‘The Talk’ Host Natalie Morales to Star in Soap Opera Role

The Talk co-host Natalie Morales has signed on to star in CBS’ The Young and the Restless, she announced on Tuesday. Morales will not need to do much behind-the-scenes method work because her character is a journalist. Before joining the CBS daytime talk show, Morales worked at NBC News for Today and Dateline NBC.

“I have some exciting news to share,” Morales said on Tuesday’s episode of The Talk. “Starting next month, I have a little role – well, it’s a recurring role – on the CBS Daytime drama The Young and the Restless.” Morales will star as investigative reporter Talia Morgan, who is investigating Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters). Diane faked her own death but has mysteriously returned to Genoa City after 10 years away.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Morales told her Talk co-hosts. She went on to praise Walters, Melody Thomas Scott, Michelle Stafford, and the rest of the Y&R cast. “I’m having so much fun, these ladies are incredible,” Morales said, before noting that she still has not done “one of those soap opera slaps.”

Morales’ first Y&R episode will air on Aug. 17 and she will continue appearing on the show throughout the fall, reports Entertainment Weekly. The Young and the Restless recently marked its 49th anniversary and has been the most-watched daytime drama for 32 years. It is one of only four remaining soaps, alongside NBC’s Days of Our Lives, ABC’s General Hospital, and CBS’ The Bold and the Beautiful.

This is not the first time Morales will play a journalist in a show. She played herself in episodes of This Is Us, Graves, and Nashville, and appeared in the movies Pitch Perfect 2, Sharknado 3: Oh Hell Ho!, Zoolander 2, and Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens. Morales also voiced a journalist in Rio 2.

Morales, 50, joined MSNBC in 2002 and rose through the ranks at NBC News. In 2006, she became a national correspondent at Today, then replaced Ann Curry as the news anchor. When she moved to the West Coast in 2016, she appeared on Today and Access Hollywood. She left NBC News in October 2021 and quickly joined CBS’ The Talk. The daytime talk show also features Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots, Jerry O’Connell, and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila. The current season of The Talk and Y&R are available to stream on Paramount+.