A Change Is Gonna Come

“We were kind of thinking that going into the Nurses’ Ball, it would be great for Willow to have a bolder look, something different than what we’ve seen in the past with her,” MacMullen explains, “because she was going into the Nurses’ Ball sort of on a high — just for everything to then fall apart.”

As fans will recall, Willow was on top of the world as she strutted into the festivities, making her red carpet debut alongside her lover, Congressman Drew Cain. But by the end of the night, Willow wasn’t feeling quite so cocky — her estranged husband, Michael Corinthos, made a surprise appearance, scooped up their son, Wiley, and carried him out. Soon, she was in court, facing off with Michael for custody of Wiley and Amelia. She lost and began to unravel mentally. Her decline only worsened once she found out — on her would-be wedding day! — that her supposed knight in shining armor, Drew, had been sleeping with her mother, Nina, when they first started developing feelings, and realized just how unsavory her almost-husband was, dumping him at the altar.

“It was a fun creative choice,” MacMullen continues. “The idea stemmed from Frank [Valentini, executive producer] kind of going, ‘It would be great [for Willow to have a new look] as she comes into the Nurses’ Ball feeling so confident.’ And he was helpful in determining what haircut I got and [participated in conversations about] what we were all thinking would be fun.”

Though the choice to cut her locks originated in discussions at the studio, when it came time to execute the new look, she went to the same hairstylist “that I normally see outside of work,” the actress continues. For inspiration, “I showed her a reference photo of Lena Headey from Game of Thrones. We just found a photo of her online and she had this sort of edgy haircut and it was a shade darker than what I normally have. We just kind of went with that.”

When she debuted her new ‘do, MacMullen got rave reviews from family and friends. “My parents were very supportive,” she reports. “They were like, ‘Oh, it’s so cool! It’s so edgy, it’s so fun!’ Everyone was super-supportive.”

Ditto her colleagues at GH. “When I came into work, everyone there was like, ‘Wow, this really suits you!’ They said, ‘It has kind of a Snow White vibe and so people started calling me Snow [laughs]. That was kind of fun!” Her boss, Valentini, also gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “When he saw it, he was so supportive and so sweet and was like, ‘I love it, it looks great!’ That was really nice.”

The positive feedback both at work and away from it helped MacMullen embrace the transformation. “It was a big enough change that it took me a second to adjust,” she admits. “But then I really appreciated it for what it was, and I ended up really, really liking and enjoying it.”

So much so that the actress says, “In a weird way, I feel like more myself. And that was kind of a surprise! At first, I was like, ‘Whoa!’ when I looked at myself in the mirror, because obviously, I was comparing my hair to what it used to look like. So, that was an adjustment, but just walking around with it, I was like, ‘I feel weirdly more like myself!’ So, I’ve been loving it in my personal life, too.”

It has also boosted MacMullen’s confidence. “I think it’s because I don’t have anything to hide behind, really — at least that’s how it felt for me,” she muses. “When my hair was longer, I kind of felt like I could hide behind the hair a little bit, but this is like, ‘No, you have to really show yourself.’ ”

All in all, the actress is thrilled with her choice to go shorter. “It’s been a blast just to do something completely different, she notes. “And because I cut off so much, I love getting to do yoga and not to have throw my hair up in a ponytail!”