Young & Restless’ Peter Bergman Celebrated Emmy Night With Some Very Surprising News
“I will keep doing this as long as they’ll let me!”
Although The Young and the Restless‘ Peter Bergman did not walk away with a trophy during Friday’s Daytime Emmy Awards, it turned out he was a winner even before the ceremony began. Because only hours earlier, our sister site Deadline revealed that he’d inked a new deal with the soap he’s called home since 1989.
Of course, actors signing contracts isn’t really big news… unless, of course, the one they sign will actually keep them on the show longer than the show itself is currently contracted to run!
While the typical daytime contract you hear about is for three years (usually with outs which will allow a network to end the deal early at their discretion), Bergman’s new deal locks him into the part of Jack Abbott for five years. For those struggling with the math, that means he’s agreed to play Traci and Ashley’s big brother through at least 2027 on a show that has so far only been renewed through 2024!
“I’m incredibly lucky to do what I love,” the actor told us earlier this year. “I never take it for granted, and I will keep doing this as long as they’ll let me!” And by the looks of things, everyone at the show feels the same way!
As we look forward to what’s next for Jack, let’s flip open a photo album tracking the life and loves of the man we all adore!
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Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
1/18
<p>From the moment that <em>The Young and the Restless</em> introduced playboy Jack Abbott (then Terry Lester) in 1980, it was hard to snap a photo of the Jabot Cosmetics exec without an admirer or two affixed like pretty, pretty barnacles. In this case, they’re Jacob secretary Carol Robbins and Jack’s old flame and future blackmailer/wife Lindsey Wells (Lauren Koslow, who you may recognize under all that hair as <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Kate).</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection (2)
2/18
<p>Where’s HR when you need ’em? After Jack’s father stopped dating upwardly-mobile Jabot employee Jill Foster (then Brenda Dickson), she went out with Junior — then sued him for sexual harassment (and won!). Despite this, after she reunited with and married John, Jack had a steamy-as-a-sauna affair with the mercenary mantrap, thus putting himself in a position — <em>several</em> positions, technically — to be forced down the aisle by opportunistic Lindsey.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
3/18
<p>Did we mention that Jack also carried on with Jabot model Diane Jenkins? Because he did. Carried on <em>and</em> on, in fact. And the beautiful schemer, who’d eventually conceive son Kyle with stolen spunk that she thought was Victor Newman’s, wasn’t what you’d call low-maintenance, either. Once, during a tiff with her loverboy, she arranged for their next tryst — because it wasn’t like they were going to stop trysting each other’s brains out even during a spat — to be interrupted by none other than…</p>
Image: Priscilla Grant/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
4/18
<p>Poor, sweet, dim Patty Williams. Jack only married Paul’s sister to convince Daddy that he was a big boy and <em>definitely</em> responsible enough to run Jabot. (Spoiler alert: He wasn’t.) When she found out that her husband had only walked down the aisle to climb the corporate ladder, she shot him and snapped so badly that even decades later, she couldn’t get her head screwed on straight. Oh, and as if you couldn’t guess, this photo isn’t from that storyline. It’s Patty’s then-portrayer Andrea Evans hanging out in 2018 with Peter Bergman, who wouldn’t assume the role of Jack until 1989, years after her exit.</p>
Image: Monty Brinton/CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
5/18
<p>After archenemy Victor took over Jabot and pink-slipped him, Jack got even by marrying The Mustache’s favorite wife, the former Nikki Reed. They were a pretty good match, too, but they could never get out from under the shadow that Victor cast. If he wasn’t offering to trade Jack his company for his missus, he was reminding Nikki that she was his darling in the tone of voice that always made her weak in the knees.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection (2)
6/18
<p>… it’s just Jack and Luan Volien, the woman with whom he conceived son Keemo during the Vietnam War. Upon reconnecting decades later, the old flames wound up tying the knot — Jack can’t resist a wedding — just in time for his bride to contract a terminal illness and die, any mention of her or Keemo dying with her. “Everyone knows that’s kind of a standard joke with Peter Bergman,” the actor told <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2019/11/25/young-and-the-restless-peter-bergman-30-years-jack-abbott/4253741002/" target="_blank"><em>USA Today</em></a> in 2019. “Just bring up Keemo, and he starts to wince.” Suffice it to say, it was not his favorite storyline.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
7/18
<p>When Jack got together with Phyllis Summers, the sparks that flew fast and furious between them were so bright, they could be seen from Mars. But the fates just refused to be kind to the couple. Maybe it was karma’s way of paying him back for so brutally betraying Patty. Maybe it was some kind of cosmic retribution for Phyllis’ attempt to make roadkill of her sworn enemy, Christine Blair. Whatever the reason, it didn’t last — not then, anyway.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
8/18
<p>While Phyllis moved on with Nick Newman, Jack got together with his former stepson’s ex-wife, Sharon. Somehow, despite the fact that it was Phyllis’ affair with Nick that had stuck a fork in his marriage to Sharon, the lot of them got it in their heads that it would be a good idea for them to run a magazine together. It was <em>not</em> a good idea. However, <em>Restless Style</em> did lead to a whole lot of more-interesting-than-usual watercooler talk among the mixed doubles.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
9/18
<p>For some reason, Jack was slow — like <em>super</em> slow — to figure out that his next lover Mary Jane Benson was really his unstable ex-wife Patty (now Stacy Haiduk, <em>Days of Our Lives</em>’ Kristen/Susan). And no, the reason wasn’t the blindfold. She’d had her face remade to be a replica of that of her shrink, Emily Peterson. With whom Jack also had a relationship. Because of <em>course</em> he did. Same look, with a whole lot less crazy.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
10/18
<p>As much fun as it was to see <em>All My Children</em>’s Cliff Warner squiring around <em>General Hospital</em> icon Laura Spencer during Genie Francis’ stint opposite Bergman as Genevieve Atkinson, the character’s romance with and engagement to Jack wound up being as insubstantial as they were short-lived.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
11/18
<p>Nothing ever came of it, but there was a hot moment there when <em>The Young and the Restless</em> toyed with the idea of pairing Jack with the late Hilary Curtis (before she was “late,” obviously). She even planted a kiss on her boss at the Delia Project Valentine’s Day Benefit, but his eyes — <em>and</em> lips — were more drawn in the direction of…</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
12/18
<p>Never mind that she’d already shagged Jack’s half brother, Billy. Jack had great chemistry with Kelly Andrews (originally Cynthia Watros, now <em>General Hospital</em> pot-stirrer Nina Reeves). Heck, we actually thought for a while there that she might be The One. But then Phyllis emerged from her coma and restaked a claim on Jack’s heart, and we discovered that…</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
13/18
<p>After being weaponized against Jack by Victor, Kelly (later Cady McClain) lost both her marbles and her life. It wasn’t pretty.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
14/18
<p>After reuniting with Jack, Phyllis (then Gina Tognoni) was so livid that he wasn’t <em>more</em> livid at Victor for replacing him with a doppelganger — even in her bed! — that she cheated on him with Billy. “Not so much fun, is it,” we could just imagine John chuckling in the hereafter, “when the shoe is on the other foot!”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
15/18
<p>Incapable as Jack is of going without feminine companionship for even a nanosecond, while he was at loose ends, he landed between the sheets with, of all people, former stepmother Gloria Fisher. They made a fun and formidable scheme team, too, but in the end returned to their old status as frenemies and sparring partners. (<em>Much</em> to our chagrin, we might add; loved them!)</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
16/18
<p>Jack flirted with the notion of getting involved with younger woman Sally Spectra. But her uncanny ability to lie without it having any affect whatsoever on the length of her nose waved enough red flags to convince him to <em>take</em> rather than <em>make</em> a pass.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
17/18
<p>In 2021, Jack found himself unable to deny it any longer: He’d let get away his true love, and that true love was Lindsey. <em>Just kidding.</em> It was Phyllis (Stafford once again). But seeing as she was on her umpteenth reunion tour with on-again/off-again husband Nick, Jack’s chances of getting an “I do”-over seemed about as slim as the fine line between love and hate.</p>
Image: CBS
18/18
