Young and the Restless Star Melissa Ordway, Family Embrace A Radical Transformation

Fans thought that The Young and the Restless’ Melissa Ordway’s major change when she cut her hair short was her only transformation. But she’s got another incredible change coming that affects her whole family. She recently took to social media to begin documenting this fun transformation. 

Leaf it All Behind

Ordway, who’s been playing Abby Newman on Y&R since 2013, posted a video on Instagram with the caption, “We’re going #offgrid !!! 🪵⛺️. JUST KIDDING…but we are helping renovate a family cabin! Follow along with us on this journey! This is just the beginning! Can’t wait to see this #transformation. Let us know any ideas or suggestions you have to give this place a facelift!”

In the video, Ordway explained, “Our family bought a cabin up here in Hohenwald, Tennessee, and we are going to do before and after. We’re gonna transform this cabin and make it fabulous,” she stated, holding up an “okay” sign with her fingers. “Step one is cleaning. This place needs a lot of help. It’s very dirty.” A text overlaid on the video stated, “Aka – my mom scrubbed this whole place.” She continued, “I am doing all the cleaning myself,” which caused her to cover her mouth as she laughed. Probably her mom should have gotten most of the credit.

Fired Up

Ordway’s video then cut to a sped-up time-lapse sequence of her getting gloves and a mask on, and we saw her on hands and knees cleaning the perimeter of the room she was in, followed by a quick visual tour with sped-up voices sounding like Alvin and the Chipmunks. “So it needs a significant amount of work. But, it is so beautiful out here,” she said, adding, “It’s just so peaceful.” 

After taking a family break, we saw them setting up a fire pit. Ordway asked her husband, Justin Gaston, “How do you build a fire pit?” His response was, “I have no idea.” She asked if he had been in the Boy Scouts, and he stated he was, but “For one day. It’s too structured. I said, ‘Never again.’ ”

After another sped-up sequence, the fire pit was done, and they cooked bacon in a large cast iron frying pan and later made s’mores. As one of her daughters put a s’more together with Dad’s help, the girl stated, “That’s a goodie, folks.” (Join Ordway on a behind-the-scenes journey.)

Co-star Michelle Stafford (Phyllis) hilariously wrote, “I am so jealous. You have no idea.”