So much relies on your confidence. To be let go from a soap opera is the most embarassing confidence basher in the world. It's like, 'Oh, if I'm not good enough for that, I'm not good enough for anyting.' So that was tough, but you learn that one of that stuff matters. You keep pushing forward. "

Looks like everyone benefited from Gigandet's firing. He was dismal as Daniel, couldn't act his way off the back patio of Crimson Lights, but by the time he started landing gigs like the badass, surfer boy who bedded Coop (Mischa Barton) and then accidently killed her on The O.C., he was a totally different and vastly improved actor. Meanwhile, Y&R fans got the amazing Michael Graziadei as Daniel , who will no doubt soon be competing with Gigandet for film roles.

Inside the mag, the actress dishes on her recent troubles, the press and her love life.

“I’m lucky to know you can have more than one soulmate in life,” she says. “But, like a true actress, I’m always changing the way I feel about who I want to be. Nowadays, I feel I’m settling more into a woman and I’m understanding who I am.”