Abby Carlton

Abigail "Abby" Rachel Newman (born Abigail Carlton) is a fictional character from the American soap opera The Young and the Restless. Darcy Rose Byrnes played the role from 2003 to June 2008. Byrnes also made several appearances as Abby on The Bold and the Beautiful. Actress Hayley Erin took over the role of a SORAS'd Abby Carlton on The Young and the Restless on December 29, 2008,^[1][2] and she played the role until April 14, 2010. In 2010, the role was given to Marcy Rylan, and the character was aged again from a teenager to an adult.^[3] Rylan began taping on April 5, 2010, and her episodes started airing on May 18, 2010.^[4][5]

Casting

Darcy Rose Byrnes portrayed Abby Carlton as a child on both The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.^[1][6] In 2008, The Young and the Restless began searching for a teenage actress to take on the role. "The fact that they aged Noah, I think it's a no-brainer," Eileen Davidson said. "It would be pretty odd to see a teenage Noah with an 8 year old Abby."^[1] Hayley Erin was cast in the part and debuted on December 9, 2008.^[2][7] "Hayley had everything I wanted in the role — she looks right for the part and has that youthful energy," said The Young and the Restless's casting director Camille St. Cyr.^[7] In 2010, the role was recast again with Marcy Rylan, who began taping the week of April 5, 2010, and her first episodes aired in May 2010.^[3]

Storylines

Birth and Paternity

Abby Carlton was conceived when Ashley, desperate to have Victor's child to replace the one whom she aborted years ago, stole his sperm from Diane Jenkins Newman, who had obtained the sample illegally form a fertility lab, and secretly inseminated herself. Thus, Abby was born on November 13, 2000, however, her birth year was later changed to 1989.

Abby grew up believing that the late Brad Carlton was her father. While Ashley had cancer, she recorded a video message for Abby to see when was older, revealing the truth about Victor being her biological father. Unknown to Ashley, Abby saw the video and told Victor. After the truth came out, Abby saw both Brad and Victor as father figures.

2007–09

In early 2007, Ashley left Genoa City to work for Jabot International in Hong Kong, taking Abby with her. Ashley's character crossed over to Young and the Restless's "sister soap" The Bold and the Beautiful in March 2007, as does Abby's character shortly after. They both stayed in Los Angeles until mid 2008. They eventually ended up in London, with Ashley working for Forrester Creations' international branch. Ashley left Abby in London when she went to Paris to help Victor. The two romantically reunited and returned to Genoa City to live together. Abby rejoined her parents in Genoa City on Christmas as a surprise for Victor.

Abby and Ashley moved into the Newman Ranch; Victor took a greater role in Abby's life, including buying her a champion Arabian horse. He asked her to start calling him Dad, which she did, although her actions upset her Brad. When both Brad and his daughter, Colleen Carlton, died in separate traumatic events, Abby began to rebel against Ashley and Victor. Colleen was Abby's first cousin, being that her mother was Traci Abbott, Ashley's sister. Upon the death of both Brad and Colleen, Abby became the sole heiress to Brad's estate. She owns the Carlton Manor. Later, she spent her time pursuing the older Ryder Callahan. She inadvertently assisted with one of his schemes, along with his sister Daisy Carter, before they were eventually caught.

2010—

In May 2010, Abby protested in front the lobby of Jabot Cosmetics after the ownership of the company was put in the hands of Tucker McCall. Abby did not know that Ashley returned to become the CEO of Jabot. Abby planned to start her own reality television show, entitled "The Naked Heiress", but she was having trouble obtaining the funds to get her dream started. She went to her parents, but they refused to provide for Abby's bizarre wish. Abby then recruited Rafe Torres as her lawyer, and she vowed to sue her parents in order to obtain her inheritance.

Soon after, she began flirting with Daniel Romalotti, much to his dismay. Later, Abby kissed him. After being refused help with her reality show by her parents, her half-sister, Victoria Newman and her uncle, Billy Abbott, she began to blackmail Billy in order to feature her in Restless Style. While looking through Billy's laptop, she stumbled upon video footage of Victoria and Billy's secret marriage ceremony in Jamaica; she warned Billy that she could be as ruthless in her pursuit as he was in his own endeavors. After Billy again refused, Abby revealed the video footage in front of a crowd of people at Jimmy's Bar. She later went to court to carry out her lawsuit against Victor and Ashley, only to have the judge rule against her. Nevertheless, Abby is determined to go through with her TV show.

She also continued to flirt with Daniel, hinting at a potential relationship. She even had sex with Daniel in the pool at the Newman Ranch while recording it on her video camera. She sent the footage to Kent, who helps her film her potential segments for her show, and asked him to leak it to the media outlets without telling anyone that the video came from her. The next morning, Nikki Newman and Daniel's mother, Phyllis Summers, caught Abby and Daniel outside making out on the bench. After the footage leaked, Abby became even more infamous. At one point, Abby caught her mother having an affair with Tucker McCall, and she asked Tucker to go into business with her; he turned down her offer. Soon after, Ashley viewed Abby's video and confronted her about it. A fame-hungry Abby decided to take a bubble bath in Katherine Chancellor's pool at the annual Chancellor Fourth of July party, much to the chagrin of the adults. Abby was subsequently thrown out of the Chancellor Estate. After these several major incidents, Ashley and Victor decided to withhold Abby's inheritance indefinitely. In spite of this, Abby rode a horse naked inside the Genoa City Athletic Club, while Victor and Nikki were celebrating their engagement, leading to Abby being arrested and put in jail. Abby also attended the opening of Gloria Bardwell's new nightclub, Gloworm, and she gave it her "Naked Heiress" seal of approval, which delighted Gloria.

Abby decided to reopen her lawsuit against Victor, with the help of her uncle and Victor's nemesis, Jack Abbott. She was upset with her father for not consulting with her when he paid a fine to the Department of Justice with the Newman Shareholders Account. Later, Victoria, Abby's half-sister, decided to join her in the lawsuit, and they sued Victor for just over $1 billion. To make matters worse for Victor, Nick Newman, Abby's half-brother, later joined in his sisters' pursuits.

When a powerful storm hit Genoa City, Abby became worried about her mother, and with Daniel's help, she began looking for her. The two went to Tucker's apartment, where Abby thought that Tucker cheated on her mother with Diane Jenkins. On October 27, 2010, Victor offered both of his daughters a settlement worth $3 billion. Victoria turned it down, and she talked Abby into doing it also. Then, they asked for a deal: they would drop the lawsuit if Victor gave them the Newman cosmetics line, Beauty of Nature. He refused, and they went forward with the lawsuit. In March 2011, Abby's other half-brother, Adam Newman, gave a testimony about falsified trust documents, and Nick, Victoria and Abby all felt that they were going to lose the lawsuit. However, Adam didn't show up to either back up or recant his testimony, which shifted the momentum back to the other three Newman children. The final blow came when Neil Winters, who used to work for Victor at Newman Enterprises, gave his own testimony, saying that Adam never saw any trust documents. His testimony won the lawsuit for Nick, Victoria, and Abby as they were each awarded $500 million. Victor was crushed, and Abby felt terrible for him.

On December 22, 2010, Abby, along with her other Abbott family members, watched as Tucker proposed to her mother, who happily accepted. Abby, who had caught Tucker with Diane, rolled her eyes in annoyance as she saw the proposal because she believed that Tucker was a cheater, and she didn't like him.

After her lawsuit win against her father, Abby returned to the "Naked Heiress" by holding a press conference at Gloworm. She announced that "The Naked Heiress" was back, and she let her dress fall off to the press her naked body for good measure. Abby got arrested for indecent exposure, which lead to a disappointed and embarrassed Ashley having to bail her out of jail. Abby also learned that her niece, Lucy Abbott was actually Daniel's daughter with Daisy Carter. When she learned that Daniel told his ex-wife, Lily Ashby, about the baby instead of her, she reexamined their relationship and eventually confronted the both of them. She decided to break up with Daniel and end their romance.

Shortly thereafter, Tucker wanted to give Ashley a wedding gift by buying Abby's Newman stock. In reality, he wanted to control more of Newman Enterprises and hopefully get their cosmetics line, Beauty of Nature, to merge with Jabot's cosmetics line. He offered Abby $300 per share. However, Abby, who still had a strong distaste for Tucker, refused to accept the deal. Instead, Abby went to her uncle Jack and offered to sell her shares to him for $299 per share, one dollar less for a "family discount". Jack then ran over to the Newman Ranch and greeted Victor to tell him that he was a new stockholder. Ashley ended up lecturing Jack about taking advantage of his niece. She also wanted to talk to Abby to convince her to come to her and Tucker's wedding. In the days before Ashley and Tucker's wedding, Abby desperately tried to convince her mother not to marry Tucker because he cheated on her with Diane. Ashley and Tucker were having dinner one night at Gloworm when Abby showed up drunk and ready to party. Abby found out that her goddaughter, Lucy Abbott, was taken by Child Protective Services from her adopted parents, Victoria and Billy Abbott. Ashley and Tucker tried to convince Abby to go home with them, but she continued to party on. Consequently, Tucker revoked Abby's invite to the wedding, telling her that she was no longer welcome. The day before the rehearsal dinner, Abby indefinitely broke up with Daniel. She went to the Abbott mansion and found her aunt Traci there, who comforted her. Abby tried to convince Traci that Tucker was not right for Ashley, even comparing him to her half brother, Adam Newman. Abby wasn't aware that Ashley was listening to their conversation. Ashley decided that Abby went too far, and the two began to argue. Abby told her that the worst thing about Tucker was that he showed her how gullible and weak her mother actually was. Then, she stormed out, leaving both Ashley and Tracy incredibly upset.

Later on, while the Abbott family toasted to Tucker and Ashley's wedding, Abby was outside at the altar crying. After drinking a full bottle of wine, she knocked over chairs, pushed the altar over and ripped down all of the decorations. The last of which she did so forcefully that she fell into the fountain. On May 13, 2011, a drunken Abby promised Ashley that they would have a girls' night out. In reality, Abby was driving her mother to the Abbott cabin to prove that Tucker was with Diane. On the way there, Abby accidentally crashed into Tucker, leaving the two of them injured. Ashley switched places with Abby, making it look like she was the driver of the car; she was subsequently thrown in jail. When Abby recollected her memories from the night of the accident, she demanded that her mother stop covering for her. Victor and Ashley decided to send a restless Abby, who was feeling the heavy guilt of her actions, to rehab in order to prevent her from confessing to anyone. Before she went away, she attempted to make a confessional video at Gloworm to be released to the media. Victor hired someone to steal the tape, but Deacon Sharpe witnessed the entire scene unfold as he was the bartender that night. At rehab, Abby ran into Michael Baldwin's half-sister and half-brother, Nick Newman's son, Noah Newman's ex-girlfriend, Eden Baldwin. Abby left rehab after a few days after Noah came to visit her. Abby unknowingly convinced Eden to return to Genoa City as well.

Once Tucker woke up from his coma and Diane retracted her statements about Ashley from the night of the accident, the charges against her were dropped, and she was freed from jail. When Tucker woke up, he seemed to remember that Abby was the one to hit him, and not Ashley. Abby made things right by telling Tucker the truth. Knowing that Abby was the one who hit him, he forgave her and appreciated her confession to him. They made a pact to keep the secret between them. Abby tried to get Daniel back after she returned from rehab, but Daniel moved on from Abby to his ex-wife, Lily. He did not want to be in the spotlight as the boyfriend of the "Naked Heiress".

Just when Abby thought that all was lost, Victoria offered her a job. She wanted the "Naked Heiress" to be the spokeswoman for Newman Enterprises' Beauty of Nature cosmetics line. Victor approved of his daughters' idea, but then Diane revealed to Victor that she had possession of Abby's confessional tape after she bribed Deacon for it. Abby was one of many people, including her parents, siblings, and Tucker, who received a text from Diane to meet her at the footbridge in the park. The morning after she received the text, Abby woke up in the bar of the Athletic Club with no recollection of her night and a dirt stain on her jeans. When she learned about Diane's body being found floating in the water in the park, Abby frantically tried to remember what she did the night before, but she couldn't remember anything.

Later, Abby flashed back to her time in the park with Diane. She wrestled with her to try to get the key to the safe where Diane was hiding her confession tape. The chief investigator of the murder, Ronan Malloy revealed that a key was found in Diane's throat after her autopsy. Adam Newman, who was also a suspect in the crime and Abby's half-brother, tried to convince her to give him an alibi, and he would do the same for her. After the two returned from the park, they saw each other at the Athletic Club bar, and Adam wanted Abby to vouch for him. Abby refused to help him, but she could have used an alibi herself. The night of the murder, Ashley found out that Diane was indeed sleeping with Tucker, and Ashley apologized to Abby for not believing her when she tried to tell her so many times. Ashley eventually left Tucker and began living at the Athletic Club. Tucker contracted a rash on his arm, and he was using calamine lotion to treat it; the lotion was also found in the park.

Abby was convinced that Tucker had killed Diane. Detective Malloy tried to get Abby to wear a microphone in order to get a confession from Tucker on tape, but Abby was skeptical. Ashley eventually reunited with Tucker, which infuriated Abby, prompting her to agree to wear a wire. When she knocked on the door to Tucker's apartment, only her mother was inside. Unbeknownst to Abby, her mother was being blackmailed with photos of herself and Diane from the night of the murder, and she had just received another one in the mail. A frantic Ashley began confessing to Abby that she saw Diane in the park that night, and Abby screamed at her mother to stop talking to her, in order to prevent her from getting herself in trouble. Tucker returned to the apartment, and Abby quickly ran into his bedroom and removed all of the wires and threw them in her purse. She immediately left and returned to Ronan, begging him to forget everything that he just heard. When they couldn't find a piece of the microphone equipment, it was discovered that Abby left it in the bedroom. Tucker and Ashley found the microphone, and Ashley confronted her daughter with the evidence at Crimson Lights, which forced Abby to run out of the coffeehouse to avoid telling her mother what she had done.

Abby then ran to her father, telling him that she accidentally lead the police to believe that her mother was involved in Diane's murder. Victor threatened Ronan, telling him to stay away from his family. After some encouragement from her friend, Devon Hamilton, Abby decided to apologize to her mother, but when Tucker found out what she had done, he called her a "stupid little girl" and berated her for her senseless actions. Infuriated that her mother was taking Tucker's side over her own, an upset Abby stormed out. Abby's troubles reached a new height when Ronan finally found her confessional on a flash drive that was stuffed inside a pillow found in Diane's room at the Athletic Club. He brought Abby in for questioning but let her go instead of keeping her in a holding cell. When DA Spencer found out that Ronan let her go, he found Abby at the Athletic Club and arrested her on the spot. Abby's luck turned around, though, when her mother and Tucker came down to the police station, and Tucker told Spencer that Abby was not driving the car, which forced Spencer to let Abby go. Ashley warned Abby that after what Tucker just did for her, she had to put the past behind her and realize who her family was.

References

External links

• Abigail "Abby" Carlton Newman's profile on SoapCentral