DAYS Exclusive: Sarah Is 'Extremely Fearful' Of Losing Xander, Linsey Godfrey Says

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Present Tense: Sarah (Linsey Godfrey) fears her secret might blow up her marriage to Xander (Paul Telfer).

The walls start closing in on Days of Our Lives‘s Sarah after Vivian reveals that the letter naming Philip as Victor’s heir was a forgery— a fact that Sarah has known for months. So far, she’s opened up to Maggie about the big secret she’s been keeping, but she’s still keeping her husband, Xander, in the dark. Sarah’s portrayer, Linsey Godfrey, weighed in to Soap Opera Digest about her character’s conundrum, Sarah’s fear of losing Xander and more.

Soap Opera Digest: What prompted Sarah to confess everything to Maggie?

Linsey Godfrey: It’s just Maggie and Sarah’s relationship. Sarah has always looked up to her mom as somebody who gives wise and very sage advice, and she’s somebody that Sarah has leaned on. It’s a natural thing for Sarah to unburden herself, and the person that would make the most sense is the person that Sarah would want comfort from and the person that would tell her whether or not she’s doing the right thing.

Digest: What kind of reaction was Sarah expecting? Did she expect to be scolded?

Godfrey: It was hard not to wonder if Maggie was going to scold her, because of Maggie’s deep love of Xander. Maggie and Sarah have such a beautiful, special relationship. They’re thick as thieves and as tight as a mom and daughter can be. And Xander and Maggie have this beautiful relationship where Maggie loves him so much. She loves him like a son. So there was this part of Sarah that was like, “I know that you love me, but I also know that you love Xander, and I also know that you know that he’s troubled. So please don’t yell at me. Please agree with me. Please understand where I’m coming from.”

Digest: Once Sarah explained her reasoning, Maggie did seem to understand it. And Sarah does feel justified, doesn’t she?

Godfrey: Sarah’s whole thought process about this is that Xander is not somebody who should have unchecked power or unlimited money without having to at least go through someone else. Even if Philip just acts as a speed bump on the decisions that Xander’s making, at least it pauses him and gives him a second to be like, “Is that the right choice?” Xander almost murdered Brady because he thought he hurt Sarah. So, Sarah is constantly wondering, “What is he capable of if he finds out about what Philip did?” Sarah’s extremely fearful of losing Xander and losing Xander to his anger. If he acts on his anger, then Sarah loses Xander and Victoria loses Xander potentially forever.

Digest: What is Sarah’s reaction when Maggie doesn’t push her to ‘fess up to Xander?

Godfrey: She’s obviously surprised. Maggie has always encouraged Sarah to be truthful and honest, and Sarah typically is very truthful and honest. So, in her head, Sarah is like, “Oh, my mom is such a deeply honest, wonderful person. She’s definitely going to get on me for not telling the truth.” When Maggie reacts the way that she does, Sarah realizes that, “I’m not entirely wrong with my reasoning here. At least my mom can see that.” And it’s not just Maggie. I think everyone that knows the secret can relate to or at least understand Sarah’s thought process. If they don’t agree with it, they can at least see where she’s coming from. She’s trying to prevent her husband from being a supervillain, essentially.

Digest: After dealing with Maggie, Xander tells Sarah that he’s been betrayed. Did that make her panic, assuming he meant by her?

Godfrey: Oh, yeah. She has a moment of, “Now is the time to be like, ‘I knew and I didn’t know what to do.’ Now is the time to come clean.” But then again, because of everything that they’ve been through… The reasons they’ve split up before is because Xander lied about something. So Sarah is very fearful that if she comes forward as the person that’s lied, the same thing will happen, that they’ll split, because honesty matters so much in their relationship. And when you can’t trust somebody, what do you have? So for Sarah, she has this instinct to be like, “Oh, I’ll just say it was me. I knew. Just come clean now. It’s better if he knows now.” But then this other part of her is like, “Well, does it really matter that I knew? Can’t we just move on from it? He knows the truth, so it’s going to get resolved.”

Digest: Of course, Xander clarified that Philip is the one who betrayed him, so Sarah dodged a bullet. How worried is she about him eventually learning about her part in this deception?

Godfrey: Sarah is somebody who Xander has loved as fiercely as possible and also been more angry at than he’s ever been at anyone. If you look at their past divorce and their past breakups and things like that, Sarah and Xander get as heated as they are passionate. So it’s definitely going to be interesting to see his reaction [when the whole truth comes out].

Digest: Sarah saw some of that reaction when Philip confessed all to Xander, who felt betrayed after growing close to his brother, and Philip insisted that their relationship meant something to him. How hard was all of this on Sarah?

Godfrey: All she could do is comfort Xander and give him space after the whole thing kind of blew up. The truth is that Xander went from hating Philip to being like, “Oh wow, I have a brother.” Xander grew up with no family, essentially. The man who he thought was his dad passed, and his mom abandoned him. Then the one person that he had family-wise [Victor] turned out to be his dad and never acknowledged him. So to now suddenly have siblings… Sarah’s comforting him and trying to help him adjust to the loss of the hope and the enjoyment of family ties. She’s separating herself from [her part in all of this] to be there for him, even though she’s just oozing with guilt since she’s the one that encouraged Xander to accept Philip and try to have a good relationship with him. Sarah’s like, “Oh my God, I’m the one that pushed this. The whole Philip thing is a lie, and I’ve been covering for him. Now you’re heartbroken, and it’s all my fault.” Sarah is just dying from the guilt.

Digest: Why not come clean at this point?

Godfrey: The whole crux of it is that she’s scared she’ll lose Xander. That’s been the through line throughout this entire storyline. She was scared that if he had unchecked power, something horrible would happen and she’d lose him. She was scared that if he found out about Philip, he’d do something horrible to Philip and she’d lose him. And she’s scared that if he finds out that she’s been lying, he’ll lose his mind on her, their trust will be broken, and she’ll lose him. Even as back and forth as Sarah and Xander are, the one thing is that these two people are madly, deeply and hopelessly in love with each other. Sarah loves Xander. She’s not going to like him and the things that he does all the time, but she deeply loves him and he deeply loves her. So the idea that she may lose him is just as much of a deterrent as possible for her [to keep silent].

Digest: Is Sarah worried that Philip might eventually expose her?

Godfrey: Sarah is afraid that anyone could spill the beans at any point regardless of them loving Sarah. You can never count on anyone to keep your secret, really — especially in Salem! [But where Philip is concerned], Sarah really is like, “You better keep this secret. I kept the secret for you. It’s not my fault Xander found out. You dragged me into this. You better keep my name out of it.”

Digest: It’s such a role reversal in their relationship for Sarah to be the one sweating the possibility that Xander will find out she’s been lying. Has that been fun to play?

Godfrey: It’s very funny. We [she and Paul Telfer, Xander] laugh about it a little bit, but it’s definitely interesting to play. Sarah’s a goodie, and Xander’s a baddie. So it is very interesting to see her have this serious lapse in judgment. What I’ve really loved and discussed with Janet [Spellman-Drucker, co-executive producer, who is exiting the show in May] and the new writers, and what you’ll really notice in the stories to come, is the strength of all these female characters on the show. They’re not these meek or apologetic women. They’re definitely very strong. I adore the direction that they’ve taken Sarah. Sarah is very strong, and she does not back down. She definitely feels this justification in what she did. Even though she’s done something wrong, she stands by the reasons that she did it. It’s interesting to play this character who’s typically very honest and typically very good, who’s done something wrong. But her reasoning behind it she feels with her full chest. She’ll hold onto that concept always, because her whole thought process is, “I did this for the right reasons. I did a bad thing for the right reason.” And that is something that she holds onto.