It’s All Relative: Is Y&R’s Victor Newman Like His Own Dad?

Whenever anyone on The Young and the Restless dares call Victor Newman out on his latest bad deed, Victor sternly reminds them that he grew up as a poor, sad boy in an orphanage, abandoned by his mother, and abused by his father. You are blaming the victim here, you got that? But is Victor more like his dead old dad, Albert Miller, than Victor would like to admit — especially to himself?

Victor Newman: Not At All

A last-pace 13% just don’t see it. Albert (George Kennedy) hit his son and his son’s mother. And when Victor (Eric Braeden) tracked the monster down, he refused to acknowledge how wonderful Victor was now, and continued treating him like he was nothing. He also yelled at Victor.

Victor likes to be the one to do the yelling, thank you very much. Victor never yells at his children. And he certainly never makes them feel like they’re nothing. Whenever Victor does conspire to make one of his kids “hit rock bottom” (his words, not ours), it’s for their own good. Would Albert ever be so generous?

From a Certain Y&R Point of View

An almost equal 15% of you are less confident of the answer. On the one hand, it seems like Victor is a pretty awful parent. But, on the other, everyone around him keeps saying what a good parent he is. What are we supposed to think?

Young and the Restless Mind Games

A majority 72% of the audience, however, has no doubts. Victor is just as bad as Albert. He may not hit his kids — but that’s a pretty low bar. He undermines their self-confidence, he uses them as pawns in his own power games, and he makes his love conditional. If they disagree with him, he cuts them out of his life. If they agree, he makes it clear their sound judgment is a testament to his parenting. Victor is a bully. Just like Albert.

The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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