Yancy Butler vs. Personal Demon
On TNT's Witchblade, Yancy Butler plays a belly-baring New York cop who battles evil with the help of a magical amulet. But in reality, there was one demon she could not defeat on her own -- alcohol.
''Something told me it was time (to seek help),'' Butler says. ''I wouldn't want to be anyplace else but working on the show, and to fulfill my obligations to the show, I knew I had to take care of the situation,'' she says by phone from the Toronto set of Witchblade.
It's her first interview since she returned to work June 11 after a month-long stint at a rehabilitation center for treatment of alcohol abuse. Production of the Warner Bros. show was halted during her absence. Now, says Butler, ''things couldn't be better.'' On Wednesday, Butler celebrated her 32nd birthday with her friends on the set, devouring a ''humongous cake.''
''Everyone welcomed me back. There were no hard feelings when I went away,'' says Butler in her trademark deep, husky voice.
Witchblade, which began its second season June 17, has performed well for TNT. On average, Witchblade draws 4 million a week for its premiere episodes (Mondays, 9 p.m. ET/PT). The show repeats Tuesday nights at 11 ET/PT.
On June 10, Butler received a welcome-back gift in the form of a best-actress trophy from the Saturn Awards -- the sci-fi genre's most prestigious awards show -- beating out such favorites as Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar and The X-Files' Gillian Anderson.
Butler has been making movies for 10 years in such action films as Hard Target with Jean-Claude Van Damme. She also appeared in two short-lived series, Brooklyn South and South Beach. But it was the comic-book based Witchblade that has propelled her fame.
''I'm amazed that it's become this cult hit. The fans are everywhere from kids who are 15 years old to people my grandparents' age. It's really fascinating.'' Butler says she enjoys visiting the show's Web site and reading fan messages. ''Some are outrageous, but we do get wonderful feedback, and we get some ideas for our characters from fans' input.''
But with fame comes the prying eyes of the media.''In light of recent events, there's things you'd like to keep private, but it happens and you move on,'' says Butler.
As for now, her summer plans are a lot simpler. She plans to make another feature film during the show's hiatus. But more important, ''I'm going to get a little sleep and just take it easy.''
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