Eric Braeden Returns to Young and the Restless as Victor Newman After Pneumonia Battle
Daytime veteran Eric Braeden is back to work as Victor Newman at Young and Restless following a real-life illness that sidelined him earlier this month. The actor shared an update on his recovery and return to work in a video he posted to his Facebook page.
Back in Action
In the video, Braeden explained, “I had pneumonia for about two weeks.” He was not the only member of his family to get sick — his son, film director Christian Gudegast, and one of his granddaughters did, too but the actor shared that “because of my age, [I] had it a bit worse than others. But I’m over it now.”
Braeden expressed his gratitude to modern medicine and antibiotics for restoring him to health so quickly. “How nice it is to come out of that kind of sickness,” he enthused. “Pneumonia is no walk in the park. In fact, you can’t walk. That’s the point. It hits you like a ton of bricks.”
The actor reported that he’s now feeling well enough to resume exercising again, but taking things slowly and not rushing to try to get back to his normal routine immediately, noting, “One thing age has taught me: to be more careful that way.”
Braeden was also happy to be able to go back to work, even though his illness meant he had a lot to catch up on. “I had to make up for not being there for two weeks,” he shared, “so the last two or three weeks were a lot of work, a lot of days of double duty. But we survived it. I loved being back to work. Love being back with my colleagues. It was nice to see Melody [Thomas Scott, Nikki] and Joshua [Morrow, Nick] and Mark [Grossman, Adam] and Amelia [Heinle, Victoria] and… everyone, really. Michelle Stafford [Phyllis]. What a privilege to be able to go to work. It really is.”
Currently on Y&R, Victor is facing the wrath of his wife, Nikki, who was so furious that her husband arranged for Jack (Peter Bergman) to be abducted by Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk) that she moved out of the Newman Ranch. The daytime icon teased that the drama between the longtime couple is only getting more intense. “Right now, I have some difficult scenes with Melody, who plays my wife,” he previewed. “Afterwards, we hug each other because we know we did a good job, but, you know, I don’t like to scream at her.”
Because Braeden taped the episodes he had missed after returning to the studio, Victor’s storyline will continue with no on-screen interruption.
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