Soap opera "Y&R"* star Victoria Rowell* held a private launch of her book "The Women Who Raised Me."
*Victoria is best known for her role as Drucilla Winters on CBS's top-rated daytime drama, 'The Young and the Restless.' The character of Drucilla died on the April 4 episode.

*She has a son Jasper by jazz great Wynton Marsalis who is pictured below:

She also spoke with Jawn of BV Buzz about her Y&R exit:

"It's been a great tenure. One that I've exercised activism in, in diversifying daytime as much as I could. Daytime has been an amazing place to dip in and out of over the years but right now I'm going to be on a long track doing some other things."

On whether or not her "Y&R" exit is permanent:

"Never say never. I have brought a lot to daytime and perhaps the next time you see me in daytime I'll be executive producing a show. I've already put it out there to Bradley Bell (the show's producer), Drucilla should just skip on over to 'The Bold and the Beautiful' the next time she appears. But I am looking to really expand and when I say expand; I mean I have been solicited to appear in foreign daytime soap opera genres. I'd like to keep all of my options open in that arena. Soap operas and novellas are very popular throughout the world."

Rowell on that 50 Cent movie, 'Home of the Brave*:

"Hallelujah! Well I've been putting the energy out there! This movie is so poignant that one can never question timing. One can never underestimate it. It is a huge conscience of what is going on, not only in this country, but in the world. It's about soldiers coming home. What happens in the homestead of these fractured families. Those who have lost loved ones. Those who are trying to repair family. The fathers, the sisters, the wives who are coming home from way. They are not the same people. In 'Home of Brave' we talk about mental health issues. Which is exactly what's on MSNBC every night and CNN."

'Home of the Brave' comes out May 11, 2007. For more info on Victoria's latest film role, visit here.

On her memoir "The Woman Who Raised Me"*:

"I have a sense of peace. It's really homage to ordinary women doing
extraordinary things, which is selflessly giving of themselves and mentoring where they stand. And when I say ordinary, I mean people like you and me who were unique in their own way and gave what they had. I frame them in the history they stood in. I believe it's an interesting an inspiring read because it's not just my story, it's the story of the world and what women and what people can do if they decide to do it."

*Here's an excerpt from "The Woman Who Raised Me":

"For anyone who has spent any portion of their childhood as a ward of the state, the notion of emancipation has multiple meanings. Though I was legally and financially emancipated at the requisite age of eighteen and had always been fiercely independent, it wasn’t until I was forty-three years old and a working mother of two that I finally set myself free."

[Read the rest of "The Woman Who Raised Me" here.]

Quick hoopla about Rowell:


[quote credit: BV Buzz]

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