Young & Restless’ Sharon Case Opens Her Heart About ‘the One Who Got Away’
Thursday, November 3rd, 2022
They had it all. They just couldn’t keep it.
You never forget your first love — or, apparently, your character’s. The Young and the Restless’ Sharon Case still reflects fondly on her alter ego’s tragic love story with former husband Nick. The Emmy winner even called her on-screen first mate the one that got away in a recent interview with Soap Opera Digest.
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“They met as childhood sweethearts, they had a wonderful 10-year marriage without interruption and beautiful children,” she said, “but that blew up and evaporated even though their dream was to be that perfect couple and married forever.
“That ultimately didn’t work out,” she added, “and they got away from each other.”
Which may have been for the best, considering that their “wonderful” union included Nick cheating on Sharon (with so-called BFF Grace), Sharon springing a surprise kid on her spouse (hey, Cassie!), and Nick being so ticked about Sharon’s pregnancy that he wanted her to abort Noah. See? It wasn’t all make-out sessions in front of the fireplace!
Nonetheless, Sharon and Nick have found a new way forward as friends. “I love the progression of their relationship,” Case said. Yes, it’s sad that the lovers couldn’t get the stars to uncross. But what they lost may not actually have been what they believe that they did. “What I think got away was the dream more than the man.”
Relive “Shick’s” whole tumultuous love story in the below photo gallery.
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Image: John Paschal/JPI
1/20
<p>Nick and Sharon overcame many obstacles, especially one huge one named Matt Clark, who raped Sharon and landed Nick in prison, before they finally married. Nikki was against the union — she saw Sharon as a gold-digger. Victor approved. Sharon became pregnant and their first child, Noah, was born premature and was not expected to live. Sharon’s friend Grace located the child she gave up for adoption at age 16 — Cassie — to help ease the pain, but Noah survived and Grace kept Cassie for some time. Eventually, Nick and Sharon and their children formed a little family and Nick adopted Cassie. In later years, it would be revealed that Cassie had a twin, Mariah.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
2/20
<p>Sharon and Nick split up for a time after she caught him cheating with Grace. They eventually reconciled after Victor sent her packing to New York City.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
3/20
<p>Sharon and Nick’s life together was sent into upheaval once again when Matt Clark returned… with a new face and name. Because, of course. Soap opera! Anyway, Carter Mills tried to rape Sharon again by drugging her margarita, was foiled, and tried again after luring her to a cabin. Tricia Dennison intervened and drove Carter/Matt off a cliff. They both survived, but Carter later pulled out his breathing tube in the hospital, committing suicide in an attempt to frame Nick for murder again. Nick was exonerated when Larry Wharton testified. Sharon turned up pregnant after the ordeal, but lost the baby after Nick had a tantrum. Blaming him, they split up.</p>
Image: Jesse Grant/JPI
4/20
<p>Sharon turned to Diego, which sent Nick running back into Grace’s arms. Jealous of Sharon’s lover, Nick beat him up before starting to romance his ex once again. Sharon and Nick were on the verge of reconcilation when he spotted her — gasp! — kissing Victor! This did nothing for their prospects, worsened the rivalry between her and Nikki (see <a href="https://soaps.sheknows.com/gallery/photos-nikki-sharon-yr-rivalry/" target="_blank">Sharon and Nikki’s epic rivalry in photos here</a>), and sent Sharon out of town until she returned when Cassie nearly drowned. Nick forgave Sharon and they got back together.</p>
Image: Brian Lowe/JPI
5/20
<p>Nick and Sharon continued to have their ups and downs, but being kidnapped and nearly killed by Cameron Kirsten gave them a new outlook on their relationship.</p>
Image: Brian Lowe/JPI
6/20
<p>Nick went to work for Newman Enterprises and Sharon ended up at Jabot after contemplating a career as a stripper, a prospect quickly snuffed out by the Newmans despite Nikki’s earlier fondness for the, erm, art of pole-dancing. Eventually, Nick hired Sharon to be the face of the Newman Cosmetic Line.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
7/20
<p>Everything changed for Nick and Sharon after a teenaged Cassie decided to drive a drunk Daniel Romalotti home from a party and got in a car wreck. Cassie suffered an infection after brain surgery, which ultimately took her life, leaving her parents absolutely devastated.</p>
Image: Brian Lowe/JPI
8/20
<p>Nick and Sharon struggled to process their grief and Nick was bent on punishing Daniel for Cassie’s death, unaware that he wasn’t the driver (eventually the truth came out in court). Brad lured Sharon back to work on the Beauty of Nature project and Nick ended up diving into a steamy affair with none other than Daniel’s mother Phyllis. After she became pregnant, Sharon and Nick divorced.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
9/20
<p>As one might imagine, it wasn’t all flowers and rainbows when exes Nick and Sharon went into business with their new spouses Phyllis and Jack. Though the couples weathered a lot of challenges, signs of trouble appeared when Phyllis got jealous over Nick spending time with Sharon whilst dealing with a Noah issue. Not long after…</p>
Image: Pierre Guibert/Visual/JPI
10/20
<p>Or in this case, kissers. After a chance encounter in Paris, Nick and Sharon shared an impulsive kiss on a bridge — that was spied by the stunned Phyllis, who had shown up in France to surprise her husband.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
11/20
<p>After Brad died saving Noah from drowning, Nick found Sharon at the Abbott cabin to let her know what had happened to their son. Reminiscing led to “Shick” making passionate love on the floor in front of the fireplace. It happened a second time when Nick and Sharon went to the cabin to stop Eden and Noah from having sex. After Nick admitted to Phyllis what had happened she cut up all Sharon’s clothes in her room at the GCAC.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
12/20
<p>Sharon became pregnant after the cabin hook-ups and there were three possible fathers — Nick, Jack or Billy. A paternity test revealed Nick was the father, but Sharon passed her bump off as Jack’s when she realized Nick was staying with Phyllis. Jack learned the truth and rejected her, which led to her doing a stint in a mental facility. She gave birth while there, and Adam enacted a plot to have her child given to Ashley, who was experiencing a hysterical pregnancy after he caused her to lose hers. Nick and Sharon were devastated to be told their baby had died.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
13/20
<p>Nick and Sharon were overjoyed when the truth came out and they were reunited with their baby, Faith. Their road to reconciliation, however, was an extremely bumpy one as she had fallen in love with Adam and married him in the interim. Though still drawn to his half-brother, Sharon made a decision to stay with Nick, but when he learned she’d been with Adam again, he filed for full custody of their daughter.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
14/20
<p>Faith’s growing up was mostly tumultuous times for her parents, who were with other people more oftent than together. Sharon went on trial for murdering Skye and went on the run from her trial, after which she was presumed dead for a time. Nick fell in love with Avery, and Sharon married Victor.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
15/20
<p>When things went south with Avery, who was still to involved with Dylan McAvoy, Sharon was there to comfort Nick. They began spending more and more time together, but she was having hallucinations of Cassie. This later turned out to be her twin, Mariah, who Sharon later discovered had been stolen from her at birth and raised by Ian Ward in his cult.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
16/20
<p>Nick recreated their college Polynesian tiki dance at Crimson Lights and proposed. Sharon accepted, but ran off from their wedding when Phyllis, out of the coma she landed in after falling down the stairs during a confrontation with the blonde, turned up. Soon after, Sharon was forced to admit she had tampered with Summer’s DNA results, making it look like Jack was her father and not Nick, and the pair split again.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
17/20
<p>When Sharon was married to Dylan, and Nick was involved with Sage, both women got pregnant. As is wont to happen on soaps, there was a baby switch. Sharon lost her pregnancy, but was medicated in Fairview and continued with a hysterical pregnancy. Patty Williams, also in the facility, saw to it that a nurse took Sage’s baby and gave it to Sharon. It wasn’t until after Sage was killed in a car accident that Nick learned the truth. Believing Christian was his, he took the child from Sharon and Dylan and went to live with his new love, Chelsea. Christian, as it turns out, is actually Adam’s biological son.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
18/20
<p>Sharon and Nick became engaged to be married again after Chelsea ditched him. They fended off Victor’s attempt to get custody of Christian, but Sharon called off the nuptials and told Nick she no longer recognized him when he — quiet literally — went to the “dark” side by startin up a company called Dark Horse.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
19/20
<p>Sharon and Nick worked things out and finally headed to the altar… only for the wedding to be derailed by the shocking revelation that Nick had bedded Phyllis when they were going through their rough patch. The on-again, off-again relationship was most definitely kaput.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
20/20
