2001 Real Life Love

Soaps In Depth-ABC
October 2nd, 2001 Volume 5, Issue 40

Real Life Love Stories:
OLTL's Erika Slezak

by unknown

Role Models

Happily married to actor Brian Davies for nearly three decades, Erika Slezak (Viki), OLTL can't help but compare her relationship to the long-lasting union of her late parents, Walter and Johanna.  "My parents had a wonderful marriage, but it was a very dependent relationship…. My mother was entirely dependent on my father because that's how it was in those days.  He paid the bills and took care of the house while my mother raised the children and did the cooking and chores.  Certainly, they were intellectual equals, but he was the boss.  Thank God … we don't live like that anymore!"

On the contrary, Slezak and Davies enjoy what the actress jokingly calls "a co-dependent" relationship. "We share everything.  My husband gave up all his work to stay at home with the kids, and we split all the duties at home.  I do all the boring stuff – like pay the bills, and he does all the exercising for both of us, which I'm very grateful for … I thank him for it regularly."