YOUNG AND RESTLESS’s Nikki And Her Battle With Alcoholism

Torn over whether or not to remain married to Jack (Peter Bergman), a pregnant Nikki went horseback-riding to reflect. She took a terrible fall, and not only miscarried, but injured her back. She sought relief from painkillers and alcohol. In 1991, Jack persuaded her to enter rehab, but relapsed upon her return. In 1992, Victor threatened to take custody of their young children unless Nikki went back into a detox program. She downed more pills and booze and wound up in the hospital, then finally agreed to undergo spinal surgery. It was a success, but Nikki still struggled to resist the temptation to drink. Fortunately, a dose of tough love from Katherine, also a recovering alcoholic, put her squarely on the road to recovery.

After a close call in 1993 when family drama drove her to Gina's bar (she and Neil, who was also poised to fall off the wagon, were able to talk each other into staying sober), Nikki relapsed in 2008 after traveling to Mexico with Paul to stop Victor from killing gangster Walter Palin for causing Sabrina’s death. By the time they got there, Victor had taken his target out to sea for a fishing trip. A storm capsized their boat and Walter’s body washed ashore, but Victor was presumed drowned. Devastated, Nikki got plastered at a local bar. Victor turned up alive, but wanted nothing to do with her.

Nikki hired Meggie (Sean Young) to be her personal assistant. Meggie started spiking her boss’s beverages with vodka and soon, Nikki was boozing again. Meggie teamed up with Deacon to split up Nikki and Victor, and he kept Nikki dependent on alcohol even while she was in rehab.

Nikki drank heavily when Victor tied the knot with Diane. Diane was then "murdered" and Deacon (Sean Kanan) presented Nikki with evidence indicating that Nikki had killed her while drunk. He blackmailed a soused Nikki into eloping with him in December, but she had her last drink on Christmas Eve, vowing to stay clean. In 2012, a police investigation proved Nikki had "killed" Diane in self-defense, so she annulled her marriage to Deacon and got sober.

Just before a tribute to Katherine on the one-year anniversary of her death, Nikki surrendered to her demons. She started attending AA meetings to get a handle on her drinking, but soon ended up in an out-of-the-way bar, where she found a new drinking buddy, Stitch’s mom, Maureen (Meredith Baxter). Soon, Nikki was drinking in secret. Paul witnessed Maureen giving Nikki a bottle of vodka, and Nikki insisted that she was still abstaining, but eventually confessed to Paul she had been drinking. Paul urged Nikki to be honest with Victor, but she lied to him instead, claiming to be attending AA meetings again.

Nikki had a setback when she found out that Victor planned to raze the warehouse district, which included Crimson Lights, in the name of development. An inebriated Nikki dropped baby Katie but blamed it on her MS. Soon, Neil and Nikki commiserated about their troubles over drinks. When Nikki attended a party at The Underground, she covertly drank. Victor realized she was drunk just as the roof of the bar caved in. Everyone made it out alive but safely back at the ranch, a brazen Nikki swallowed down a drink in front of her kids. She sobbed about backsliding and promised to get help. Nikki picked up a drunk Neil and when he found out that she was driving them to an AA meeting, he grabbed the wheel. Their car struck a pregnant Christine, who miscarried. Nikki's friends and family, including Summer (then-Hunter King) and Victor (Eric Braeden), staged an intervention, and Nikki agreed to seek treatment. After getting out of rehab, she relapsed, but when her MS flared up, she vowed to get sober again.

Nikki fell off the wagon again due to the stress of Victor's trial for replacing Jack with a look-alike. When Victor went to prison, Nikki spied an unfinished glass of whiskey at the GCAC bar and finished it. She stumbled outside in front of a car and was only slightly injured, but she hid away because of the bruises on her face. Nikki did get sober again and when grandson Reed was arrested for driving under the influence, she warned him that he could have a possible predisposition to addiction.

Nikki whacked J.T. (Thad Luckinbill) on the head when he attacked Victoria (Amelia Heinle). They were horrified that J.T. was dead — or so it seemed at the time ‚ and, with Phyllis and Sharon’s help, buried his body. Nikki started drinking to cope with the stress of concealing J.T.’s "death". While driving in a snowstorm, Reed struck a tipsy Niki, who was hospitalized with serious injuries. Nikki accepted her part in what happened and got clean, successfully holding onto her hard-won sobriety until 2023, when Claire and Jordan took her hostage and pumped her with vodka.