What Happened to Victor on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS

Victor Newman has led quite a life on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS, and sometimes fans worry it could all be coming to an end. But if you take a look back at everything he’s survived so far — murder attempts, health crises, etc — you’ll see this is one man who never says die. The son of Albert Miller and Cora Miller overcame every obstacle to raise himself to the powerful magnate he has become and he’s not going to give that up!

Victor Newman was introduced to Y&R when Eric Braeden joined the cast in February of 1980. Victor and his wife, Julia, moved to Genoa City to help Katherine Chancellor run Chancellor Industries. But he created Newman Enterprises and cheated on Julia with Eve Howard and Lorie Brooks. Julia was cheating on him as well, and when she got pregnant, Victor assumed it was Michael’s baby. But when she lost the child, it turned out it was Victor’s all along. After Julia left with Michael, Victor romanced Nikki Reed, teaching the stripper about the finer things in life. Then things got complicated as Nikki got involved with other men all while giving birth to Victor’s daughter, Victoria Newman. Eventually, Nikki and Victor were able to set everyone else aside and tie the knot in 1984.

Unfortunately, Victor then fell for Ashley Abbott and their affair inspired Nikki to sleep with Jack Abbott for revenge. After he left her, Nikki was diagnosed with cancer, so Victor returned to salvage their marriage. This resulted in the birth of their son, Nicholas Newman. He took over Jack’s family business, Jabot Cosmetics, so Jack took revenge by marrying Nikki, leaving Victor free to marry Ashley. During an argument with Jack, Victor suffered a heart attack and his rival left him for dead! Victor recovered, and divorced Ashley to reconnect with Nikki, whose relationship with Jack was falling apart.

Eve returned with her son, Cole Howard, who romanced Victoria, unaware he was supposedly Victor’s son. Victor, meanwhile, let everyone think he was dead and went to live on a farm in Kansas with Hope Adams. When he brought her back to Genoa City with him, they were married. Cole and Victoria had eloped and were horrified to think they were siblings. Thankfully, after his mother’s death, Cole learned the truth that he was not Victor’s child. Victor and Hope had a son, Victor Adam Newman, Jr.

When Victor didn’t want to go back to Kansas, Hope left him and took Adam back with her alone. Nikki returned to Victor after he was shot by Mari Jo Mason, but their reunion was brief. Victor next married Diane Jenkins, but divorced her to marry Nikki on what he feared was her deathbed. Nikki survived, but the marriage was invalid, and Victor struggled to finalize his divorce from Diane. Determined to keep Victor, Diane stole his sperm to have his baby, but due to a mix-up, Ashley was the one who stole Victor’s sperm and gave birth to a daughter, Abby Newman.

After rescuing Nikki from a carjacker, Victor was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. And when Nikki was running for senate, she had an affair with her campaign manager, spelling the end for her marriage to Victor. After they divorced, Adam returned to Genoa City and began working at Newman. After nearly dying in Mexico, Ashley rescued Victor and they rekindled their relationship. They remarried when she got pregnant, but she lost the baby. Unfortunately, Adam stole Faith and passed her off as Ashley’s baby. After reuniting with Nikki, Victor was shot by Patty Williams and required a heart transplant, ultimately receiving the heart of Colleen Carlton when she died suddenly.

After his recovery, Victor got mixed up with con artist Meggie McClain, and then briefly remarried Diane, but he was still in love with Nikki. When Nikki murdered Diane, Victor confessed to protect her, even marrying Sharon to push Nikki away. Next, Victor was presumed dead, though he simply had amnesia and was working on the docks in Los Angeles. When he returned, Victor reunited with Nikki and they were married in 2013.

Victor and Adam began working together at Newman, but that was short-lived as he discovered his son was secretly in cahoots with Jack. After hiring Mariah Copeland, a look-alike of Cassie Newman, to gaslight Sharon for a bit, Victor later replaced Jack with a double as well in an attempt to take over Jabot! Unfortunately, he realized how dangerous Marco was, and planned to kill him, but Victor shot Jack by mistake! Needless to say, when the truth came out, Victor was not very popular.

Victor was arrested for his crimes and vowed revenge against his ungrateful family. And even from behind bars, Victor still manipulated everyone around him, including framing Adam for murder! It turned out he was working with Chloe, but while he was trying to get Adam to return to the family business, she just wanted him dead! Following Adam’s death, Victor tried to cover up their partnership, but when the truth came out, he was again shunned by his family.

Learning that Nikki had stolen money from his bank account, Victor blackmailed her into remarrying him, and while they experimented with an open marriage, they eventually came to realize they were made for each other. After discovering J.T. Hellstrom had been secretly trying to bring him down, he turned the tables on him, but in the ensuing struggle, J.T. pushed Victor down the stairs suffering injuries that landed him in a coma for weeks. When he started to recover, J.T. tried to unplug his life support, but Victor pulled through, though he suffered a stroke that made him unable to identify his attacker immediately.

Not realizing that J.T.’s disappearance was due to his death and subsequent cover-up, Victor initially assumed that the guy was responsible for the attacks on Newman Enterprises, and was stunned when he learned that it was really Nick! As his son set up his new business, Dark Horse, stealing money and clients from Newman, Victor vowed revenge and took delight when Sharon dumped Nick at the altar during their ill-fated wedding.

After disappearing from Genoa City for a bit, Victor returned when Nikki was hit by a car and near death in the hospital. He attempted to abscond with his wife so she could recover in safety but was arrested by the cops and charged with J.T.’s murder. Naturally, those charges didn’t stick, mostly because J.T. was still alive, and Victor returned to business as usual. However, Adam’s return from the dead pitted him against Nick and their father learned he was suffering from a very serious blood disease. Unfortunately, Adam tampered with his father’s medication to increase the effects… which proved dangerously fatal when The Mustache collapsed during a family meeting and flatlined!

As news of Victor’s death spread around town, Adam was suspected of causing it, but when Victoria was arrested, Nikki rushed to tell her very-much-alive husband that their plan had backfired! Victor’s resurrection caused all kinds of drama, with the family, but he smoothed things over with Victoria by giving her the CEO position at Newman Enterprises. He also made moves to smooth things over with Adam and celebrated his company’s 50th anniversary with family and friends.

Of course, things with Adam took a turn when Victor chose Nick to fill in running Newman while Victoria was recovering from being stabbed. Adam plotted with Chelsea to dig up the truth behind the death of AJ Montalvo years ago, and with the help of his daughter, Alyssa Montalvo, found proof that Victor was responsible! But after Adam blackmailed his father into making him CEO of Newman, Victor revealed he had to keep the truth secret because it was really a young Adam who had caused AJ’s death! Naturally, Adam was furious at his father for keeping him in the dark and not telling him so he could go to therapy and deal with the traumatic event.

In the hopes of making amends, Victor planned to acquire Cyaxares Media and ask Adam to run it. When Ashland Locke thought about selling to Victoria instead, he urged Victor to raise his offer but when the tycoon suffered a heart attack, Victor withheld medical treatment until he signed the contract! Learning that Chelsea had framed Adam for poisoning Rey, Victor threatened to take Connor away from her. They eventually agreed to have Victor pay off a doctor to commit Chelsea to a mental health facility to avoid prison.

Victor put Adam in charge of Cyaxares, which they renamed Newman Media, and looked into acquiring more of Locke’s businesses. When Amanda Sinclair investigated the death of her father, Victor worried Neman could be implicated and helped her discover the truth by squeezing a confession out of her grandfather, Sutton. After Ashland and Victoria were engaged, Victor warned him he suspected he was faking his cancer. Still, Victor helped stop Billy from sabotaging the wedding.

Victoria made an offer and Victor agreed to sell Newman Media to Newman Locke, which made Adam upset at his father again. Victor hired Michael Baldwin to work for him and set him to investigate the truth about Ashland. They soon discovered that Ashland had been faking his illness and Victor vowed to get him out of the family and the business permanently. He made Adam CEO of Newman in order to spark Victoria’s jealousy and was stunned when she appeared to side with Ashland. However, it was all just a scheme to steal Ashland’s fortune, and she returned to reclaim the throne at Newman. 

After Nick interrupted an argument between Victoria and Ashland and caused Ashland to fall and hit his head, Victor had his security team dispose of the body and make the death look like a car accident. Although Chance suspected the truth, he closed the case and warned Victor not to cross the line again. Victor was annoyed when Adam accepted Jack’s offer to work for Jabot and secretly worked with Kyle Abobtt to oust Adam from the company and hopefully lure him back to Newman. He wanted to purchase Tucker McCall’s business and install Adam as the head of McCall Unlimited, but Ashley bought up Tucker’s debts first. He also offered to be a silent investor in Chancellor-Winters so Jill wouldn’t have to take the company public and Devon and Lily could be on the same side again.

After buying McCall Unlimited, Victor wanted Nick to help Adam run it, but Nick rejected the idea, and Adam wanted complete control. With Sally Spectra dating Nick and carrying Adam’s baby, Victor offered to fund her new design business if she set up shop far away from Genoa City, but the brothers warned their father to leave her alone. On the other hand, Victor gave Victoria and Nate Hastings’ new relationship his blessing!

However, as Victoria made power moves at Newman and set Nate up in a position of power, Victor retook control of the family company and insisted everyone follow his orders. He suggested Sally head a design company for Newman, but when she accepted, he rescinded the offer! After warning Nate that Newman Media would only ever be run by a Newman, he appointed Nikki CEO. He also kicked Adam out of the company and agreed to consider letting him work his way back up from the bottom, eventually hiring him to be Nate’s assistant. Victoria was also upset that her father had taken the CEO position back from her.

When Victor began showing signs of memory problems, his kids grew concerned. However, it was all a ruse, and Nikki was upset that he was letting his children believe he was ill just to smoke out a traitor. After gauging everyone’s reactions to his “condition,” Victor revealed his charade to his family and fired Nate, believing his response proved him the traitor. When Nikki’s new assistant, Claire Grace, reported she’d suffered a seizure while visiting her Aunt Jordan, Victor, Victoria, and Nick grabbed the Newman jet to be with her. But it was all a grand scheme of Jordan’s to exact revenge on the Newmans for the way Victor treated her sister, Eve Howard!

The Newmans were told they’d been poisoned so Jordan could watch them die. Thankfully, her plan was thwarted and Victor rescued Nikki, but the psycho got away. Returning home, Victor ignored the signs — and Nate’s warning — that Nikki was drinking again. But once he knew, he was quick to support her though annoyed that she’d asked Jack to be her new sponsor. Victor made Adam and Nick co-CEOs at Newman, and even reluctantly approved of Adam’s rekindled relationship with Sally. After Jordan escaped from prison, Victor wanted to use Claire to help lure her into his trap. When he and Michael met with Jordan in a dark alley, he offered her money, a new identity, and a chateau in France if she left them alone. He agreed to be her hostage until she was clear, but when she tried to lock him in an abandoned warehouse, Nick appeared to tase her and they left her imprisoned instead. But after she once again slipped away, Victor and Nikki decided to take a romantic vacation for their anniversary and get away from Jordan.

Stay tuned to see how Victor’s story continues to unfold!