‘Young and the Restless’: Victor Newman’s 9 Greatest Loves, Ranked
Victor Newman, played by Eric Braeden, was supposed to be a short-term villain on The Young and the Restless when he stepped onto the Genoa City scene in 1980. Victor’s then-wife, Julia (Meg Bennett), was cheating on him with shutterbug Michael Scott (Nick Benedict).
The original plan was for Julia to shoot Victor dead! However, Y&R creator, head writer, and executive producer William J. Bell picked up on Braeden’s commanding presence and his potential as a leading man and opted to rewrite Victor’s story.
After Victor was on the show for a few years, Bell wrote an origin story for Victor that paralleled anything that Charles Dickens could have devised. Victor, born Christian Miller, was left in an orphanage on Christmas Eve when he was merely seven years old. Cora Miller (Dorothy McGuire), Victor’s mom, couldn’t afford to raise both him and his younger brother, Matt (Robert Parucha).
Christian grew up, became a self-made man, a successful businessman, and rechristened himself as Victor Newman, becoming a new man in the process, literally! Over the years, Victor’s had many great loves, which Swooon is going to rank based on our years of viewing the show! (Note: Not every great love is a romantic one!)
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9. Leanna Love
The year was 1988, and Victor’s life had been exposed in the media. Victor had agreed to an official biography; however, a second one, Victor Newman: Ruthless, hit the bookshelves. The tome detailed Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson) aborting Victor’s child. (She had sacrificed the baby so that Victor would not leave his dying wife, Nikki, played by Melody Thomas Scott). Ironically, Nikki’s condition reversed, and she got much better!
If you think the scrutiny of today’s social media is rough, Victor had it just as bad back in the late 1980s when the media followed his every move. In an effort to take the spotlight away from Ashley, Victor impulsively wed Leanna. Unbeknownst to Victor, Leanna was also the author Nora Randall, who penned Ruthless! Victor was bemused by Leanna’s other antics, but he had no desire to spend a single second longer with the woman who had willfully hurt his “Beautiful Ashley!” There was no love lost when this union ended!
8. Meggie McClaine
Sean Young, known for her movie roles and her publicity efforts to try and win the role of Catwoman in Batman Returns, came to daytime in 2010. Her character, Meggie McClaine, was working at a bar in Ottawa, where Victor had traveled to in an effort to track down his son, Adam.
Meggie set out to land Victor for one of the oldest reasons in the world – money! While Victor deeply appreciated Meggie helping save his life, he told her that he had someone waiting for him back in Genoa City – Nikki, of course! Meggie showed up in town, became Nikki’s assistant, and then pushed the recovering alcoholic right off the wagon! She also drugged Victor and had a quickie marriage ceremony with him in Las Vegas. The conniving bride attempted to give Victor a heart attack (by spiking his drink with a little blue pill intended to give him a boost in the bedroom) but failed! Young didn’t land the part of Catwoman, but she did earn a spot in Victor Newman’s Rogues’ Gallery!
7. Diane Jenkins
Maybe Victor would still be married to Diane if he hadn’t dumped her to remarry a dying Nikki? Nah, this union never stood a chance. Why? It was mostly based on Victor wanting to stick it to Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) after he’d renewed his romance with Diane (then Alex Donnelley). You couldn’t blame Diane for falling for Victor. He introduced her to a glamorous world of wealth, and he lavished attention upon her. She was mesmerized by the wealthy businessman.
6. Julia Newman
As previously mentioned in the introduction, Victor’s wife, Julia, was having a fling with Michael Scott, a shutterbug. Victor shut Michael in by locking him up in his dungeon basement. The mogul made sure Michael was fed by supplying him with some rats he could consume! (Talk about ruthless!)
Things got messy after Michael turned the tables on Victor and trapped him in prison. A scuffle ensued, and a pregnant Julia was injured. She lost the baby, which was Victor’s. Julia left town, but she and Victor parted as friends. She even attended his 1984 blowout wedding to Nikki. She last returned to Genoa City in 2020 to pay tribute to Victor and Newman Enterprises.
5. Sabrina Costelana
It’s quite conceivable that had Sabrina not died, she and Victor would still be married. A friend of Victor’s daughter, Victoria (Amelia Heinle), Sabrina and Victor’s friendship blossomed into love. Around this time, Nikki had married David Chow (Vincent Irizarry), who was mixed up with some bad guys, and they wanted him dead!
Poor Sabrina made the fatal choice to take a ride from David. The bad guys made sure the car crashed, and Sabrina suffered a lacerated liver. The loss was twofold as both Sabrina and her unborn child (fathered by Victor) died. Sabrina has appeared as a ghost once or twice since her untimely death. While hardly ever mentioned, we can’t help but think that Victor still holds a special place in his heart for both his late wife and the child he never got to meet.
4. Hope Adams
Victor wandered onto the farm of blind farmer Hope Adams after being carjacked. Not knowing that his assailant had crashed Victor’s car and that his body was burned beyond recognition (this was pre-DNA), Victor was blissfully unaware that his family thought that he was dead. Victor worked on Hope’s farm while his family in Genoa City mourned him. They fell in love, married, and she gave birth to their son, Adam (Mark Grossman). Alas, Hope could not make a life with Victor once he returned to Genoa City. They divorced, and she returned to Kansas. Hope died in 2008 with Victor and Adam (going by “Vic” at the time) by her side.
3. Ashley Abbott
The quadrangle of Ashley, Victor, Nikki, and Jack drove years of story on Y&R through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. Victor came to Ashley’s rescue after she suffered a mental break upon learning that her biological dad wasn’t John Abbott (Jerry Douglas) but instead was golfer Brent Davis (Bert Kramer).
The great romantic love of Victor’s life is Nikki, but viewers have to be more than interested in other romantic interests for the triangles to work. They have to be invested in other partners. Even when Ashley’s not in the camera shot, viewers can tell that Victor is walking towards her just by the way Braeden carries himself in their scenes.
Fate brought them together a few times in holy matrimony. They share a daughter, Abby (Melissa Ordway), but Ashley and Victor haven’t crossed each other’s orbits in some time now. Ashley volunteered to confront Victor about his attacks on Jack and Jabot Cosmetics, but Jack suggested an alternative plan.
2. Nikki Reed Newman
Victor’s pal, Colonel Douglas Austin (Michael Evans), brought Victor to the Bayou, a strip club, one night, which turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him! Victor met Nikki, who was stripping there, and a romance was born.
They’ve fallen in love, gotten married in affairs both lavish and intimate. Heck, this couple shared a romantic divorce in 1989 after Douglas arranged for the two to dine and dance to the couple’s love song, “Through the Eyes of Love.”
“I don’t remember,” Braeden told TV Insider in 2020 as to when he realized that both he and Thomas Scott made such incredible magic on screen.
“I’d have to say it was very early on, of course. It’s always there. Mel knows how to deal with me. She has a wonderful way of doing that. That always worked.”
Currently, they’re on the outs due to Victor’s disdain for Jack Abbott, and Nikki’s insistence that Victor end the war between him and Jack. Is this why Nikki’s not No. 1 on our list? Not exactly. We’ve no doubt that Victor and Nikki will reunite, but there’s one special lady who Victor loves more than any other.
1. Cora Miller
Braeden’s often been asked what his favorite scene on the show has been. He’s been playing the part for 46 years, and Braeden’s answer is always the same. In 1984, Nikki reunited Victor with his mother, whom he hadn’t seen since she’d left him at the orphanage. To Nikki’s surprise, Victor unleashed decades of rage at the woman who gave birth to him, angry over being abandoned.
Fortunately, mother and son reconciled before her passing. “My all-time favorite scene was the one I had with Dorothy McGuire, who played my mother,” Braeden told TV Insider in 2020.
