will air (you have to specify because with Anderson, it could also be Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN or 60 Minutes on CBS!)

The show’s website says Miss Fonda will discuss her challenges to be a healthier person, why she started producing workout videos, how she finally decided to have plastic surgery (even after publicly declaring that she never would), and sex after 70. Plus, Jane takes questions from the studio audience — and they help her surprise Anderson with a fitness challenge that “leaves him shocked.”

On her Twitter page today, Miss Fonda wrote: “We had fun!”

In recent weeks on Days of Our lives, we’ve witnessed the beginning of the unraveling of Will Horton who is about to embark on a journey of facing the fact that he is gay.

Chandler Massey, who has been top-notch as Will, attended last week’s NOH8 party in West Hollywood along with two of his co-stars: Camila Banus who plays his now ex-girlfriend Gabi and Casey Jon Deidrick who plays his close friend Chad.

I chatted with Camila and Casey about the first gay storyline in the history of Days of Our Lives.

Camila and Chandler have played a couple for much of this year and their characters have reached a breaking point over Will’s lack of interest in wanting to be physical with Gabi.

“Gabi doesn’t particularly know that he’s gay yet but she does have a feeling,” Camila says. “There’s all sorts of confusion for both so it’s a really strange process that she’s going through.”

When Will asks Gabi to move in with him yet still pulls away from her, Gabi decides they need to take a break. Will does not take it well and eventually flies into an uncharacteristic rage.

Camila said she and Massey have worked hard to make their scenes realistic.

“I think that both of us have grown a lot as actors because it’s a really tough subject to portray in the best was possible,” she says. “We’ve both been real respectful of each other and talk a lot about what’s going to happen in a scene.”

Casey Jon Deidrick’s character of Chad has been a wonderful straight ally on the show with his friendship and chemistry with gay best friend Sonny (played by Freddie Smith). Although he does yet not know Will is gay, there seems little doubt that Chad would be as accepting as he has been of Sonny.

“I think it’s about time,” Casey said if the show’s gay storyline. “I can’t really believe it took this long to do it. I think Days has been a place where they can finally write it correctly. The writers are doing such a wonderful job and Chandler Massey who’s playing Will Horton is doing a phenomenal job playing the character. I can’t wait for everybody to see it.”

(What I can’t wait to see are more shirtless scenes involving Casey like the one below!)

SOAPS: My pal Jim Halterman is doing some great stories over at AfterElton.com including a recent chat with Greg In Hollywood fave Chandler Massey of Days of Our Lives.

Here is some of what Chandler, who plays gay teen Will Horton, had to say about what’s coming up on the show: “Right now we’re filming into March, which is so far away, but stuff is coming up. When they introduced the character of Sonny he immediately was established as being someone who was very comfortable with who he was and confident and very grounded. I love that they wrote Sonny that way because Will is becoming the complete opposite of that. I guess I was really pleased with and surprised by how much of a struggle they’re making this. The one thing I really value about the storyline and what makes it different from other storylines is that it’s not just the ‘Will is gay’ story.

Will is the same person and he’s gay but they’re not just letting that take over his whole identity and storyline. There’s all this other stuff going on with his Mom [Sami, played by Alison Sweeney] and I like that because they’re sending a message that it’s important to be who you are but they’re not making it only that he’s gay. He’s someone with so many different colors and layers.

AE: What do we see with Will in terms of a social life? Do we see him out and about?
CM: I can say that Sonny definitely opens Will’s world up a little bit to new people and new friends. Will is one of the guys who really has just a couple of close friends and sticks to that. He’s not a big outgoing guy unless he gets a few drinks in him. [laughs] But, no, I think as far as friendship, mostly it’s the burgeoning platonic but really close relationship that Sonny and Will have.

**********************************************************************************

Jim’s colleague Anthony Langford provides a preview of what is coming up for will in his Langford on Soaps column:

Will Horton decides to come out on New Year’s Eve in Salem, but something deters his plans. Could that something be Sonny Kiriakis’ boyfriend? Oh yeah, that’s right, looks like Will’s gay pal Sonny has got himself a man. As Salem rings in the New Year, Will meets Tyler, Sonny’s fella, played by Andrew St. John. Will is undoubtedly going to be as shocked as the viewers to learn that Sonny has been dating since we haven’t heard anything about this guy and the relationship seems to have developed off screen. That’s never a good sign for longevity, not to mention how the writers feel about Sonny as a character in and of himself. Clearly Tyler is simply a plot device to ping Will’s closeted gay and perhaps gear Sonny and Will into their inevitable romance. This columnist also suspects Tyler will be the gay that Sonny spies Will kissing come next February.

Chandler Massey chatted with TV Guide about his storyline on Days of Our Lives and reveals that Will Horton’s coming out process is going to be quite tumultuous filled with guilt, rage, violence, drinking and blackmail.

Says Chandler: “Will sees how comfortable Sonny is and he wants to be that way, too — he really envies Sonny — but he doesn’t feel he’d have the same support. Will grew up wanting a wife and kids and now he realizes maybe that’s going to be impossible. He hasn’t yet accepted the fact he’s gay so it’s impossible to even think about other people accepting him. Seeing Sonny with his gay friends doesn’t help. It makes Will even less comfortable. He sees all these people who are out and not shy about it and he’s thinking, “What’s wrong with me that I can’t be that way?” And so he feels like a coward. He wants to be like them. He wants to be happy. But he’s afraid. I love the way they’re writing Sonny so there’s some real balance here. He’s the polar opposite of my character — completely confident in his sexuality and totally together. But Will finds that threatening and it makes him loathe himself even more. He is really acting out.”

In an upcoming episode, Gabi will break up with Will who has not wanted to sleep with her. Chandler explains why, in reaction, Will trashes his aunt Maggie’s kitchen.

“Will obviously is gay and doesn’t lust after Gabi but the reason he wants to move in with her and needs her so badly is that he’s trying to hide something he doesn’t want the world to know. She’s known for a while that something’s really, really wrong. He doesn’t want to have sex with her, so that raises a flag. In their conversation that leads up to Will’s tantrum, Gabi hints that there’s something wrong with him, that he’s in denial about something and that is the catalyst. It’s the last straw and he loses it. Once she’s out of the picture, he has nothing to hide behind.”

On Monday’s episode, Will is going to get very drunk: “Will decides he’s been through so much s–t that he deserves a drink,” Chandler says. “He drinks too much and gets rowdy, telling everybody exactly how he feels, which for an actor is always fun! Those are some of my favorite scenes I’ve ever shot and a great opportunity to show a wider range and a different side of Will. He’s lashing out at his mom, mostly. He’s calling her out on everything she’s done to everyone present in the room.”

We learn much more in the TV Guide interview including how Sonny will find out Will is also gay: he sees him kissing another guy during a drinking game in Horton Town Square – but we will have to wait until the end of February to see that!

In the dreary clip below, Will and Sonny are still involved in the ill-advised website hacking storyline which has not been the least bit interesting. The only thing that makes is bearable is knowing that there is far more interesting things ahead for them.

He looked like a cooler and more hip version of his Days of Our Lives alter-ego Will Horton!

Since Will is going to be coming out as gay in the coming months, Chandler was in demand on the red carpet. I got a few minutes with him to follow-up on our interview a few weeks ago.

The young actor said he has quickly felt embraced by the LGBT  community since Will’s sexuality was confirmed late last month.

“They are very passionate about the story and the thing I’ve been hearing is that they really want it to be done realistically and for the story to be told well,” Chandler said.

I jokingly asked Chandler for a bunch of spoilers figuring he wouldn’t spill the beans. And he didn’t.

“I wish I could tell you!” he said before adding, “It’s some good stuff. I wish I could be more specific. It does get very real.”

With Regis Philbin retiring from the show at the end of week, a series of guest co-hosts are be lined up and one of them will be NPH himself!

He will be alongside Kelly Ripa from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2.

This should be a real treat since he and Ripa are good friends and have a terrific on-screen chemistry s well.

Ripa recently signed a new five-year contract on the show but it is unknown who will be her permanent partner. Jerry Seinfeld will step in the week prior to NPH and it is expected that there will be months of guest co-hosts.

Also interviewed is actress Camila Banus who plays Gabi Hernandez, the character who is in love with Will Horton (Massey) and is headed for heartbreak. It’s fun to see Camila and Chandler debate over whether Will really loves Gabi.

Casey Diedrick talks a bit about the friendship of his straight character of Chad and Smith’s character of Sonny. The actor says he was really happy to see how Chad stood up for Sonny when he was being hassled by one of their peers.

First Lady Michelle Obama will appear on The Nate Berkus Show today for a chat with the host about healthy eating. The interview takes place on the South Lawn of The White House and was taped on Oct. 5.

Also appearing on the episode is Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass, and Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford will all be featured on.

Nate tours the White House Kitchen Garden with Kass, and then visits the kitchen for a lesson in healthy cooking from Comerford. It’s part of the pre-launch for Mrs. Obama’s forthcoming book American Grown.

And best of all, it will live with the sexy and funny David Vickers who, of course, is played by the sexy and multi-talented Tuc Watkins.

ABC has canceled the long-running soap and will give it a sendoff in January. But like its former ABC soap sibling, All My Children, the show will resume production for The Online Network.

In addition to Watkins, who also plays one-half of the gay couple on Desperate Housewives, other cast members making the transition to online are five-time Emmy winner Erika Slezak (Victoria),  Kassie DePaiva (Blair Cramer), Josh Kelly (Cutter), Florencia Lozano (Tea), and Shenell Edmonds (Destiny).

More names are sure to be announced soon. I hope one of them will be the great Robin Strasser who has played Dorian Lord for about three decades. Not only is Miss Strasser delicious in the role, but she and Watkins enjoy an out of this world chemistry filled with sharp wit and humor.

With or without his Dorian, it’s a safe bet that David/Tuc will be shirtless plenty and that is a very good thing!

The Chew has already premiered and The Revolution comes along in January.

I’m just happy the Project Runway’s Tim Gunn is going to be one of the hosts. We sure need some LGBT representation!

The other co-hosts are Ty Pennington (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak, psychotherapist and relationship expert Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry and OB-GYN Dr. Jennifer Ashton.

The Revolution is produced by 3 Ball Productions/Eyeworks USA, the producers of The Biggest Loser and Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. JD Roth and Todd A. Nelson serve as executive producers.

Emmy nominee Chandler Massey, who plays the teenager, gave his first extensive interview on the storyline to Greg In Hollywood on Tuesday night and promises that after a slow build since last summer, things will be moving along soon.

“Over the next few months, you’re going to see a whole new side of Will,” said the 21-year-old actor. “From beginning of December through January, there will be no lack of storyline there.”

Will is currently dating high school sweetheart Gabi Hernandez (Camila Banus) but is disinterested in having sex with her since their first time.

Last week, Will had a heart-to-heart with grandmother Marlena (soap legend Deidre Hall) and shared that he was “confused” about the relationship but did not elaborate.

“Will does really care about Gabi and loves her, just not in the ‘I want to have sex’ kind of way,” explained Chandler. “There is definitely love there but you can’t change who you are.”

Since the character of Will was born on the soap in 1995, he is technically the first gay character in the long 46-year history of Days of Our Lives. But this distinction may have been blurred a bit with the introduction this summer of Sonny Kiriakis (played by Freddie Smith) who arrived in Salem already open about his sexuality while Will remained closeted.

The characters of Sonny and Will have developed a friendship and are currently in business together running a website. Chandler would not say if the two have a romantic future together.

“I love the fact that [the writers] are developing a friendship between Sonny and Will, I feel it’s more realistic,” he said. “Just like in any realistic relationship, there will be a basis of friendship there first before there would be anything romantic.”

And should Will find romance with Sonny or another character, Chandler is not afraid to lock lips with another male actor.

“I’m an actor and I play a role,” he said. “Anything they give me, it’s my job to go and make real and relevant.”

Despite the fact that there has been a great deal of speculation in recent months about whether Will would in fact be gay – uncertainty fueled by changes in writers and executive producers – Chandler has been aware for nearly a year about the direction of the character.

“I knew the direction in February but I had to keep my mouth shut,” he said. “It’s been a very long process. They wanted to handle it right and take their time with it and didn’t want it to be ‘Days’ doing gay storyline  because other soaps are. They were careful in keeping the information under wraps.”

I wondered what it felt like for Chandler now that the news is finally out about Will.

He said: “It feels great, Greg. Just to have the opportunity to play then first gay character in all the years of the show. It’s an honor. I told you back in June [in an earlier interview] that it would be a creative challenge if I had the opportunity and now, officially, it is. I am very, very excited about it and I’m glad I can finally acknowledge it.”

Chandler, who has been a part of the NOH8 photo project and participated in AIDS Walk Los Angeles last month, is also well aware that Will’s coming out storyline will be closely watched by teens and by the LGBT community in general.

“It’s an honor,” he said. “I’m 100 percent behind the LGBT community. The more representation they get in daytime, I’m thrilled.”

Chandler will be among the cast members at the fourth annual Day of Days Fan Event at Universal Studios in LA this weekend. [Click HERE for a schedule of events].

He also stars in the film 16-Love to be released on January 20, 2012.