Eva Longoria’s Young and the Restless co-star says her remarks about daytime TV are ‘derogatory’

‘You simply weren’t good enough to survive the pressures of this medium,’ Eric Braeden said

The Young and the Restless star Eric Braeden said his former co-star Eva Longoria’s recent comments about soap operas were “derogatory”.

On a recent appearance on CNN’s Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace?, Longoria was taken down memory lane and shown an old clip of her performance on the American soap opera, on which she played Isabella Braña from 2001 to 2003.

Following the interview, Braeden, who has led the show since 1980 as Victor Newman, interpreted Longoria’s embarrassment about her breakout role as “denigrating” to daytime actors.

“EVA LONGORIA: you just made derogatory remarks about daytime actors! You simply weren’t good enough to survive the pressures of this medium!” the 81-year-old German-born actor tweeted.

“Our actresses would run rings around you!! And they did then!! From Robert De Niro to whoever they all are, many of them started in the medium,” Braeden added, calling Longoria out for a “complete lack of class”.

The Independent has contacted Longoria’s representatives for comment.

Some fans agreed with Braeden, while many felt he had misinterpreted her remarks and was overreacting.

“I just saw the clip and she didn’t say anything bad. Nor did she make any derogatory remarks about daytime actors,” one argued.

A second wrote: “She wasn’t trying to be insulting to the soap industry. She was just saying at the time it wasn’t enough to pay her bills.”

“After seeing what she said, (and I’m a fan of both), I think Eric did overreact. BUT what she said was insulting toward YnR and daytime actors so I see why he felt the need to react,” another added.

During the interview, journalist Wallace brought up Longoria’s “first break” on The Young and the Restless, proceeding to roll a clip.

“Oh god, don’t show a clip! You’re going to show a clip of that?” the horrified Desperate Housewives actor interjected.

Wallace then brought up the fact that Longoria was working multiple jobs at the time. “At the same time that you have this part on a big soap opera, you’re working as a headhunter for a temp agency out of your dressing room in the studio,” he recalled.

Longoria went on to explain that she had gotten the temporary job prior to landing the role on the soap opera but decided to work both because her acting gig didn’t pay enough.

“I would hide the fact that I was on Young and the Restless to my clients because they didn’t want a dumb actress handling their accounts,” she laughed.

“I was like the opposite of a publicist’s dream. I was like, ‘Don’t tell anybody I’m on that show!’ because I was still making more money on my day job.”