The Young and The Restless Storylines - Jill Vs. Kay

Jill Vs. Kay

One of the show's first longest running storylines was the rivalry between a young manicurist Jill Foster Abbott (Brenda Dickson, Jess Walton) and wealthy socialite, Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper). Cooper was introduced by Bell when the ratings were low; the storyline between Jill and Kay became popular, so Bell decided to exploit this popularity by crafting a storyline putting her against Jill.

Jill went to work as Kay's manicurist and assistant to help her struggling family pay the bills. Kay was a boozy matron trapped in a loveless marriage to Phillip Chancellor II (John Considine later Donnelly Rhodes). Jill and Phillip fell in love, but in 1976, after he returned from obtaining a divorce in the Dominican Republic, Katherine picked him up at the airport, and in an attempt to kill both Phillip and herself, drove the car off a cliff. On his deathbed, Phillip married Jill and bequeathed her and their love child his fortune. At first, Kay offered Jill $1 million for the baby, but ended up getting a judge to declare that Jill and Phillip's marriage was illegal since Kay was drunk when signing her divorce papers. Since Jill nor her son had any rights to an inheritance, the baby was legally given the name "Phillip Foster" instead of "Phillip Chancellor III". As a result of the ruling, an embittered Jill became a vixen and the two ladies began an intense rivalry, blaming each other for the death of Phillip II.

First, they fought over beautician Derek Thurston (Joe LaDue) in the late 1970s. In 1982, Jill married tycoon John Abbott (Jerry Douglas), but within a few years later, Kay seized the opportunity to break them up after obtaining photos of Jill's one-night-affair with John's son Jack (Terry Lester; currently Peter Bergman); John suffered a stroke after seeing those images and divorced Jill. The two ladies also fought for custody of Phillip Foster (Thom Bierdz) in the late 1980s, with Kay being awarded temporary custody without the right to adopt. Eventually, Kay arranged for his name to be legally changed to Phillip Chancellor III.

In the 1990s, after Phillip III died from a car crash, and after Jill's second marriage to John ended, the two ladies went back to court when some of Phillip II's documents were found in the Chancellor mansion attic; the judge declared that Jill owned half of the Chancellor estate. Jill and Kay fought over this new arrangement as well as Jill's son Billy (David Tom/Ryan Brown/Scott Seymour/Billy Miller) dating Kay's granddaughter Mackenzie "Mac" Browning (Ashley Bashioum/Kelly Kruger/Rachel Kimsey/Clementine Ford).

In 2003, the Jill-Kay rivalry changes forever. Liz Foster, afflicted with a near-terminal illness, informs Jill that she was adopted. After much investigation, it is revealed that Kay is Jill's biological mother. Learning the truth on their wedding night, Billy and Mackenzie have their marriage annulled (since they are biological first cousins). Since then, Kay and Jill have made peace and formed a genuine (though sometimes contentious) mother-daughter bond. Their relationship even managed to survive and grow stronger even after the 2007 revelation that Jill's son with Phillip II was switched at birth by Kay. A series of DNA tests revealed that new Genoa City resident Ethan "Cane" Ashby (Daniel Goddard) was Jill's son and the mild mannered Aussie helped Jill and Kay come to grips with their feud and the events of the baby switch. Family and friends grew concerned when Katherine began suffering from "senior moment" and, later in 2008, they began to suspect she was drinking again. In fact, it was Marge Cotrooke (Kay's doppelganger) who was drinking and Katherine's cagey behavior was due in part to protecting Marge's secret while supporting her recovery. Everyone believed Kay died in a serious car accident but Marge was actually killed. Jill was devastated by the loss of her mother, admitting openly that she loved her former rival. The real Kay lost her memory, assumed Marge's life as a waitress and was later kidnapped until she was rescued and reunited with her family.

Jill remained suspect of Katherine, even after she returned, thinking that it was really Marge trying to con the family. DNA results proved that the woman claiming to be Katherine was not related to Jill, starting a series of events that dramatically reshaped the Chancellor family. In 2009, the true paternity came to light that Jill was, in fact, not Kay's biological daughter. This reignited the feud and helped Billy and Mac rekindle their love for each other. Kay's senior moments were revealed to be caused by lime disease which also caused her to imagine the whole baby switch. The true Phillip Chancellor III returned, revealing that he sent Cane to Genoa City to heal Jill and Kay’s pain. Phillip III revealed that he faked his death to hide the fact that he was gay. Phillip stayed in Genoa City for a short time to try and rebuild his relationship with his son (Chance), Nina and mother.

Later, Jill helped Katherine track down her real long-lost child. Mogul Tucker McCall was revealed to be Katherine's biological son even though Kay thought she had given birth to a daughter. Tucker had hatched a plan to take over Chancellor Industries while Katherine and Jill were preoccupied with their search for Katherine's daughter. As a result, Katherine lost her company and partially blamed this on Jill who was sleeping with Tucker. Tucker and Katherine have since started to develop a relationship while Jill and Katherine remain at odds.