Hunter Tylo

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Hunter Tylo, from the opening titles of The Bold and the Beautiful, 2005

Hunter Tylo (born Deborah Jo Hunter on July 3, 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American actress of half Cherokee descent. She is also credited as Deborah Morehart; Morehart was the last name of her first husband.

She made her career acting on soap operas. She debuted on All My Children as pickpocket Robin McCall in 1985. She met her future husband Michael Tylo on the set; she played his love interest. She left the show in 1987 and married Michael that same year. She insisted that her husband leave his storyline on All My Children, lest she divorce him, as she perceived that series co-star Taylor Miller, who played Tylo's love interest at the time, to be coming on to him in real life; she makes the accusation in her autobiography Making a Miracle.

She played Marina Toscano on Days of Our Lives from 1989 to 1990, only to be fired after series star Stephen Nichols reportedly made sexual advances toward her; after she turned him down, Hunter claims, the show wrote her out when Nichols played his character as if he were annoyed by her presence. This story has not been corroborated by anyone except Tylo herself, in her autobiography.

She joined the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful, playing Dr. Taylor Hayes, in 1990. This would be Hunter's most famous role to date. She played the role until 2002, when her character was supposedly killed off by the vengeful Sheila Carter (played by Kimberlin Brown); she returned to the show in 2004 for a guest appearance. In 2005 she returned as a series regular when it was revealed that Taylor hadn't been killed but rather had been kidnapped by her former "husband" Prince Omar. The soap press hinted that the "murder" of Taylor was colored with many parallels, as Tylo and Brown dislike each other in real life.

Hunter Tylo's autobiography Making a Miracle

Hunter also says in her autobiography that she and Kimberlin Brown had a major falling-out, which resulted in Brown testifying against her when her marriage to Michael had hit a rough spot; he filed for custody of their two boys, and Brown testified that Hunter was an unfit parent. Before this messy incident, Hunter recounts, she and Brown were best friends.

In 1994, Tylo's husband left her when he found out that she was having an affair with an Indian crewmember whom she had met on the set of her miniseries The Maharaja's Daughter. She then had an epiphany in which she realized that Christianity was, in her words, "the one true faith." She become a born-again Christian and her husband reconciled.

In 1996, Aaron Spelling fired Hunter from his series Melrose Place when he found out that she was pregnant. Hunter left The Bold and the Beautiful due to the contract that she had signed with Melrose Place and was fired by Spelling before she could film any episodes. Her character Taylor McBride was recast and ultimately played by actress Lisa Rinna.

She eventually sued on the grounds that she was being discriminated against, and she won nearly five million dollars. One of the more infamous parts of the trial included a svelte Hunter wearing revealing, "sexy" clothing and then telling the jury that she was eight months pregnant with her third child.

Hunter has four children, two boys and two girls (The first child Christopher was the product of Hunter's first marriage, and the last three are Hunter's with Michael Tylo.). Her youngest child Katya was diagnosed with retinoblastoma and was forced to have an eye removed; it was subsequently replaced with a glass eye. She started a charity "Hunter's Chosen Child" to raise awareness for retinoblastoma, in addition to Retinoblastoma International. She also worked to have the AB2185 bill enacted in California, ensuring that babies get their eyes checked as part of the routine six-week health exam.

Recently (2005) Hunter Tylo has caused some debate on account of her seemingly enhanced bosoms and lip augmentation, which some fans claim have reduced her once-thought natural beauty dramatically.

Once a pre-med student at Fordham University, Hunter is currently earning her MBA online through the University of Phoenix.