Victoria Rowell Dishes 'Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva'

Feisty cosmetics executive Drucilla Winters survived many brouhahas during her two-decade run on the top-rated serial “The Young and the Restless.” Three years ago, Dru’s good fortune ran out when she tumbled off a cliff after a catfight with her nemesis, Phyllis Newman. Fortunately for Dru’s fans, Victoria Rowell, 50, the actress who breathed life into this iconic character, is doing fine. On May 4th, she will release “Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva” (Atria, $16). Rowell’s over-the-top romp through the backbiting world of daytime television is so thinly veiled, it may as well have been delivered in cellophane. Rowell makes an impressive leap into fiction with her instantly likable heroine Calysta Jeffries. Like Rowell, Calysta is an opinionated actress on a popular soap. She portrays gorgeous Ruby Stargazer, who has returned from the dead three times and been abducted by an alien just once on “The Rich and the Ruthless.” When she gets bumped from her plum role, Miss Jeffries takes matters into her own hands, which leads us to a conclusion that is as finely crafted as any Friday soap cliffhanger, and nicely sets Rowell and us up for a sequel. Stay tuned. Rowell created 26 webisodes based on the protagonist Ruby Stargazer which we will feature every day exclusively on ESSENCE.com…