Presumed Dead: Where Has Diane Been on The Young and the Restless?

If you were The Young and the Restless’ Murphy, and you fished a woman who had been submerged underwater for what looks like days, and she wasn’t breathing, wouldn’t you assume she was dead? And if you were Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) and you had fought with the woman and pushed her into the water, wouldn’t you have assumed you had killed her? And if you were Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) and you saw Nikki push Diane into the water and decided to help out by giving Diane a couple more knocks on the head for good measure, wouldn’t you also assume you were responsible for her death?

The Young and the Restless: Unwelcome Surprise

Well, the joke is on you all! Diane (Susan Walters) is apparently still alive. We’re not even wondering how at the moment. All we’re wondering is: Why?

Y&R: Mommie Dearest

Diane had a lot of less than lovely qualities. She lied, she schemed, she slept with married men, she stole sperm. But, here’s the thing: Diane loved her son. Whether she was calling him Christian, after the man she thought was his father, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), or changing it to Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor), once she learned the real Daddy was Jack, Diane was devoted to her son… so why would she abandon him for over a decade?

Young and the Restless: Fearing For My Life

True, Diane made a lot of powerful enemies when she lived in Genoa City. The aforementioned Victor, Jack, Nikki, oh, and Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) do all play dirty, and it’s not unreasonable for Diane to have feared for her life. We believe she’d have faked her death to get away from them – but she’d have found some way to be with Kyle (especially since Jack shipped the boy off to live with Diane’s parents. So now we have to ask… has Kyle known his mother was alive all along? Now that would be a heck of a story!

The Young and the Restless (YR) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Genoa City, check out all the latest that’s been posted on Y&R spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.