Exclusive: Joanna Johnson Heads Back to The Bold and the Beautiful With a Big Surprise!

Fan fave Joanna Johnson is returning to the role of Karen Spencer on CBS' The Bold and the Beautifulin March — and she's not coming alone! TV Guide Magazine has learned that Karen will be bringing along a daughter the audience never knew existed. The kid is named Caroline, after Karen's late sister (also played by Johnson), and she's a twentysomething design student who is hoping to land a job at Forrester Creations. Karen brings her to L.A. for the interview.
Caroline will be played by relative newbie Linsey Godfrey, whose credits include Wizards of Waverly Place and CSI: Miami. Johnson, one of B&B's original cast members, only acts these days when paged by the soap. Now her claim to fame is behind the scenes, as co-executive producer and writer of the hit ABC Family series Make It or Break It. Prior to that she created the Kelly Ripa-Faith Ford sitcom Hope & Faith.
So who's the baby daddy? Before you jump to any trashy, B&B-style conclusions, a publicist for the soap tells us Caroline's father is definitely not Ridge Forrester (Ronn Moss), even though he had a thing with Karen back in the day. The rep further reveals that Caroline — who uses the last name of Spencer — is not related by blood to anyone on B&B which makes her available to all the show's young men.
And get this: Even though Caroline's existence will come as quite a surprise to viewers, the B&B characters will act as if they already know her. Naturally, she'll get the job at Forrester — no suspense there — and control freak Stephanie (Susan Flannery) will invite the girl to live in her guest house. For many of these sequences, B&B will shoot on location at the posh Beverly Hills home of the show's cocreator Lee Bell.
Look for Karen and Caroline to hit the air March 27 — just four days after B&B celebrates its 25^th anniversary.
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