What Happened to Abby on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS
Abby Newman on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS has had a dramatic life starting from conception! After being born in 2000, the character was played by a couple of pairs of twins until 2003 when Darcy Rose Byrnes took over to play her as a child. In 2008, Abby was SORASed to a teen and played by Hayley Erin, but in 2010, Marcy Rylan (now known as Emme Rylan) stepped in as she was aged to an adult. Upon her departure from Y&R in 2013, Melissa Ordway stepped into the role and continues to play Abby to this day.
Desperate to have Victor Newman‘s child, Ashley Abbott stole his sperm from Diane Jenkins, who had swiped it from a fertility lab. Originally, Abby believed her father to be Brad Carlton, but accidentally learned the truth when she overheard her mother’s confession. The child traveled with her mother to work for Jabot in Hong Kong, and Forrester Creations in Los Angeles, and as a teenager, found herself the sole beneficiary of the Carlton estate after the deaths of Brad and his daughter, Colleen. Rebelling against her parents, she pursued Ryder Callahan and unknowingly assisted him in one of his evil schemes with his sister, Daisy Carter.
Continuing to act out, Abby wanted to start her own reality series, THE NAKED HEIRESS, and to fund it, tried both suing her parents for her inheritance and blackmailing Billy and Victoria! Abby recorded herself having sex with Daniel Romalotti for her show, but it was actually his fathering a child with Daisy that led to their breakup. Still desperate for attention, Abby took a bubble bath in the Chancellor pool during a Fourth of July party and rode a horse through the Genoa City Athletic Club while completely naked! Then she resumed her lawsuit against Victor, and this time was joined by siblings Victoria and Nick, earning them each a hefty sum.
After finding Tucker McCall with Diane, Abby was disgusted when he proposed to Ashley and arranged for her mother to catch her fiancé with the other woman. But on the way, Abby crashed into Tucker’s car, seriously injuring him! Ashley took the blame for the accident, but Tucker soon recalled what had happened. He forgave Abby and they agreed to keep it between them, but Diane threatened to expose the truth. So after Diane was found dead, Abby was one of the many suspects.
Following a short-lived relationship with Carmine Basco that only served to get her into more trouble, Abby took some time away from Genoa City to grow up a little. She sparked a brief relationship with GCPD officer Alex Chavez and went to work at Jabot with Jack. After splitting with Alex, Abby was drawn to Tyler Michaelson and they became engaged. But his ex, Mariah Copeland, ultimately managed to come between them and they split up. During a Valentine’s Day party when all the young guests were drugged, Austin was murdered, and to protect Summer Newman, Abby helped everyone cover up the crime. During the investigation to find the real killer, Summer was furious to find out that Abby had been having an affair with Austin.
Abby next got involved with Ben “Stitch” Rayburn, a handsome doctor, and when Newman and Jabot dissolved their merger, chose to work with the Newman side of her family. Although drawn to Ashley, Stitch proposed to Abby. The engagement stumbled when Abby learned Stitch and Ashley had confessed their feelings for each other, but they both promised she shouldn’t worry about it. Abby and Stitch were married on New Year’s Eve and took a tropical honeymoon. But when they came home, they had to take in his son, Max, whose mother had recently died. Max blamed Abby for his mother’s death, and went out of his way to cause problems for her, eventually causing her to fall down the stairs and miscarry her unborn baby!
The increasingly unstable Max was eventually hospitalized and a brain tumor removed. With his son in a long-term care facility, Stitch became withdrawn and distant towards Abby. and though they tried to pretend things were okay, the couple eventually divorced. Moving on with her life, Abby began working closely with Victor at Newman Enterprises and wanted to launch her own business. She began dating Zack, who had developed a dating app, but at their launch party, it was revealed he was using the app as a front for a sex ring! He threatened to kill Scott and Abby, and while the pair were locked up together, they comforted each other and had sex.
Abby continued to clash with Victoria at work, and also fought with Sharon when she found out about her fling with Scott. After a quick trip to Europe with Scott, Abby returned alone to help the Abbott family deal with Dina’s advancing Alzheimers. She also found herself attracted to Arturo Rosales and decided to open up a restaurant with Devon Hamilton. Things were looking bright until Abby found out that Arturo had cheated on her with his ex, Mia, and she dumped him.
As her new restaurant, Society, took off, Abby’s friendship with Nate Hastings started to turn into a romance, but she kept him at arm’s length and he finally gave up on her. She purchased the Grand Phoenix Hotel and allowed Phyllis to buy into it, but Chelsea stepped in with the money first, cutting her out. After the hotel’s opening party was marred by someone slipping “Molly” into the drinks, Phyllis blackmailed her way back into the hotel by offering footage of the culprit. After Chance Chancellor helped defuse a hostage situation in the Grand Phoenix, Abby flirted with him as he continued to investigate a rash of robberies in the hotel. Abby blamed Phyllis for tampering with the security system, and when Chance discovered the missing jewels in Abby’s purse, she confessed to having set up all the crimes with fake jewels to smoke Phyllis out!
Abby gave in and sold her remaining shares in the hotel to Phyllis and bought the property across the street to turn into a competing hotel. She also continued seeing Chance and although she was initially wary of getting too serious, when he eventually popped the question, she happily accepted! The groom-to-be was shot but recovered in time to tie the knot in a beautiful ceremony at Christmas.
Ready to start a family with her new husband, Abby was disappointed when she had difficulty getting pregnant and heartbroken when the doctors informed her she would be unable to carry a child! The couple eventually convinced Mariah to act as their surrogate, but then Chance discovered he had a low sperm count and Abby was forced to reconsider everything. But then things took an even more shocking turn when Chance disappeared on a new secret mission, leaving Abby to decide to start her family on her own! Although heartbroken, Abby continued to forge ahead, arranging for Mariah to carry the child and Devon to be the babydaddy!
When Stitch showed up in Genoa City for a visit, Abby was grateful for his support but then a pregnant Mariah went missing and it turned out that Stitch was the kidnapper! Mariah gave birth to Baby Dominic in the room where she’d been held, but the little boy was healthy and Abby was grateful to bring him home. She did grow concerned when Mariah remained very emotionally attached to the baby, calling him “Bowie,” the nickname she’d given him while they were abducted. But things took an even more drastic turn when Christine reported that Chance was believed dead in an explosion while on his mission! Abby refused to accept that her husband was gone, even as the evidence piled up. She struggled to take care of Dominic while grieving her loss and finally let Devon babysit while she went to Spain in search of Chance.
Although Abby was thrilled to discover that Chance was alive, she had to work to convince him to come home to Genoa City to be a family with their son. And once he did agree, she worried about her husband as he struggled to connect with Dominic. Worse still, Devon grew worried about Dominic and decided to file for partial custody of the boy! After some emotional back and forth, Chance was able to persuade Abby to amend the custody agreement to include Devon. And when Dominic needed a bone marrow transplant, Abby was relieved when Devon was found to be a match.
Seeing how bad Chance’s PTSD was, Abby pushed him to seek counseling and was concerned when the doctor suggested he return to work at the GCPD. But the real problem turned out to be feeling left out when her husband was constantly working. Abby also found herself in a tight spot when Chance investigated her father’s involvement in Ashland Locke’s death. As Abby’s concerns about her marriage grew, she confided in Devon about Chance prioritizing work over family. When tensions between the couple grew, Abby cried on Devon’s shoulder which led to the pair having sex! Chance and Amanda walked in on them and he declared their marriage over.
Although still drawn to Devon, Abby tried to fix things with Chance only to have him file for divorce. Accepting the end of her marriage, Abby continued spending more and more time with Devon but was reluctant to label their relationship. However, as time went on, the pair grew even closer. Which was awkward when Amanda came back to town for a visit!
Stay tuned to see what happens next!
