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Victor Newman is a fictional character from the American CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. He has been portrayed by Eric Braeden since 1980. Initially a guest character who was to last for eight to twelve weeks, Victor has evolved into the soap opera's leading male figure.
He is also known for his long-running feud with Jack Abbott (who is far more heroic than Victor), although both men have occasionally worked together to rid themselves of a common enemy such as Marcus Wheeler.
History
1980–
In 1980, Victor and his wife Julia move to Genoa City to help Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper) run her company, Chancellor Industries. Julia felt neglected by Victor and sleeps with her photographer, a man named Michael. Victor created his own company, Newman Enterprises, and ended up cheating on Julia as well, with Eve Howard (Margaret Mason) and later Lorie Brooks (Jaime Lyn Bauer). Julia became pregnant and it is assumed that it was Michael’s child; Victor attacks him and Julia loses the child, revealed to actually have been Victor’s. Eve later has a child, Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck), believed to be Victor’s son. Julia and Victor divorce and she leaves town with Michael, just as Victor begins a romance with stripper Nikki Reed (Melody Thomas Scott). Having been from the lower walks of life, Victor teaches Nikki about society. He later takes over the Prentiss family company, Prentiss Industries, and they scheme to get it back by using Lorie to seduce Victor into a marriage. On their wedding day, Victor signs the company back over to them and Lorie stands him up. Victor then tries returns to Nikki, who recently married Kevin Bancroft. Nikki ended up pregnant with Victor's child, but she ended up being manipulated into a marriage Tony DiSalvo to save her relationship with Kevin. Nikki later gives birth to a daughter named Victoria Newman. Nikki also later got involved with a man named Rick Daros, who nearly killed her before being saved by Victor. Eve Howard returns with her boyfriend, demanding that money be allocated to Cole in Victor’s will, and later takes a job as his assistant, which prompts Julia to return to protect Victor. He planned to marry Eve but faked his death on the day of their wedding, and ends up marrying Nikki in April 1984. The following year, while Victor and Nikki are vacationing, Eve reappears with Rick, and they end up stealing money from them and escaping. Nikki facilitates Victor's reunion with his mother, Cora Miller, before her death.
Despite loving Nikki, Victor begins to fall for Ashley Abbott and they have an affair, enraging Nikki to sleep with Jack Abbott, Ashley’s brother and Victor’s business rival. Ashley becomes pregnant and Victor leaves Nikki, but when Nikki is diagnosed with cancer, Victor returns to her and Ashley aborts the child. When Nikki goes into remission, Victor wanted to be with Ashley, who had moved on with her psychiatrist Steven Lassiter; Steven later dies, and while Ashley wanted Victor back, he had returned to Nikki in an attempted to salvage their marriage, resulting in the birth of their son Nicholas Newman. Victor and Jack later hire Leanna Love to write a biography on Victor, when in reality, Jack wanted the book to be a tell-all expose on Victor. Leanna later writes a chapter about Victor’s affair with Ashley and Nikki’s illness, causing Victor to believe Nikki was behind the publication. He divorces her and marries Leanna to prove to the press that he didn’t want to be with Ashley; their marriage was invalid, as the divorce wasn’t finalized. Victor later takes over Jack’s family company, Jabot Cosmetics, replacing him with Brad Carlton. As a result, Jack spitefully marries Nikki, causing her relationship with Victor to become bitter. Victor marries Ashley, and years later; he tells Jack that he will give him back Jabot Cosmetics if he divorces Nikki. He agrees to do so, but Jack wasn’t given full control of the company due to a legal loophole. Victor has a heart attack during a confrontation with Jack, and while he leaves him for dead, Victor recovers. As Jack and Nikki’s marriage strained to due her alcoholism and pain killer addiction, she reconnected with Victor, who had decided to divorce Ashley.
Eve later returned to town again with her now-grown son Cole, who romanced Victor’s daughter Victoria, unaware he was believed to be Victor’s son. Victor later left Genoa City and traveled to Kansas, letting Nikki and the rest of the Newman family believe he had died. He meets Hope Adams. They returned to Genoa City and married. While Victor was in Kansas, Cole and Victoria had eloped, and when Victor revealed their sibling relation, the marriage was annulled. However, when Eve died, it was revealed that Cole was never Victor’s son; Victoria and Cole remarry. Victor and Hope later have a son, Victor Adam Newman, Jr. Hope wanted to return to Kansas and Victor was not interested; he divorced her and Victor, Jr. was raised without knowing Victor was his father. Nikki had been engaged to Brad, much to Victor’s dismay. On their wedding night, Victor was shot and Nikki returned to him; the mentally unstable Mari Jo Mason was revealed as the gunwoman. Victor and Nikki briefly reunite before he returns to Kansas after Hope’s new husband, Cliff Wilson, had died. In 1997, Victor marries Diane Jenkins, Jack’s ex-girlfriend. Nikki had Victor have a vasectomy, but had frozen sperm for a future possibility. Nikki later marries Joshua Landers, and in 1998, she is shot by Joshua’s ex-wife, Veronica Landers; Victor divorces Diane to marry Nikki on her deathbed, promising to remarry Diane after Nikki’s death. When Nikki survived, their second marriage was invalidated, as Victor and Diane’s divorce was never processed. Victor and Diane begin a bitter divorce over many months, during which Nikki reunites with Brad, and he and Jack take control of Newman Enterprises.
Diane remained in love with Victor, and stole his frozen sperm to artificially inseminate herself. Unbeknownst to her, Ashley had also stolen Victor’s sperm to inseminate herself. Diane gave birth to Christian Victor Newman, but was shocked to discover the sperm she’d stolen was that of Jack. Ashley had received Victor’s actual sperm sample and gives birth to Abby Carlton, whom she decides to pass off as Brad’s child. Victor and Nikki later reunite, and in 2002, Maxwell Hollister attempts to destroy Victor, using his estranged wife, revealed to be Lorie Brooks, in his plot. Originally, Max attempted to lead a hostile takeover of Julia Newman Martin's design firm, which Victor prevented. Now, Max used Lorie to keep Victor and Nikki apart, but Lorie could not follow through, and a ruined Max ends up leaving town. Months after, Victor and Nikki remarry in front of all of their loved ones. Ashley reveals that Abby is in fact Victor’s daughter as she was diagnosed with cancer, and he welcomes her with open arms. After rescuing Nikki from a carjacker, Victor is diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. Victor and Nikki's marriage slowly strained as he was caught up in taking Jabot Cosmetics away from Jack, dealing with NVP Retreats, and Nikki's campaign for State Senator, which resulted in an affair with her campaign manager David Chow. Victor and Nikki eventually divorce after six years in 2008. Soon after, Hope dies and Victor’s estranged son, now known as Adam Newman, comes to Genoa City and works at Newman Enterprises.
Victor later falls in love with Sabrina Costelana, but she dies in a car accident with Nikki’s devious husband, David Chow. Victor travels to Mexico and nearly dies, and Ashley is able to find him; they end up rekindling their romance. They remarried when Ashley became pregnant, but she miscarries when Adam gaslights her into having a hysterical pregnancy, but convinced her that she was still pregnant. Despite Adam stealing Nicholas’ daughter, Faith, and passing her off as Ashley's, she and Victor divorce as he reunites with Nikki again. Victor was later shot by Patty Williams and needed a heart transplant, receiving Colleen Carlton's heart. Victor and Nikki left for treatment in Europe, and upon their return, Adam’s scheme was revealed and he faked his death. Victor went searching for him in Canada and met Meggie McClaine; he brings her to Genoa City and she works as Nikki’s assistant, but causes her to relapse into alcoholism. In reality, Meggie was trying to foil Victor and Nikki’s union to marry him for his money. Victor marries her, but has her arrested soon after; Nikki moves on with Deacon Sharpe. Afterward, Victor’s children file a lawsuit against him over a cosmetics line, which they win.
Diane, who had returned to Genoa City, reconnects with Victor and they remarry, however, it is annulled shortly after she finds him sleeping with Nikki and Victor learns of her affair with Tucker McCall and Jack. Afterward, Victor sends Nikki to a rehabilitation center for her alcoholism. Diane is murdered in August 2011, with Victor as a suspect. Nikki in fact murdered Diane in self-defense, causing Victor to falsely confess to murdering her to protect Nikki. While in jail, Victor marries his former daughter-in-law, Sharon Newman (Sharon Case), to push Nikki away, however when the entire murder plot is revealed, Nikki is not charged and Victor is freed. Victor and Sharon’s marriage is annulled and he reunites with Nikki, however, she leaves him when some of his past schemes involving Victoria’s marriage are exposed. To gain control of the cosmetics line Beauty of Nature, Victor slept with Genevieve Atkinson. When Nikki reunites with Jack, Victor develops a genuine romance with Sharon to spite her. They marry a second time, however he disappears from town shortly after and Sharon believed he was abandoning her. She burned their prenuptial agreement and took over Newman Enterprises, while Jack and Tucker were buying up its stocks. While away, Victor had lost his memory and was working as a dock worker in Los Angeles; he was demanding better working conditions and the other workers planned to have him killed in an explosion, as a result, Genoa City believed Victor had died, but he returned shortly after. Upon his return, he annuls his marriage to Sharon and reunites with Nikki, just before Jack announces he is taking over Newman Enterprises, firing all of the Newman family and instating Adam. However, due to his addiction to pain killers, Jack gave up control of the company, leaving it to Adam.
Victor and Nikki finally remarry in March 2013 just before she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. At their wedding, an assassin attempts to shoot Victor, but Adam takes the bullet and nearly dies for his father. As a result, he offers Victor the position of co-CEO at Newman, and they begin working together. However, their partnership ends several months later when Victor discovers that Adam's silent partner used to take Newman private again was Jack. Victor fears that Adam and Jack have been scheming to take back the company for themselves without Victor. In retaliating, Victor, who now owns Chancellor Industries according to Katherine Chancellor's will, has all major Newman clients sign to Chancellor, as Victor leaves Newman worthless so he could build up Chancellor. Adam signs over his shares in Newman over to Victor, who plans to merge Chancellor Industries with Newman. Nikki then reveals she gave birth to another son decades earlier before she was with Victor, revealed to be Dylan McAvoy. A subsidiary of the newly merged conglomerate, named Bonaventure Industries, later produced an illegal speed drug that Summer Newman (Hunter King) ended up overdosing on. Jack reported Victor to the FDA and he and his company were put under investigation. Dylan's supposed father and Nikki's former lover Ian Ward (Ray Wise) then arrives in town and causes pandemonium, to which Victor tries to get him out of town. It was later revealed that Victor had hired a lookalike to his granddaughter Cassie, named Mariah Copeland (Camryn Grimes), to haunt Sharon and learn a supposed secret she has. When his scheme is revealed, Nick and Sharon shun him and Nikki decides to move out for a while, but she and Victor later reunite. Victor and Nikki later learn that Ian is incapable of fathering children, leading to confusion. It is later revealed that Paul Williams, Nikki's ex-lover and longtime friend, is in fact Dylan's father, causing tension in Victor and Nikki's marriage, which continues when Victor goes to extensive lengths to awaken Phyllis from a coma in order to find out more information on Sharon's supposed secret. Nikki falls off the wagon and begins drinking again; she leaves Victor and refuses to take him back. Victor also sells Chancellor Industries back to Jill, leaving the rest of the Newman family confused as to why he gave Chancellor up so easily.
In 2015, Victor has Jack kidnapped and replaced by a lookalike, who turns out to be a Peruvian drug lord named Marco Annicelli, all in order for him to take over Jabot Cosmetics and merge it with Newman, becoming Newman Abbott Enterprises. Meanwhile, Victor and his children discover that Nikki has fallen off the wagon; they convince her to quit drinking again and she and Victor end up reuniting. Jack makes his way back to Genoa City just as Victor learns that Marco is dangerous; he plans on shooting Marco dead in the park, but it is actually Jack who he ends up shooting, who had finally returned to confront him. Jack ends up falling comatose while Victor frantically tries to get rid of Marco, who continues to masquerade around town. When Jack awakens, he reluctantly agrees to help Victor get Marco out of town and back in prison, which they end up doing successfully. With the real Jack back in Genoa City, the Newman Abbott merger comes to an end and both companies return to their separate states. Meanwhile, Adam, who had returned to town under the false identity of Gabriel Bingham, had teamed up with Ian (who had escaped prison) to create a computer virus to destroy Newman Enterprises for separate revenge on both their parts; the virus was known as the Paragon project, which later led to the revelation that "Gabriel" is in fact Adam. He agrees to stop Paragon, but Ian makes no such promise; on Halloween, when a party was being thrown in the Newman Enterprises ballroom, Ian is responsible for the building catching fire and a great panic ensuing. As a result, Ashley and Billy (Burgess Jenkins) offer to share office space at Jabot with Newman while the Newman building is being repaired, but Victor refuses to trust them. It is later revealed that Billy revived Paragon as an act of revenge against Victor, leading to Jack firing him and Victor filing a lawsuit against Jabot.
Family
- Father: Albert Miller (deceased)
- Mother: Cora Miller (deceased)
- Brother: Matthew Miller
- Sons: Nicholas Newman (with Nikki Reed), Adam Newman (with Hope Wilson), Dylan McAvoy (Stepson; via Nikki)
- Daughters: Victoria Newman (with Nikki Reed), Abby Newman (with Ashley)
- Grandsons: Noah Newman (via Nick), Reed Hellstrom (via Victoria), Johnny Abbott (adoptive via Victoria), Riley Newman (via Adam; deceased), Connor Newman (via Adam), Christian Newman (via Adam)
- Granddaughters: Cassie Newman (adoptive via Nick, deceased), Summer Newman (via Nick), Katherine Abbott (via Victoria)
Personality
Victor is extremely arrogant, selfish, self-righteous, manipulative, a bully, a control freak, a liar, a hypocrite, breaks promises he makes, always tries to blame everyone except himself for problems he has caused to no success, he never takes responsibility for his actions, as well as the fact that he never learns from his mistakes, he can never leave a situation well enough alone, as he makes it worse than ever, has a habit of underestimating his opponents, is greedy and power-hungry, he cares more about money and power than he does about people he claims to care about, he turns his back on people he claims to care about for no apparent reason, he is bad tempered and he intentionally makes a scene in public. Despite being a successful and intelligent businessman, he never thinks everything through or thinks of the consequences, he rarely admits when he is wrong, does not like it when people (correctly) stand up to him or correct him on his actions (which he takes as a betrayal), he is delusional, as he comes up with his own version of the truth because he does not want to face the real truth, he is rude and disrespectful towards people who are in a lower social class then he is, and he never does something strictly out of the goodness of his heart, but always expects something in return.
He is also ruthless, cruel, sadistic, has no conscience, guilt or remorse for any of his actions. Despite his negative traits, he seemingly loves his children but tries to make them do things they don't want to do, however, it is shown that Victor once tried to set-up his own son Adam, for a crime he didn't commit, simply because he didn't like his son, he is insane to the point that he was willing to destroy the very company he works so hard to build up just to try and hurt Adam; this shows that Victor does not truly care about or love any of his children and he has no redeeming qualities.