Eric Braeden Sets the Record Straight on Retirement and Clickbait

Eric Braeden, who celebrated 44 years on The Young and the Restless last month as Victor Newman, is setting the record straight. He’s going on the record about his future in Genoa City.

‘I’m Very Grateful to the Audience’

Braeden streamed on Facebook a video of himself from his backyard in Los Angeles so that he could let his followers know that he has no plans on retiring from acting on Y&R. “There are rumors every so often [about my leaving the show],” Braeden explained. “They serve as clickbait where someone announces I’m leaving. I’m not. I don’t ever intend to retire. Ever. To be frank with you, what the hell would I do? Start a new professional? Hardly.

“I’ll be 83 next month and am proud of it,” he says. “I’m not about to endeavor a new profession.” The accomplished actor hastens to add that “I could have. I’m very grateful to have entertained millions of people. I don’t want to become maudlin but that means a hell of a lot to me.”

Braeden also set the record straight on another myth during his Facebook live video. “Sitting here on a beautiful California evening, it gets rather chilly at night,” he reveals. “A breeze comes off the ocean.”

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The Newman family storyline has kicked into high gear with the arrival of Aunt Jordan (Colleen Zenk) and the revelation that Claire Grace is actually Eve Nicole Howard — Cole and Victoria’s daughter who was believed to have died at birth. Braeden gives kudos to the show’s scribes led by head writer Josh Griffith, for delivering the material and have “the hardest job of what we do.”

Braeden also gave kudos to his co-stars. “The actors in soaps work harder than in any other medium, harder than [in] theater, film, nighttime,” he says. “I have enormous respect for my fellow actors because we have to learn an inordinate amount of dialogue sometimes. Film actors have weeks or days to prepare. How’d you like an hour? We shoot an average of 100 pages a day.”

The Y&R veteran gave praise to Melody Thomas Scott (Nikki), and “that boy who plays my son, Adam — Mark Grossman, handles it like a champ.” Braeden also praised Peter Bergman (Jack) and Amelia Heinle (Victoria). “I’m very grateful to be working,” he adds. “We only exist because of ratings. Because a lot of you tune in. I want to say, ‘Thank you.'”