Soap actors spend their days surviving fake kidnappings, evil twins and coma dream sequences. Zuleyka Silver just had a plot twist nobody wrote for her while hiking on a Southern California trail. “The Young and the Restless” star, who plays Audra Charles on the CBS soap, encountered a mother bear and her cub while hiking alone in California’s Sequoia National Park.
Zuleyka Silver posted a video of the encounter on social media, captioning it, “Sorry, Mom. I made a big furry friend.” Sequoia is known for a healthy black bear population, and park rangers regularly remind hikers to make noise and stay alert on the trail. Which was advice Silver, whether she knew it or not, followed to the letter.
Longtime soap fans immediately drew parallels to a famous 1985 “All My Children” scene: Erica Kane came face to face with a bear and screamed, “You may not do this! Do you understand me?! You may not come near me! I am Erica Kane, and you are a filthy beast!” The bear, trained for the scene, walked away. Silver didn’t have a script or a trained animal, just some good instinct and a whole lot of luck. Seriously, people, not everybody gets this lucky encountering a bear in the wild.
California Fans Are Happy Zuleyka Is Ok
Fans shared their disbelief over the bear encounter in the comments. One follower wrote: “I had 2 encounters with bears in Sequoia. If they get close yell get away bear.” Another joked: “Beautiful American black bears. They’re low-key shy and dislike confrontation. I hope you had a great time. This is such a gorgeous setting.” One staunch supporter replied with “That was horribly scary and beautiful all at the same time.”
The Young & Restless Star is ok for now and was able to share her story with a smile on her face despite the temporary terror she found herself stumbling through during her California hiking trip.
