What Happened to Cameron Kirsten on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS
Cameron Kirsten was only on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS for less than a year, so it’s understandable if you might not remember the guy. The character ran from November 2003 until August 2004 and was played by actor Linden Ashby, who is the real-life husband of Susan Walters (ex-Diane). In May 2023, Cameron returned to Y&R unexpectedly, so if you need a refresher on this nasty piece of work… well, that’s where we come in!
Sharon Newman was startled by Cameron Kirsten’s arrival in Genoa City, and while he was there to do a business deal with Newman Enterprises, he also taunted Sharon, threatening to reveal what happened between them in Denver the year before. After Sharon had kissed Victor Newman, she ran away from town and ended up in Denver where she encountered Cameron in a bar. They’d had sex, but he had also turned abusive and violent. Desperate to keep Nick Newman from finding out about their tryst, Sharon agreed to secretly meet Cameron at a seedy motel. She warned him nothing would ever happen between them, and when he got violent again, Sharon hit him over the head with a champagne bottle.
Believing she’d killed him, Sharon disposed of his body in a dumpster, but Cameron survived and returned to his lover, Grace Turner, vowing to take revenge. For months, Cameron pretended to be his own ghost, haunting Sharon to drive her insane. When Sharon went to confirm Cameron’s death, she found a body, but it was actually Frank Barritt, the biological father of her daughter, Cassie, who Cameron had murdered.
Eventually, Cameron made his presence known and acted as though that fateful night had never happened and he’d simply gone on vacation. When he offered Nick a job at Kirsten Incorporated, Sharon finally decided to come clean about everything. Nick confronted Cameron and demanded Grace tell him the truth, but she backed up the lies. With Sharon the prime suspect in Frank’s murder, Cameron offered to fly her away to one of his private islands where she could stay safely. She reluctantly agreed, but Nick boarded Cameron’s jet along with them.
On the flight, Sharon tried to kill herself by jumping out, but Cameron wouldn’t let her go. Then Nick showed himself and fought with Cameron as Sharon looked on in horror. Nick knocked Cameron out and threw him out of the plane with a parachute, following along with Sharon. The trio parachuted down into a cornfield where Sharon and Nick dragged a seriously injured Cameron through the country until they reached civilization where they called the police. The last anyone saw of Cameron, he was being hauled off by the cops, angrier than ever before.
In May 2023, Sharon received an unexpected gift of a bottle of expensive champagne and as she marveled at it, someone was spying on her from the shadows. When she got another letter from Colorado, she feared the evidence pointed to Cameron, unaware that the guy was back in Genoa City and checking into the GCAC! He briefly interacted with Sally Spectra and Faith Newman to plant seeds of fear, then surprised Sharon by showing up at Crimson Lights in person and still clearly obsessed with her!
Cameron stole the uniform from a Newman guard and used it to move around more freely, poisoning Faith’s cat and leaving it for everyone to find. When a furious Nick confronted him in his hotel room, Cameron tried goading him into assaulting him, but Nick only punched the wall by his head. So the psycho had someone else beat him up so he could press charges against Nick! He then abducted Faith and held her prisoner, later showing up in Sharon’s home! He said he’d release her daughter if she ran away with him so they could finally be together, but she refused. Nick burst in and a struggle ensued, though Cameron managed to escape through the tunnel he’d dug to get in!
Next, Cameron lured Sharon to the sewer where he was holding Faith prisoner, and when she and Nick showed up, the psycho grabbed Sharon and threatened to slit her throat! As Chance Chancellor showed up with his gun drawn, Sharon grabbed the knife she’d hidden on herself and stabbed Cameron! Examining the body, Chance pronounced him dead, but still had to defuse the explosives that were strapped to Faith!
With Cameron dead, that’s hopefully the last we’ll see of the villain, but his evil lives on as it continues to affect Sharon even after he’s gone.
