‘Young and the Restless’: Diane vs. Genoa City Coven – Who’s the Biggest Criminal?
Young and the Restless spoilers promise Diane Jenkins takes more heat from the three-woman coven plotting to destroy her. Looking at her history versus Nikki Newman, Phyllis Summers, and Ashley Abbott, who’s the most devious among them on the CBS soap? We’ve ranked these four from most to least criminal based on their past…
#4 Ashley Abbott is the Least Criminal of the Coven on The Young and the Restless
Jabot chemist Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson) has the least criminal background of the three ladies in GC’s revenge coven. And she and Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters) are close on the number of crimes committed on Y&R.
Ashley’s two shadiest shenanigans on The Young and the Restless both involve paternity. Way back in the day, Ashley fought Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) over Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). And Ashley stole his sperm.
That’s Abby Newman‘s (Melissa Ordway) sketchy origin story… The other paternity crime from Ashley was her altering Jack Abbott’s (Peter Bergman) DNA test so that he thought he was illegitimate. That was to teach Ashley Abbott’s brother a lesson…
Ashley Abbott also falsely confessed to murder/attempted murder twice. First, to protect her father and later her daughter. So, Ashley’s no master criminal, but she is a master schemer on Young and the Restless.
#3 Diane Jenkins Racked up Fewer Crimes than Other 2 (So Far) on Y&R
There are four significant crimes in Diane Jenkins’ past. Like Ashley, Diane also stole Victor’s sperm to make a baby. And Nikki was to blame because she pressured Victor into getting a vasectomy to deny Diane having a child with him when they were married.
After Victor pulled some Mustache schemes, they had a bitter divorce, and that’s when Diane stole his sperm. In a weird twist, she ended up with Jack’s sperm instead. And that’s Kyle Abbott‘s (Michael Mealor) sketchy backstory on Young and the Restless.
That was Jack’s fault because he helped Nikki steal back Victor’s sperm and swap it out… He didn’t know that his sperm would wind up in the swap! It also looked like (but was never proven) that Diane Jenkins burned the pool house at the Abbott house.
Of course, there’s Diane faking her death to set up her enemies. Then, Diane was an unknowing cash mule who flipped on the villain who’d set her up. So, Diane helped send Jeremy Stark (James Hyde) to prison. That’s actually a good deed!
Almost all of the animosity between Diane and the coven of three (Ashley, Phyllis, and Nikki) is about Victor and Jack. Both those men fell hard for Diane Jenkins, and then she was targeted by those women and fought back. Lots of messy soap scheming…
#2 Nikki Newman’s Killed Twice (and Other Attempts) on Young and the Restless
Even though Nikki Newman’s a matriarch of high society in Genoa City, she’s no saint. Most Young and the Restless fans know she started as a stripper and prostitute. And, by the age of 20, Nikki had taken two lives.
One was a tragic gun accident where she shot her childhood best friend. The second was Nikki killing her own father, but that was self-defense when he tried to rape her. Years later, cops arrested her and Sharon Rosales (Sharon Case) for assaulting each other.
Plus, Nikki’s driven drunk several times on The Young and the Restless. Mostly, though, she damaged herself while very drunk — like walking in front of cars… She ran down Christine Williams, too but wasn’t drunk that time.
She also embezzled big bucks from Victor and was part of the plot to kill JT Hellstrom (Thad Luckinbill) but he survived and it was in defense of her daughter. Nikki’s done tons of scheming too and manipulations, lies and cheating.
#1 Phyllis Summers’ Rap Sheet is Long and Scary – Most Dangerous on Y&R
Of the GC coven of three, Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) by far has the longest criminal record. She drugged Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian), then lied and said he got her pregnant. Next, Phyllis drugged the bio-dad to steal his blood to fake the DNA test.
Years ago, she blackmailed Brad Carlton and a psychiatrist after seducing him on Young and the Restless. Plus, Phyllis had to pay blackmail over her paternity lie about Danny’s non-son. When the blackmailer died, Phyllis Summers was the sole suspect.
There was another murder on Y&R that Phyllis was involved in — Dominic Hughes. Phyllis also kidnapped Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) and lost custody of her son Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) for being an unfit mother.
Phyllis is also a thief, hacker, and serial cheater (of course, infidelity’s no crime — just tacky). Phyllis Summers’ history is a roster of one bad behavior after another — some criminal, some just awful antics that hurt other people. That’s part of why Jack rejects Phyllis now.
In the end, all four of these women have skeletons in their closets — some of them literal. Do you think Phyllis Summers, Nikki Newman, and Ashley Abbott are going overboard targeting Diane Jankins? Are their hands just as dirty as hers on the CBS soap opera?
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Diane’s ready to play dirty! 💥 #YR is new this week on @CBS. Watch the latest episodes on @paramountplus! pic.twitter.com/qfY6fydDwc
— Young and Restless (@YandR_CBS) November 13, 2022