Katherine Kelly Lang: Absence let reality slap Brooke in the face

Katherine Kelly Lang: Absence let reality slap Brooke in the face

B&B's Brooke is baaaaack, and portrayer Katherine Kelly Lang says she's in for an eyeful when she returns to L.A.

After months of being in Europe to deal with Forrester Creations business, The Bold and the Beautiful's Brooke Logan (played by Katherine Kelly Lang) is finally returning to the States. And in typical soap opera fashion, her reentrance in January of 2015 will be anything but typical.

Brooke left the canvas several months ago so Lang could compete in Ballando con le Stelle, the Italian version of Dancing With the Stars -- which the actress tells TV Guide was anything but the wonderful experience she was hoping for. "I thought it would be fun to go over and compete on a dance program. Well, I was wrong!" she says with a laugh. "It turned out to be more of a reality show with dance involved and they really want to provoke you. They want to see your reactions. They want to see tears and anger. And they really want to see you fire back some retorts, which is so not my style. I don't like reality shows at all so, when I realized what was really going on, I was taken aback. I think maybe they thought they'd hired my character. They kept calling me Brooke. I kept saying, 'My name is Kelly!'"

Unfortunately, Brooke's return to Los Angeles on Thursday, January 22, doesn't look to be any smoother. In addition to already knowing from Hope (Kim Matula) that Deacon (Sean Kanan) and Quinn (Rena Sofer) are a couple, the fashion executive is slapped in the face by the news that her son, Rick (Jacob Young), has been up to no good -- as has his wife, Caroline (Linsey Godfrey). "While she was away in Europe, she did hear that Rick and Caroline were having problems but she's hoping the marriage will be fine. When she finds out why it's not fine -- and that Ridge [Thorsten Kaye] was involved -- she is not happy. It's kind of funny how she deals with the situation, which I will not spoil."

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No matter what goes down upon Brooke's return, Lang is of the opinion that her on-screen absence was necessary. "When I left B&B to go do the dance show, I felt that Brooke was starting to spin faster and faster in a circle, so my [exit] was good timing," she says. "It was an opportunity for her to get away, tend to Forrester business in Europe, and let reality slap her in the face. She really needs to wake up. When she comes back to all of these problems in L.A. she has to ask herself, 'What is happening to my life? Who am I at this age? Is this what I want my life to be?'"

Will she find the answers she's looking for? To find out, tune in to The Bold and the Beautiful on CBS when Brooke returns this January. And to hear more from Lang about her Dancing With the Stars experience and her B&B return, check out the full TV Guide interview here.

What do you think about Lang's Dancing experience? And what are you hoping to see when Brooke returns to the canvas this January? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.

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