Kristoff St. John passed away unexpectedly last weekend. He starred The Young & the Restless as Neil Winters. Shemar Moore, who played the character's half brother in the soap opera, took time to recall the influence his co-star has on his life and career. He shared an emotional video with his social media following. View the clip below.
“He didn’t have to embrace me the way he did. When I came in and was trying to find my way and he saw how scared I was, he saw how nervous I was,” Moore says. “He saw my six pack and all that, but he just saw me and he embraced me like a brother. If he hadn’t embraced me, I would have never got my sure footing in the beginning days.
“I would have life, but it would have been on a very different tangent and a very different lane. I will always give Kristoff that credit. I will always thank The Young & the Restless for taking a chance on me so that I can have this career. Kristoff was there in the trenches with me. Victoria Rowell, Tonya Lee Williams,” he adds of his fellow The Young & the Restless castmates, “but Kristoff, day to day to day, he rooted for me. He didn’t have to. He didn’t have to, and many wouldn’t, but he rooted for me; he helped me; he held my hand; he said, ‘Stick with me, bruh, I’m going to show you the way and then you do what you’re doing.’
He also recalled how admired St. John was before they had even met. “He was the sexiest black man on television from what my aunties and grandmothers told me before I’d ever knew that I was ever going to share the stage with him on The Young & the Restless.”
“He opened doors for me and many. He opened doors for people who don’t even realize he opened doors, but he did,” he says. “He opened doors and he was so committed to his craft. He always wanted to be better. He wanted to touch people and he did.”
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