19 Things to Know About Drucilla Winters

An unforgettable character who rose from humble beginnings.

Some soap opera characters linger with us more because of the immense impact they had. One such character is The Young and the Restless’ Drucilla Winters (Victoria Rowell). Since Dru is set to appear on the May 6 classic Y&R episode, Soaps.com is taking a look back at the iconic character, considering 19 things readers may or may not have known about Dru.

1.

Drucilla Barber ran away from home as a teenager to Genoa City in May 1990. Her sister, Dr. Olivia Barber, (Tonya Williams) and Dru had an intense relationship, because their mother, Lillie Belle, (Robin Braxton) favored Olivia.

2.

Dru started rough, living on the streets committing petty theft. After being caught pick pocketing Detective Nathan Hastings (Randy Brooks), who let her go, Dru decided to change her life.

3.

Dru Barber turned to the Abbott family’s housekeeper, Mamie Johnson (Veronica Redd), who happened to be her aunt, for help straightening her life out.

4.

Dru’s first job was through John Abbott (Jerry Douglas) who gave her a position in the Jabot mailroom – he even allowed Dru to move into the Abbott home.

5.

Nathan, who was once illiterate himself, taught an illiterate Dru Barber how to read, write and behave in society. Dru fell for Nathan, only to discover he was seeing her sister Olivia!

More: 7 major plot points of well-known B&B couple

6.

Dru was a talented and skilled ballet dancer who had a promising career.

7.

Dru Barber became Jabot’s new model and fell in love with Jabot executive trainee Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John). The couple were mismatched in their ideals – Dru was a feminist, while Neil was more old fashioned. However, eventually Neil and Dru went on to marry.

8.

While Neil was out of town, a heavily medicated Dru Winters thought his visiting brother Malcolm (Shemar Moore) was Neil, and he raped her, knowing she was confused. After Dru became pregnant, Malcolm and Dru agreed to pretend the baby was Neil’s.

9.

After the birth of daughter Lily (Christel Khalil), Neil expected Dru to become a stay at home mom, but Dru immediately returned to modeling, causing tension between them, which eventually led to a divorce. Dru took Lily to Paris.

10.

Despite the contentious relationship between them, Dru Winters donated her bone marrow to save Olivia from a disease and the two repaired their relationship.

11.

Dru and Lily returned from Paris when they realized Neil had become an alcoholic after finding out Malcolm was presumed dead from an accident in Kenya.

13.

After convincing Neil to go to rehab, Dru Winters returned to Jabot. When things didn’t work out at Jabot, however, Dru joined Newman Enterprises alongside Neil.

More: Watch Y&R actresses go from makeup-free to glam

14.

Dru Winters was drawn to troubled teen Devon Hamilton (Bryton James) because she saw herself in him – since she was helped off the streets by Nathan, she wanted to do the same for him by fostering him.

15.

Dru had a long standing contentious relationship with Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) which began when Lily eloped with Phyllis’ son, Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei). Later, Dru blamed Phyllis for the breakup of her marriage to Neil – Lily overheard Phyllis declare that Malcolm was Lily’s biological father and she unexpectedly sent an email to Neil with the news, which devastated Dru and Neil’s marriage.

16.

While she may have hated Phyllis, Dru Winters did have one good girlfriend in the form of Sharon Newman (Sharon Chase). Dru even stayed with Sharon after separating from Neil the second time.

17.

After discovering Neil kissing Carmen Mesta (Marisa Ramirez), Dru snuck into the Athletic Club and cut up all of Carmen’s expensive clothes in a fit of rage.

18.

In later years, Dru Winters shifted her attentions from modeling to Indigo, a night club she and Neil opened.

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19.

Dru’s conflict with Phyllis contributed to her death. Sharon was on location with Phyllis for a photoshoot atop of a cliff. When Phyllis threatened to use her cell phone to reveal Sharon’s affair with Brad Carlton (Don Diamont), Dru and Sharon struggled to pull it from her hands and ended up falling over the cliff. Sharon was found, but only the remains of Dru’s jacket were discovered.