As if The Young and the Restless’ Victoria (Amelia Heinle) didn’t have enough on her plate trying to process her recent demotion at Newman Enterprises and attempting to gauge the mental health of Victor (Eric Braeden), she may soon find she has an unexpected target on her back.
From the moment Claire (Hayley Erin) arrived on The Young and the Restless canvas, there has been a lot of mystery around who she is and her backstory. She told Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) and Audra (Zuleyka Silver) during the interview for the Newman Media assistant job that she was leaving Chicago for Genoa City, wanting to escape the chaos of “big city life.”
Also, Claire mentioned she was familiar with the area having spent some time in Genoa City with her college friend Sophia Carmichael. Additionally, Claire stated that her parents were killed in a car accident and she was raised by her great-aunt in Oregon.
After being hired, Claire has been sweet as pie to Nikki and a bit of a fangirl over Victoria. When Claire met the Newman heiress, she rattled off Victoria’s business accomplishments, which some may have found impressive, but we found a bit odd.
Our suspicions about Claire were further confirmed in the episode airing on Monday, October 23. After Claire convinces Nikki to leave work for the day, Claire starts straightening up around her boss’ office and notices the pictures on Nikki’s desk. Claire looks at several of the photos, but zooms in on the one of Nikki and Victoria hugging and smiling.
In a later scene, Claire is enjoying a glass of wine when she whips out a folder containing copies of press articles on the Newmans. First, she looks at a picture of Nikki from a Key of Hope event. Then Claire peeks at a picture of a magazine clipping about Victoria. As Claire goes through the folder, her cheerful disposition leaves and she appears more thoughtful.
With all that said, we’re starting to wonder if the Newman family is in danger, especially Victoria. Could Claire have a scheme to go after Victoria? If so, why?
Going back to that point about Claire’s parents dying in a car accident, we’re reminded of Sabrina Costelana (Raya Meddine). To provide a brief recap, Sabrina surfaced in Genoa City in 2008 as a friend of Victoria. Sabrina and Victoria met when the latter went to study in Italy.
Long story short, the relationship between Sabrina and Victoria grew strained after Sabrina and Victor fell in love and got married. Victoria wasn’t a fan of the relationship, which didn’t deter Victor and Sabrina, as they were also expecting a child. Although time allegedly healed the fractured bond between Victoria and Sabrina, sadly, Sabrina was later killed in a car accident and the baby allegedly didn’t survive.
Although the child was declared dead, given we’re talking about the world of soap operas, is it possible that the baby did survive and was raised far away from the Newmans? If so, is the surviving child Claire?
Running with that possibility, we can imagine a scenario in which Claire was raised by her great-aunt who detested the Newmans and hid Claire’s true parentage from her. Then, as Claire got older, she discovered the truth and grew envious that her older sister was raised in the Newman spotlight with their father and a loving mother. Now Claire’s in town trying to attain what she thinks is owed to her.
Now, for those doubting this whole idea of sisterhood (because in reality, if Victor and Sabrina had a kid, the child would roughly only be 15) allow us to point out the fact that daytime soaps have a long history of aging children super quickly. A condition known as soap opera rapid aging syndrome (SORAS).
We should also introduce the possibility that Claire is not connected to Sabrina at all, but is just jealous of Victoria being the daughter of Nikki. The Newmans are a high-profile family, so perhaps she became obsessed with Nikki in particular and coveted Victoria’s place in the Newman matriarch’s life. This could especially be true if Claire’s childhood wasn’t great and the relationship she claimed to have at least with her great-aunt wasn’t as sweet as Claire claimed.
One thing we know for sure, we planned to keep tabs on Claire as her story continues to evolve.
New episodes of The Young and the Restless air weekdays on CBS. Episodes become available to stream on Paramount Plus.
