Karla Mosley Says Giving Birth to Her 2 Kids ‘Upstairs in a Pool’ Prepared Her forBeyond the GatesRole (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Karla Mosley on ‘Beyond the Gates’.Photo:Quantrell Colbert/CBS

Quantrell Colbert/CBS

Karla Mosley is reflecting on how one of the bravest moments in her life prepared her for her latest role.

Although Mosley is no stranger to the soap world, she admits that she and Dani are very different, so she had to channel a distinct kind of strength to tackle the dynamic role.

Karla Mosley on ‘Beyond the Gates’.Quantrell Colbert/CBS

“Dani doesn’t shrink, and she doesn’t hide,” Mosley tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “I’m someone who, when things get exciting I want to go upstairs and curl up under a blanket. But [Dani is] not that person. So allowing myself to shine and be big and be seen in this way was kind of the inner prep that I had to do.”

She discovered a bit of her “inner prep” during a milestone moment in her life: “becoming a mom.”

“I think that life and the change that happens in a woman when she becomes a mother and realizes that power… I had both of my kids upstairs in a pool,” she says, “So it’s like once you go through that two times, you’re like, ‘Oh I have some strength I didn’t know I had.’ So I think that really prepared me.”

Mosley is mom to daughtersWilla Josephine, 3, andAurora Imani, 6.

The first slap on ‘Beyond the Gates’ From left: Daphnée Duplaix, Tamara Tunie, Karla Mosley and Marquita Goings.Quantrell Colbert/CBS

Dani is also at the center of one ofBeyond the Gates’biggest scandals as her former husband Bill Hamilton (Timon Durrett) and his fiancée Hayley Lawson (Marquita Goings) revealed in the series premiere, which aired on Monday, Feb. 24, that they bought a new house in Fairmont Crest. Her reaction delivers soap opera-worthy drama, as she slaps Hayley while standing in the center of a five-star restaurant where the Duprees are dining.

“Dani is [in the middle of it],” Mosley tells PEOPLE. “And if she’s not, she’ll insert herself in some way. I’m like ‘Dani, this isn’t even your thing to talk about, why are you in the middle of this?’ She is not going to let a moment pass if someone needs to be read.”

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Mosley, who also appeared as Amanda Sinclair onThe Young and the Restless,believes characters like Dani and shows likeBeyond the Gatesare groundbreaking yet just the beginning when it comes to more diverse representation in soap operas.

“I see it already shifting — the storytelling on other soaps who are now recognizing the beauty in telling different kinds of stories,” Mosley says, adding that concepts like “crossovers” with people of color on other shows “would really open up the world for all of us.”

She praises the writers, including head writer Michele Val Jean, for the continuous “cliffhanger” scandals.

Karla Mosley and Jeff Schroeder on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’.Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty

Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty

“It’s like ‘Okay, what’s happening with this one?’ Ooo this one’s cheating on so-and-so over here, this one’s gonna go fight so-and-so over there, this one’s having a crisis of faith, whatever it is,” says Mosley. “But it’s all exciting and the characters are going to continue to surprise us as the series goes on.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!And behind the camera, the cast is just as in sync.

“[We] draw into a deep place so quickly that the relationships are sort of just writing themselves. Everyone is just so talented and willing to go into all of those places, willing to play. You feel like you’re on the court with someone who’s game, and that’s the most exciting thing as an actor.”

Beyond the Gatesairs weekdays at 2 p.m. ET on CBS.

source: people.com