Young and Restless: Can Abby Forgive Mariah For Kidnapping Dominic? Melissa Ordway Weighs In (Exclusive)
It had been a while since Melissa Ordway had been in a front-burner storyline on Young and Restless, so when she read the scripts and saw that Abby and Devon’s (Bryton James) son, Dominic (Ethan Ray Clark), was going to be abducted by Mariah (Camryn Grimes), she was thrilled. “One of the most fun parts of being on a soap opera is getting to act out things that you wouldn’t — hopefully — normally get to experience in real life,” the actress tells Soap Opera Digest with a chuckle. “So just being able to have a storyline and have it be something that’s this juicy and meaty is pretty exciting.”
Forgive and Forget?
Learning that it was Mariah who had kidnapped Dominic and not some stranger gave Abby and Devon a little bit of comfort, as they didn’t believe their friend would hurt their son. But they still wanted their little boy back and moved heaven and earth to make that happen. Now that Dominic is reunited with his parents and Mariah is facing the consequences of her actions, can Abby find it in her heart to forgive her?
“Anything is possible in Genoa City,” Ordway responds with a laugh. “I’m not going to say no, because it’s definitely possible, but as a mom myself [to daughters Olivia, 9, and Sophie, 8], it would be really hard for me to forgive someone that took my kid. And the things that [Mariah said] to him…. I think what’s actually more upsetting to Abby than even her taking him is the intention behind it, of running away forever and being his new mom. I mean, that would be very hard to get over, even though I’m sure Abby will someday be able to forgive her.
“As long as she gets the correct help that she needs,” the actress adds. “Because I know Abby does understand that she’s not in the right mental state. So it’s very, very upsetting. It’s hard, because you want to forgive someone because it’s like, ‘Oh, they’re not well right now. It’s not the Mariah that I know.’ But then, at the same time, it still happened. So how do you get past it? It’s very complicated.”
Revisiting the Past
This kidnapping storyline revisited the surrogacy storyline from 2021, when Mariah carried Dominic for Abby and Devon, and Ordway would love for the aftermath to dredge up some of the old animosity between the two women from even further back.
“The thing that I feel like we kind of forgot, because it was so long ago,” she shares, “is that Mariah and Abby, they hated each other when I first started on the show. I think she worked at Nick’s bar, and she would like, dump water over my head. I mean, we had a really big rivalry when we first started, and then we became friends. Abby used to hate Mariah a long time ago, so it’s interesting to see if any of that will be brought back up.”
When Grimes first debuted as Mariah Copeland in 2014, it was just a year after Ordway had stepped into the role of Abby Newman, and one of the first things Mariah did was try to split up Abby and Tyler (Redaric Williams), who was her ex-fiancé. “It was like, 12-plus years ago when that happened,” Ordway recalls. “We definitely hated each other when I first started on the show, because when I was with Tyler so long ago, she was trying to break us up. So there was this big rivalry between us many moons ago.”
However the storyline plays out from here, and whether Abby and Devon can find a way to forgive Mariah for abducting their son, Ordway is just happy to continue playing out all the ensuing drama on screen. “I love playing Abby, and I love being on Y&R,” she enthuses. “It’s like a second family to me. So getting to be there whenever I can is honestly such a blessing.”
The Daytime Emmy Award nominee is also grateful for the viewers who have watched her since she joined the cast of Y&R back in 2013 and have been hoping to see more of her on screen since she was taken off contract in 2024. “I just want to say thank you for the support and being an Abby cheerleader,” Ordway declares to those fans. “Because as an actor, you don’t really have much control over anything, and to know that people are pulling for you and rooting for you is really sweet and comforting. And there’s a lot of good stuff coming up, so stay tuned, and thank you for hanging on with me.”
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