Melissa Ordway Off Contract As Abby On Young and the Restless

Melissa Ordway revealed that she’s off contract at The Young and the Restless as Abby. The news comes the same day that Abby married Devon to mark the 13,000th episode of Y&R.

Changes

Recently Ordway got a significant haircut, and she debuted it a bit ago. During an Ask Me Anything on her Instagram stories today, Y&R viewers asked when the new hair would show up in Genoa City. Ordway said that Abby would have a haircut when she and Devon (Bryton James) returned from their honeymoon.

In a follow-up question, someone asked what made Ordway choose to make such a dramatic change in her look. “Honestly, it’s been an interesting couple of months,” Ordway replied. The show decided to take me off contract, so I decided to change up my look a bit for auditions.

“Definitely not something I wanted, but I love and respect my Y&R family and appreciate any time they ask me back,” she finished.

In a later story, Ordway noted that she’d portrayed Abby on Y&R for 11.5 years. When a fan wanted to know what “off-contract” meant, Ordway explained the situation. “I’m still playing Abby. I’m just not guaranteed work and can work on other projects. I’m still part of the Y&R family, and I pray that they continue to let Abby be part of things in Genoa City. Trust me, I hope I’m still there all the time! I think they’re just focusing on other characters and storylines. But I worked today, and lots of fun stuff coming up.”

So far, there’s no word on what, if anything, this means for Bryton James, whose Devon is Abby’s new husband.

A Whole New Abby

Ordway took over the role of Abby, who was previously portrayed by Emme Rylan, on April 16, 2013. Rylan played Victor (Eric Braeden) and Ashley’s (Eileen Davidson) daughter from 2010-2013. Before that, Hayley Erin, who now portrays Claire, had been Abby from 2008-2010.