As Young & Restless’ Jack and Victor Do the Unthinkable, Peter Bergman Warns ‘Some Wounds Can Never Fully Heal’
Thursday, April 6th, 2023
“They will always be rivals.”
When it comes to daytime’s most legendary (not to mention long-running) feuds, the one that has kept The Young and the Restless‘ Victor and Jack at odds for decades is the stuff of legend. They have married one another’s exes, stolen one another’s companies and cursed one another’s names so often that their names are as naturally linked as those of some of the show’s greatest romantic pairings.
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Which is why what’s about to unfold is… well, downright shocking. Because the two men, who have spent most of their adult lives working to destroy one another, are instead going to join forces against a common foe.
Has hell frozen over? Are Jack and Victor actually about to become… friends?
They said it wouldn’t last… and it never does!
Credit: Sean Smith/JPI
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Don’t count on it! “Jack’s ability to see Victor as something other than a nemesis will always ben an issue,” says Peter Bergman of the Abbott heir. And not for nothing, but the actor wouldn’t have it any other way. “I love it!”
So what’s up with this seeming partnership? “Jack can occasionally get close to trusting a conversation with Victor or a single situation, but then he’s basically tapped out,” laughs Bergman. “They will always be rivals who see the other person’s problems through the wrong glasses. Jack’s enmity with Victor is occasionally sidelined, but never fully remedied. And it should always be there, never far beneath the surface. Because some wounds can never fully heal.”
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This is, he says, classic Young & Restless storytelling. “Rivalries are part of the fabric of this show,” he reflects. “Katherine and Jill. Ashley and Nikki. Jack and Victor. Our viewers tune in for these embattled relationships every bit as much as the other things for which we’re known, such as real conflicts within extended families.”
But as with those other rivalries, sometimes, new enemies can make strange bedfellows of old rivals. In this case, it seems big questions about what happened to Phyllis the night of the gala will have that same effect. Could the two most powerful men in Genoa City be joining forces in order to find out the truth… and perhaps deal once and for all with Jeremy Stark?
Relive some of Jack’s highest (and lowest) moments in the gallery below… including the roots of his feud with Victor!
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Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
1/35
<p>Jack always struggled to make his father proud. It probably would’ve helped if he’d stopped sleeping with John’s wives or picking fights with Victor that would end with him losing the family company… But there’s only so much a man can do.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of Everett Collection
2/35
<p>At first, Jack went after Nikki out of spite when Victor swiped Jabot from the Abbotts. But Jack ended up being the butt of the joke when he actually fell for the former stripper, only to land in divorce court when it became clear he didn’t have the mustache to keep her happy.</p>
Image: John Paschal/JPI
3/35
<p>Successful architect Diane (Alex Donnelley here) tried washing her hands of Jack until he went and hired her to design his lake house. Thankfully, nothing turned her on more than a job. But then Victor saw Jack’s lake house, raised him a Newman Towers design and whisked Diane off for a wedding in Nevada.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
4/35
<p>Fortunately, after Victor ran off with Diane, Phyllis was there to pick up the pieces, and… Um, wow. OK, then. Boundaries, shmoundaries.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
5/35
<p>Since we seem to be playing a game of “Who Did Jack Sleep With Next?” it’s worth mentioning that around this time, he and Jill gave it another go, too. “That’s right, Jill, I <em>am</em> a tall drink of water. And you look mighty thirsty.” </p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
6/35
<p>With everyone but John vehemently against his marrying Gloria, the odds are pretty good that Jack <em>wasn’t</em> thinking “I wonder what she’s like in bed” during their wedding. But surprise! Even John’s wedding was a (long) prelude to his future widow’s roll in the hay with Jack. </p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
7/35
<p>When Katherine presented Jack with a top-tier <span style="text-decoration: line-through">girlfriend</span> job at Chancellor, the Abbott scion snatched <span style="text-decoration: line-through">Carmen</span> the offer up without a second’s hesitation.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
8/35
<p>Just before John suffered a stroke and died, Jack made sure to take advantage of his dad’s confused mental state to fake a will cutting Gloria out of the family fortune. Nothing like building father/son memories to last a lifetime. </p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
9/35
<p>… over and over again. After he was gone, John’s spirit returned countless times over the years to guide Jack whenever he was in trouble. He, uh, did get less dramatic about it as time went by, though. </p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
10/35
<p>Was it attraction or boredom that led to Jack and Phyllis “entertaining” themselves while trapped in an elevator? Whatever the reason, it resulted in a “Who’s the daddy?” cliffhanger that lasted for years and gave us icky feelings about Summer and Kyle.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
11/35
<p>And you thought election nights these days were tense. Try being in the room with this trio waiting to see whether Jack or Nikki had won the state senate seat. We’re getting a panic attack just thinking about it.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
12/35
<p>It was at this point that Jack stopped to wonder if all this effort was really worth it. Not rescuing Sharon, of course. No, we’re talking about the whole Clear Springs resort and explosion storyline.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
13/35
<p>When Jack presented the <em>Restless Style</em> team with an envelope of all four names in randomly assigned couple combinations, Phyllis, Nick and Sharon were shocked… but intrigued. Long story short, the magazine crashed and burned, and so did the relationships.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
14/35
<p>“What’s for dinner?” Jack innocently asked. “An affair,” Billy (then Billy Miller) and Sharon answered in unison — then looked awkwardly away.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
15/35
<p>Look, not to shame anyone’s attempts to spice up the bedroom, but maybe Jack should’ve had a clue something was off with his new squeeze, “Mary Jane,” when she wanted to play with a blindfold and scissors.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
16/35
<p>Mary Jane, as we all know, turned out to be Jack’s scorned first wife, Patty, who was determined to take him for a long, long ride on the crazy-go-round. A wedding with flowers <em>and</em> a kitten? How decadent!</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
17/35
<p>Nothing would’ve made Emily happier than marrying jack. That’s right, <em>would</em>, not <em>could</em>. Patty had kidnapped and taken her place by the time the wedding happened. But once Emily was free, she promptly dumped Jack for not realizing she’d been replaced by a lunatic <em>four months ago</em>. Ouch.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
18/35
<p>Remember that time Jack rescued Victor from a sinking ship that had been attacked by a great white shark? Wait, that was <em>Jaws</em>. This was when Jack rescued his nemesis from a sinking ship after he’d been attacked by Patrick Swayze’s brother. Swear to God.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
19/35
<p>Eventually Diane (then Maura West, <em>General Hospital</em> femme fatale Ava these days) came back with her and Jack’s son Kyle, who at the time was played by an exceedingly polite baseball player.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
20/35
<p>Shortly after Diane returned, Jack and his fellow Genoa City-ites got together to shoot an ’80s power ballad music video, wherein they played murder suspects in the blonde’s death. Very gripping. Lots of smoke. Jack didn’t do it, and that’s about all you need know about how it ended.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
21/35
<p>Nope, still not done with Patty. Apparently she was <em>really</em> into watching Jack drool. Genevieve, though? Meh. </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
22/35
<p>On his wedding day to Nikki, Jack delighted everyone by rising from his wheelchair for the first time since Patty put a bullet in his spine. But then he got stuck halfway, and the rest of the wedding was just awkward… </p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
23/35
<p>Gee, you’d think Jack had never seen a woman napping on his floor before. What’s that? Stephanie was <em>dead</em>? Oh. In that case, it’s a lot more disturbing that Adam (then Michael Muhney) was so nonchalant about Victor’s gruesome attempt to frame Jack for murder.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
24/35
<p>Kinky would be one word for Kelly handcuffing Jack to a bed and brainwashing him to love her. (And we guess also teaching him how to read?) Kidnapping would be another. You say potato…</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
25/35
<p>While Jack was off in Kelly’s bedroom of horrors, Bergman played two roles as Victor replaced his nemesis in Genoa City with an evil lookalike named Marco. And that doppelganger, in turn, played <em>Clue</em>. Was Mr. Boddy killed in hallway with the fire poker or the revolver?</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
26/35
<p>Either Gloria had just struck a pose to seduce Jack, or she was trying to hide and thought that his vision was based on movement. Tragically, it was the former. Even more tragically, it worked, and Jack slept with another of his (dead) dad’s wives.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
27/35
<p>“Hello, Genoa City cleaning services? My mother left a dead Graham on the floor, and he needs to be mopped up ASAP.”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
28/35
<p>Though Dina’s return was initially a joyous affair because it finally closed out the Abbotts’ Ring Around The Rosie circle, it quickly grew tragic. Dina suffered from Alzheimer’s, and her kids had to watch her vanish before their eyes. When she finally passed away, Jack had reconciled with his mom, but they’d never again have a pocket full of posie.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
29/35
<p>Judging by the matching pajamas and the look on her face, we’re guessing this is the moment Phyllis (then Gina Tognoni) began regretting waking up from her coma and rejoining the Abbott family. Or at least <em>this</em> part of the Abbott family…</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
30/35
<p>Jack figured all he needed to do was stare at Billy and Phyllis until they kissed to catch his wife cheating on him. The really crazy part? It almost worked. The magnetism between those two was <em>insane</em>.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
31/35
<p>As Phyllis (Michelle Stafford once again) reached the breaking point in her renewed romance with sometime husband Nick, Jack realized not only that they could be sitting much closer to one another but that he wished he hadn’t let her become “the one that got away.”</p>
Image: CBS
32/35
<p>Shortly after Jack friend-zoned Phyllis, Diane (Susan Walters again) rose from the grave and bought the newly vacant home of her ex’s newly dead son as a way of <span style="text-decoration: line-through">freaking out</span> ingratiating herself to Keemo’s daughter, Allie. As you can tell from Diane’s expression, it all made perfect sense. To <em>her</em>, anyway!</p>
Image: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
33/35
<p>Jack and Phyllis <em>almost </em>made it through another go around, but once they got out of the friend zone, Phyllis couldn’t resist rubbing Diane’s nose in the reunion. And she went <em>extra </em>hard after the two got horizontal! That was just too tacky for Jack. So he dropped Phyllis and moved on with… </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
34/35
<p>Yup, all of Diane’s hard work paid off and she convinced Jack she was a changed woman. In fact, she was so convincing, they didn’t just reunite, he slipped a ring right back on her finger! Naturally, that went over so well with Phyllis that she went…</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
35/35
