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THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS

What Happened to Billy Abbott on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS

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Billy Abbott is always at the center of some kind of life-changing drama on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS which occasionally leads fans to fear that the character is leaving the soap! However fans shouldn’t worry because the guy has been through plenty of terrible things in his life and survived those, so this time should be no different!

Who plays Billy Abbott on Y&R?

Billy was born to John Abbott and Jill Abbott in 1993 and was played by a series of child actors before being SORASed into a teen in 1999 when David Tom assumed the role. Following his departure, Ryan Brown and Scott Seymour both stepped in for brief stints before Y&R hired Billy Miller in 2008. After he departed in 2014, Tom briefly returned to the role before being replaced by Burgess Jenkins. Following his exit, Jason Thompson took over the role in 2016 and continues to play Billy to this day.

The Young and The Restless John Billy
Billy was a troubled teen!John Paschal/JPI

Who did Billy date?

After spending his childhood in boarding school, Billy returned to Genoa City as a teenager and to make a good impression with his friends, overdid it at a party and got alcohol poisoning. As Mackenzie Browning helped him recover, they began to develop a romance. Brittany Hodges tried to steal Billy away but failed. Eventually, Billy and Mac were married, but after they were told that Jill was Katherine’s daughter, they realized that made them first cousins and they quickly split up. Billy left town but returned for his father’s funeral. He had developed a gambling addiction while in Miami, and tried to steal Katherine’s antique heirlooms to pay his debts. When Jack Abbott found out, he sent Billy to Hong Kong to work for the family business overseas.

When Billy returned, he pursued Lily Winters and Sharon Newman but married Chloe Mitchell since he had fathered her baby. Mac came back to Genoa City and it turned out that she and Billy weren’t related after all, so Billy divorced Chloe and reconciled with Mac. Billy went into business by buying Restless Style magazine and printing scandalous stories about the Newman family. But he soon became smitten with one of his enemies, Victoria Newman, and the two ended up having an affair. Their drunken wedding in Jamaica was invalid, but they decided to make a go of it as a couple. After she lost their baby, Billy bought one for her but Lucy turned out to be Daniel and Daisy’s baby and Phyllis got custody of her.

The Young and The Restless Billy Lucy Victoria
Billy and Victoria lost their baby girl Lucy, then each other.sean smith/jpistudios.com

This caused Billy and Victoria to separate and he began drinking and gambling again, disappearing to Hong Kong. When Chloe’s daughter, Delia, needed a bone marrow transplant, they tracked him down and found Billy imprisoned in Myanmar on trumped-up drug and rape charges. Victor agreed to pay for his release as long as he never contacted Victoria. But upon returning home, Billy reunited with Victoria and they remarried. The woman who had taken advantage of him in Myanmar, Chelsea Lawson, arrived in Genoa City pregnant with his child and tried to destroy his life and marriage, but after the baby was born, she gave Johnny up to Billy and Victoria to raise.

Why does Billy hate Adam?

Leaving Delia unattended in the car led to her death in a hit and run, and Billy was overwhelmed with grief. He lashed out at Victoria and had an affair with Kelly Andrews which led to his divorce from Victoria. Learning that Adam Newman was the driver that had killed Delia sent Billy into a rage, and he sought revenge. After they were in a car crash together, Billy escaped and left Adam to die when the vehicle exploded!

The Young and The Restless Billy Adam
Billy drove Adam to his death!sean smith/jpistudios.com

After Adam’s death, Billy became close to his widow, Chelsea, and the two actually developed real feelings for each other. However, the arrival of the mysterious Gabriel Bingham caused trouble for them as he was drawn to Chelsea. When he discovered Chelsea had cheated on him with Gabriel, he exposed her affair during their wedding! Billy was later stunned to learn that Gabriel was really Adam back from the dead with a new face and identity! This time, Billy decided to let the courts decide Adam’s fate, but unfortunately, Victor bribed the judge to keep his son out of prison.

How did Billy almost die?

Billy began drinking and gambling again, and after being beaten nearly to death in a parking garage, collapsed behind Noah Newman’s car. When Noah drove away, he badly injured Billy without even realizing it! As Billy lingered in a coma with severe injuries, this family decided to take him off of life support. But as everyone prepared for him to die, Billy actually woke up!

Getting back to work, Billy partnered with Phyllis Summers and business soon became pleasure as he started an affair with his brother’s wife. Jack was furious to discover what they’d been doing behind his back, but once everything died down, Billy and Phyllis decided to go public and try to make a go of the relationship. However, as Billy began working with Victoria at Brash & Sassy, it seemed that their old feelings for each other were resurfacing once more. And when he used Phyllis to steal company secrets from Jabot, she threw him out of the house!

The Young and The Restless Phyllis Billy
Phyllis refused to let Billy get away with anything!Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Billy risked his life to save Reed and his friends from the fire at The Underground, and then went all-out trying to convince Phyllis to take him back. After they reconciled, Billy took over as CEO at Jabot since Dina revealed that Jack wasn’t John’s son, so he wasn’t technically an Abbott. But Billy then started gambling again and had to fend off the advances of a newly-returned Summer Newman. Phyllis agreed to go along with Billy’s gambling to keep an eye on him, but he was getting in way over his head, forcing his family to stage an intervention!

Billy resisted all attempts to help him, and when he found out that Phyllis had slept with Nick, he threw her out of the house and called Summer over to sleep with her for revenge. After Ashley admitted Jack really was John Abbott’s son, the family again vied for control of Jabot, but Phyllis was elected CEO. That didn’t last long once her scheming was revealed and Jack regained the top spot. Billy held down the home front when Victoria was arrested for her part in J.T.’s “death” and once she was released, he worried when she immediately took off for Vegas and partied with a rock star. Once he got her home, he tried proposing, but she turned him down, suggesting they just be together without the pressure of a marriage.

The Young and The Restless Billy Victoria
Victoria promised to be there for Billy through good times and bad.Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Why did Billy go crazy?

Adam’s latest return from the dead reopened old wounds for Billy regarding Delia’s death and found himself haunted by her memory, having nightmares and hearing her voice. Things got worse when he began losing time and after he tried to run Adam down, Chloe abducted Billy to a boathouse where she wanted to try and help him. With Victoria at his side, Billy began to realize that his mind had splintered and his alternate self had been gaslighting him with Delia’s “haunting” but worried he’d never be able to truly suppress that dark side of himself! After a fierce battle with his inner demons, Billy felt he’d won, but Victoria urged him to seek professional help to be sure.

Although Billy took over at Jabot when Jack stepped down, he was inspired by his therapy to reassess his life and realized that running the company wasn’t what he wanted to do after all. But all he ended up doing was spending his time hanging out at a dive bar with Genoa City newbie Amanda Sinclair drinking and being tempted by gambling again. When Victoria continued to pressure him to open up to her, Billy walked out! But he was there when Victoria was stabbed at the Newman anniversary party, and had to sneak into the hospital to visit her since her family was keeping him away from her. Still, Victoria wanted nothing more to do with him and Amanda decided they were better as friends.

Y&R Billy Lily
Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

How did Billy and Lily fall in love?

Billy accepted Jill’s job offer to run Chance Comm, Chancellor’s media division, but bristled to find out he would be doing it alongside Lily. He teamed with journalist Alyssa Montalvo to help expose a murder Adam had committed as a child, and Lily was furious he went behind her back. When Adam was later shot at, Billy was naturally the prime suspect, but it turned out to be Alyssa. His working relationship with Lily softened, and the pair soon fell for each other, eventually moving in together.

After a failed bid to purchase Cyxares Media from Ashland Locke, Billy was concerned when he and Victoria planned to marry. He became determined to dig up whatever secrets Ashland was hiding to derail the wedding. But his attempts backfired because not only did Victoria marry Ashland, but Adam set Billy up for a massive fall when he arranged for Chance Comm to publish a story based on claims against Ashland that later proved false!

To get revenge on Adam and Victor, Billy pretended to be backsliding into gambling and drinking, and Lily reluctantly went along with his plan. But Victoria realized what he was doing and hoped to use him to steal Newman Media away from Adam. However, Billy had a change of heart and dropped his plan, taking Lily’s offer to come work at Chancellor. Still feeling restless, he decided to start a podcast.

Why did Billy and Lily split up?

When Victoria became involved with Ashland, Billy joined everyone else in warning her away from the guy. When Lily chastised him for interfering, Billy promised his interest in Victoria wasn’t romantic. She also got upset when Billy opened up about his frustrations working for Chancellor-Winters on his podcast and not to her. When Chelsea offered to help Billy with his podcast, he suggested they do one together. As they grew closer, he gently rebuffed her kiss. However, as Chelsea began to spiral, dealing with Johnny’s reaction to finding out she was his biological mother, Billy stepped in to try and help her. He stopped her from jumping off the roof of the hotel and convinced her to go to therapy.

Billy resigned from Chancellor-Winters, and Lily was upset at his determination to try and rescue all the women in his life. They agreed to try couples counseling, but ultimately Lily thought they should go their separate ways. Billy accepted Jack’s offer to come back to work at Jabot as co-CEO. He and Chelsea also grew closer, making their relationship physical again. Billy clashed with Kyle at work and joined Jack and Diane in trying to protect Jabot from Ashley and Tucker McCall. Billy offered to play both sides to get information on what Ashley and Tucker were up to, and Jack and Diane worried he might actually take their side. Billy was insulted that Jack didn’t trust him, and it reopened old wounds between the brothers. 

Why did Billy quit Jabot?

When Chelsea returned from her trip bringing Connor to a new school, Billy was happy to be reunited with her. However, when she pointed out that he was acting like a gambler when he talked about taking down Tucker, he realized he needed to make a change. He told Jack that he was going to leave Jabot and take Jill up on her offer to work with her at Chancellor-Winters. Because at Jabot he would always feel like he was trying to live up to his brother.

Stay tuned to see how Billy’s storyline continues to unfold!

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