Html formatting XML / issue with bold and italic tags only?

I’m loading an xml file into flash.
I have formatted certain parts of the xml file with various html tags, however I run into problems with the <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> tags. Even though I have <a href> and <ul> tags working fine?

I have set my text field to html while also using the "myTextfield.htmlText = " as well as using the CDATA tag in the xml file. I also checked the macromedia livedocs, and it says that these tags are standard and are handled by the flash player…

Why do I have problems with only the bold and italic tags?
what am i missing?

thanks.