Remembering Classic Characters: Young & Restless’ Brad Carlton

Brad Carlton is one of the most iconic characters to ever grace The Young and the Restless screen. During his tenure in Genoa City, he was involved with some of the most beautiful and headstrong women in town.

Young Romance
Brad (Don Diamont) first arrived on the Genoa City scene in 1985 as the sexy Abbott family pool boy. He caught the eye of the youngest Abbott daughter, Traci (Beth Maitland), and the two soon became a couple, despite the best intentions of her frenemy Lauren (Tracey E. Bregman) and her sister Ashley (Eileen Davidson) to break them up.

The two were married twice, with the second marriage producing a daughter, Colleen Carlton.

During his second marriage to Traci, Brad was held captive in a cage by his unstable ex-wife, Lisa Mansfield. After he divorced Traci, Brad was tricked into marrying wealthy widow Cassandra Rawlins. He planned to divorce Cassandra, but she was tragically hit by a truck and killed, leaving Brad the sole heir to both her fortune and estate.

Sister, Sister
Brad eventually began a relationship with Traci’s sister, Ashley Abbott. When they married, he adopted her daughter who was given his last name, Abby Carlton.

Ashley was pregnant with Brad’s child, but she tragically lost the baby in a car accident. The two later split and he went on to marry Victoria Newman.

Brad was also involved in relationships with Lauren Fenmore, Jill Abbott, Diane Jenkins, Olivia Winters, and Nikki Newman.

Brad’s prominence in the business world came through his marriage to Traci Abbott and his affiliation with the powerful Abbott family.

In a storyline told almost 20 years after the character’s debut, Brad was revealed to be George Kaplan. He assumed his Brad identity of a friend who died in an accident in order to hide from the people who had killed his family.

Tragic Death
After Sharon’s marriage started to fall apart, Brad reached out to her and attempted to seduce her.

He followed Sharon (Sharon Case) to Jack’s cabin where he apologized and explained how much he still loved her, but she said she didn’t care for him that way.

He left the cabin, and on the way home, he found Noah Newman, Sharon’s son, drowning in a lake after falling through ice. He managed to pull Noah out of the water and back onto the ice, but he tragically fell in himself. Brad was later swept under the frozen lake by the current, never to be seen again on The Young and the Restless.

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