As Young & Restless’ Daniel watches his life spiral down the toilet, Mom will stop at nothing to set things right. If that means going toe to toe with longtime rival Sharon, so be it. Phyllis is done wearing a scarlet letter over her eons-ago fling with the blonde’s then-husband, Nick.

“In the past, Phyllis had issues with Sharon, but there was also a lot of underlying guilt about how everything went down,” Michelle Stafford tells Soaps.com. “I’ve always played that Phyllis felt that Nick was going to go back to Sharon. I think the new chick who has an affair with a married man and he leaves his wife on some level feels uncomfortable in the relationship, like he’s going to go back to his wife. I always played that element.

“That’s not a factor now,” she continues, “but there’s still a lot of anger toward Sharon.”

When push comes to shove, Nick’s first wife gives as good as she gets from his second wife. “In Phyllis’ mind, it’s like, ‘Sharon’s not a saint!’” Stafford says. “Remember, Sharon’s the reason Phyllis fell down the stairs and spent a year in a coma!

“And in her mind, Sharon never took responsibility for that,” she adds. “Everybody just moved on!”

This time around, Phyllis could be putting her life on the line if she tangles with Sharon. Off her meds, increasingly unstable and being egged on by visions of Cameron, Heather’s killer is as much of a menace to society as Phyllis ever was. As the redhead attempts to do damage control in the wake of Daniel’s confrontation with Phyllis, things could get downright scary.