From losing family members in house fires to battles with fatal illnesses,
these "Young and the Restless" stars have experienced a wide array of tragedies.
In 2020, Melody Thomas Scott penned a memoir titled "Always Young and Restless:
My Life On and Off America's #1 Daytime Drama." As she told ET Canada:
"Well, I think I always knew that there was a good book inside of me."
She began the writing process by unpacking her trauma,
which includes suffering abuse at the hands of her grandmother and
being sexually assaulted as a child. In an interview with People, she said:
"I'm sure many people will be shocked to learn that I have that kind of background."
Understandably, revisiting particular pieces of her childhood while putting the memoir together
was difficult, and there were moments where she was hit with waves of panic. She elaborated:
"That was my brain's way of letting me know I was not ready to put it on paper yet."
She continues to work on healing, acknowledging that it's a long,
not necessarily linear process. As she said in an interview with Variety:
"I thought that I had worked through it all, with all of the years of therapy
and medication and everything, but as I learned very quickly when I first sat down, 'Mmm no.'"
In the aforementioned People interview,
she said she hopes sharing her experiences with the world helps out other abuse survivors.
Four years prior to Kristoff St. John's death,
his son Julian St. John died by suicide. The 24-year-old artist had been struggling
with mental health issues for some time. He was pronounced dead on November 23rd,
2014, after being found unconscious in a bathroom. His mother wrote on Sqor Sports:
"Our son was the light of our lives, an artist with a beautiful mind and spirit."
Eric Braeden, who's played the role of Victor Newman on "The Young and
the Restless" since 1980, told People that Julian's death wasn't something
Kristoff really talked about with his co-stars. He said:
"I think we all sort of tiptoed around what obviously weighed most heavily on his heart
and his soul — and that is the death of his son. How do you discuss something
so fundamentally tragic as that with even a friend? You don't want to touch that wound."
In February 2019, Kristoff's acting industry friends paid him a visit,
only to find him unresponsive. He died at his home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. His death
was reported as an accident, citing heart disease as the cause. The soap opera paid a tribute to
Kristoff St. John on his final appearance and honored him with a special storyline.
In March 2022, "The Young and the Restless" actor Mishael Morgan
shared with her Twitter followers that her brother-in-law Nazir Ali,
his wife Raven Ali-O'Dea, and their children died unexpectedly in their Ontario home.
The fire erupted in the house at two in the morning. Brampton
Fire Chief Bill Boyes told Brampton Guardian:
"Our firefighters, when they responded — they were here quickly — they were met with heavy
smoke and flames coming from the front of the building and back of the building."
Additional occupants of the Ali residence were rescued from the raging blaze. As noted in The
Canadian Press, Ali-O'Dea's mother died some days later from injuries sustained in the fire.
In April 2022, Morgan posted on Instagram to thank
those who had been there for her family in the wake of the tragedy. She wrote:
"My family has been through the unimaginable and yet we stand. Never
forgetting our loved ones but looking to a future filled with their light and love."
On a 2021 episode of Maurice Benard's "State of Mind" podcast, "The Young and the Restless"
actor Christian Le Blanc opened up about his family and his mental health. In 2003,
his mother died from cancer. Le Blanc shared that he's long been an advocate for mental health
and making it more of a priority, but noted that it wasn't until he was struggling with
the grief related to this loss that he decided to take on his own mental well-being. He said:
"But I think there's such a sense of shame that we're just coming out of for mental health."
Another personal tragedy that shaped Le Blanc was the death of one of his seven siblings. On
"State of Mind," the actor shared that one of his brothers died from complications related to AIDS,
noting the stigma and lack of support his brother — and so many others — experienced. He said:
"My brother was treated as somebody who had a 'special cancer' that
only happened to him because of a 'moral failing' at 25. And he died
because of it. Don't make any mistake — the government killed him."
In 2016, "The Young and the Restless" actor Melissa Ordway's pet dog Buddy
went missing. Fans rallied around her, and as Soap Hub noted, she posted signs about
the pup around her neighborhood and online. A few days after she shared he'd gotten out,
Ordway let her Instagram followers know that their search had a tragic outcome. She wrote:
"I'm heartbroken and devastated to report that we have found Buddy and he is in heaven now. He was
a cuddle bug, a gentleman, Liv's main squeeze, our protector and our all around best friend."
Five years later, Ordway lost yet another fur baby, Riley, who'd been in her family
for 16 years. She shared pictures of their happy memories through the years, including snaps they'd
taken while going for a bike ride, celebrating Christmas, and hanging out in bed. She shared
that Riley had won her over from the very first time they met. Ordway wrote of her beloved dog:
"Thank you for being an angel here on earth. Now you're amongst all the angels in heaven. I
know you're playing with your brothers and running after a soccer ball. I love you."
"The Young and the Restless" actor Lauralee Bell announced on Instagram
in June 2020 that her dog Bo had died. As she noted, the timing was especially
difficult because her family's other dog Couver died just a month prior after a
sudden onset of seizures and stroke. When Couver died in late April 2020, Bell wrote:
"He was a dog that would see you walking toward a couch or the bed
and adjust to make sure there was room for you."
Understandably, losing two dogs within a matter of weeks was hard on Bell,
but she tried to find some level of peace in her grief. Following Bo's death, she posted:
"Hoping he found his brother over the rainbow bridge (a term l learned from
my animal lovers out there as I had never heard that comforting visual)."
She also noted Bo's connection to Chelsea, another of their Labradors. She wrote:
"Stay close as your twin & sidekick Chelsea here needs to feel you around us."
In 2021, Bell shared on Instagram that her family had welcomed two Labrador puppies into
their home. Raising a puppy — let alone two — comes with a set of challenges,
but as she made clear in her hashtag set, she was more than okay with those challenges. In
an April 2022 post, Bell shared a snapshot of her young pups with Chelsea. She wrote:
"Our life enhancers but butt kickers!"
In October 2019, Tricia Cast's husband, musician Bat McGrath,
died of cancer. The then 73-year-old McGrath was diagnosed with colon cancer the previous
December. Following his diagnosis, he told local ABC affiliate 13WHAM that he opted
out of treatment because he didn't think it was worth spending the end of his life
that way. When telling his children of his decision, he reassured them:
"I want you to understand that I've had the most wonderful life. There's nothing that I've missed."
According to WXXI News, McGrath continued to make and release music following his diagnosis,
and he held performances in Rochester, New York, a place that was close to his heart,
as it was the city where his band The Showstoppers got their start. His final
show at Rochester's Lyric Theatre sold out. Per the Democrat & Chronicle, he brought Cast up on
the stage at the end of the performance. Cast told City Newspaper that it meant a lot to her
and McGrath that he had the opportunity to spend his final year making and playing music. She said:
"I am super grateful, and that gratitude is real, undeniable, and it helps."
While they both had come to terms with the reality of McGrath's prognosis, his death was
in no way easy on Cast. In the aforementioned interview with City Newspaper, she said:
"I could not begin to find the words. I'm on the healing path, but it's hard."
After forty years together, "The Young and the Restless" veteran Jess Walton's husband
John James died. In 2018, James underwent surgery to have a cancerous tumor removed,
and the procedure was a success. In a May 2021 Instagram post,
Walton shared that her husband's cancer had returned. She wrote:
"John has loved, protected and supported me, our family, and our country all these years
and he has constantly helped those around him, both at home and all over the world."
Three months after the post went up, James died.
Following her husband's death, Walton shared with her Instagram followers that she and their
children took care of James up until his death, which was a bittersweet experience. She wrote:
"For us to be able to devote ourselves to him in his home with all that entails,
and give him love and care and comfort from the people he loves the most, was our honor."
Walton noted that he not only was a pillar of support in their family,
but helped so many others. In the 1980s, James founded the Grief Recovery Institute,
an organization dedicated to assisting people as they move through grief.
Walton continues to celebrate James on Instagram,
sharing photos of her late husband regularly. In December 2021,
for example, she posted a snapshot from the day they became husband and wife. She wrote:
"Wherever you are my angel, thank you for it all. I'm kissing you in my heart."