Scott Clifton Reveals Liam’s Brain Tumor Story Was Supposed to Be His ‘Bold and the Beautiful’ Exit

Earlier this year, The Bold and the Beautiful appeared to set up the end of an era when Liam Spencer was diagnosed with a brain tumor. What seemed like the beloved character’s farewell turned out to be a twist, as Liam ultimately survived, but according to his portrayer, Scott Clifton, that wasn’t always the plan.

Speaking with Daytime Confidential on the red carpet at the 52nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, Clifton reflected on what was a wild and unexpected year of the show for him.

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“I was supposed to be on the way out, that was the plan,”

Scott Clifton

Clifton clarified that this story wasn’t a case of producers manipulating audiences’ emotions. “It wasn’t like this masterplan tricking the audience,” he explained. “Mr. [Brad] Bell called me up to his office probably a year ago now and said, ‘listen I really love this character, but this is what I want to do.’

“It was real,” Clifton continued.  “He said, ‘you’re not going to come back a week later, this is going to be your swan song so to speak.’”

That revelation added weight to every scene. Not only was Liam saying goodbye to his loved ones on-screen, but Clifton was also. “Most of that storyline I was saying my goodbye’s really,” he shared. “I wasn’t thinking about after really, I really cared about just sticking with what was in front of me in the scripts”

Clifton said he felt honored to tell such an emotional story, something he noted is rare for daytime actors. “Either you’re really dying on tv and because of that you really get these impactful meaningful scenes or it’s a fake out death, and you get to keep working but there’s not a lot of gravity to those scenes because everyone knows he is going to come right back to life. Even between the audience and the actor there’s not as much heaviness to it.”

“I got to have the best of both worlds” Clifton said. “Because I, and the audience, and our executive producer, and creator of the show all truly believed I was going to die, so everything you saw was real. I really was playing that, and he was really writing that, so I got to have that really important moment in my career, but I get to keep going to work, I don’t know how I got away with murder,” he joked. “But I feel very lucky and I’m very grateful to Mr. Bell.”

Viewers can watch Liam’s story continue to play out with new episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful airing weekdays on CBS and streaming weeknights on Paramount+.

This story was originally reported by Parade on Oct 21, 2025, where it first appeared in the TV section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.