Gloria Abbott
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Gloria Baldwin Fisher is a fictional character, a resident of Genoa City on CBS daytime drama series The Young and the Restless. The role was played by veteran actress Joan Van Ark from 2004 to January 2005 and is currently portrayed by Judith Chapman, who joined the show one week after Van Ark's departure.
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[edit] Gold-digging Gloria
Gloria is the widow of cosmetics tycoon John Abbott (Jerry Douglas) and the mother of Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) and Kevin Fisher (Greg Rikaart).
Gloria Fisher moved to Genoa City from Detroit in 2004, to spend some time with her sons, Kevin and Michael. Shortly after arriving in town, she met and began dating John Abbott, the wealthy founder of Jabot Cosmetics; the two were soon married, much to the concern of John's daughter, Ashley (Eileen Davidson), who suspected her new stepmother was a gold-digger, and became obsessed with breaking up her father's marriage. Ashley began digging into Gloria's past, and eventually discovered that Gloria had indeed not been entirely honest with John. She made the shocking discovery - that Gloria was the mother of Kevin Fisher, who had tried to kill John's granddaughter, Colleen (Lyndsy Fonseca), and also Michael Baldwin, the lawyer who had helped Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) to send Jabot into bankruptcy. John eventually forgave Gloria for not revealing this; he also came to forgive Kevin (who would later save John's life, after a fall) and Michael.
When Gloria's abusive ex-husband, Tom Fisher (Roscoe Born), returned to town, he began to blackmail Gloria (paying him not to reveal that they were still legally married). Tom was also believed to have been responsible for the death of Michael's wife, Lauren Fenmore (Tracey E. Bregman). When John learned all of this, he shot Tom dead, before having a heart attack himself.
John survived, but couldn't remember shooting Tom. For fear that he would have another attack if he remembered, Ashley covered for him, pleading guilty to Tom's murder. John eventually recalled the night of the shooting, and came forward that it was he, not his daughter, who shot Tom. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but before being sentenced, John, knowing of Jack (Peter Bergman) and Ashley's feelings about Gloria, gave her his Jabot proxy.
Throughout Gloria and John's marriage, Jack and Ashley were never fond of her, which caused Gloria to go out of her way to prove herself a worthy member of the Jabot company. She went so far as to poison a batch of a new product so she could later "discover" the faulty product and save the company. This backfired when samples of the cream were sent out and caused numerous people (including Abby Carlton, played by Darcy Rose Byrnes) to be sent to the hospital. One death led to a lawsuit which hurt Jabot and caused Jack to be fired (though it later was determined the death might have been from other causes, unrelated to Jabot). Other than Kevin and Michael (who both kept their mother's secret), no one has learned of Gloria's part in this.
In August 2006, Michael succeeded in getting the Governor to commute John's sentence to time served (allowing him to get out of prison), but tragically, before he could be released, he suffered a massive stroke, and was admitted to the hospital. Uncontrolled bleeding in his brain caused John to slip into coma from which he would not reemerge. His neurologist informed the Abbotts of a DNR order John had previously signed. Gloria and Jack fought bitterly over this, Jack wanting to honor his father's wishes, and Gloria wanting to keep John on life support in the hope that he could somehow be revived. Eventually Gloria relented, and John was allowed to die. However, John's death did not ease the animosity between Gloria and John's children. The battle between Gloria and John's children, especially Jack, has escalated, mainly with the fact that Gloria and her family are slated to receive half of John's estate.
The only sibling that she really has little, if any, animosity with, was Jack's youngest sister, Traci (Beth Maitland), and this is because of her work as a writer and that she lives in New York, most of the time, and isn't always aware of what is going on with her family.
To add more insult to injury, it was discovered that John's attorney, due to health problems, hadn't filed the marriage license for John and Gloria, revealing that she and John were not legally married. What's worse, a handwritten will has turned up, basically leaving all of John's assets with his children; leaving Gloria and her family without a cent. Sadly, a judge ruled that the second will was valid, and as such, Gloria and her sons were left disinherited.
However, Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper) and Jill Foster Abbott (Jess Walton) had promoted Gloria to vice president in charge of Creative development, and has been casting more than a casual eye on attorney Will Bardwell (Ted Shackleford) who had recently inherited a fortune due to his uncle's death. This could also cause unexpected trouble between her and Jill, who is also enamored of Mr. Bardwell. Although she claims that she will always love John, she is quickly shedding her widow's weeds and is already on her way to her next conquest.
Although she is moving on, and she still shows her hard-hearted nature, she does have a sensitive side, talking to her new grandson, Fenmore Michael Baldwin or "Fen" as he is called, the son of Michael and his wife, Lauren. Also, Jack has relented in firing Gloria from her job at Jabot, saying that he wants to make things right with Gloria, for his father's sake.
[edit] Family, marriages and romantic entanglements
[edit] Marital Stats
Marital Status :: Obsession -- William Bardwell
- Lowell Baldwin (divorced)
- Tom Fisher (divorced)
- John Abbott Sr. (invalid)
- John Abbott Sr. (invalid) *deceased*
[edit] Other relatives
- Fenmore Michael Baldwin (grandson)
- Florence Baldwin (mother-in-law; deceased in Hurricane Katrina)
[edit] Romantic entanglements
- Gigolo she hired to pretend to be her son "Ben" (one-night stand)
- William Bardwell (flirtation)
