While several actors have portrayed the character, Christel Khalil currently plays Lily on The Young and the Restless (which might just have the best name of any soap opera). But is Lily departing the beloved show?
Given that Y&R has been on the air since 1973, it’s a huge understatement to say that viewers have seen it all. Actors have taken time off and come back, played more than one character, and generally kept everyone guessing. Since we love seeing Lily navigate her wild life, we need to know if she’s going to stay on The Young and the Restless.
Will Lily leave The Young and the Restless?
Since Lily didn’t appear in a few episodes of The Young and the Restless, fans wonder if she left for good. The truth is Christel Khalil took a break from portraying her soap opera character because she was pregnant with Remy, her second son. According to Soaps.sheknows.com, she shared the news on Instagram in June 2023. Khalil and Sam Restagno, her fiance, looked thrilled with the good news. While Lily was in an episode of The Young and the Restless that aired in December 2023, she then took several months off.
Since so much happens in every episode of Y&R, fans are always certain that another actor is going to leave. Like Jill Abbott (Jess Walton), Lily has a full life that has included more ups and downs than your average person.
Lily came back to The Young and the Restless in March 2024 with a fun plotline involving Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei). There’s a humorous tradition of TV of actors hiding their baby bumps with large coats and, in some ridiculous cases, standing behind lamps or couches. But, of course, it’s also necessary to come up with a storyline to explain why a fan-favorite character is taking some time away from the main action.
In Lily’s case, she is shocked and scared that Mattie, her daughter, is dealing with a wildfire at her Northern California university. Lily decides to travel there, but then comes home to Genoa City.
Fans were stunned by Lily’s The Young and the Restless brief exit because she had become such a crucial part of the soap opera. After losing her mom, Lily falls in love with Cane Ashby (Daniel Goddard), and they get married… which only leads to a wild and out-there plotline that, of course, happens all the time on soaps. Lily even spends time in prison. Of course, we can’t forget Lily and Cane’s twins Charlie and Mattie, who they had thanks to surrogate Mackenzie Browning (Clementine Ford).
Fans have always wondered if Lily will leave The Young and the Restless because Christel Khalil didn’t want to be a recurring cast member in 2018. According to Soap Central, she said on Soap Opera Digest’s podcast that she was interested in a smaller role because she had a partner living in Toronto. This way she could see her now 13-year-old son, Michael, more and also focus on other parts of her acting career. She said it was the “best-case scenario where I get to kind of own my life again and have some more freedom to kind of live my life personally and professionally and then also be able to still kind of pop in [to Y&R] and say hi every once in a while.”
The Young and the Restless viewers were relieved when Lily became a regular cast member once again in 2020. When she returned in March 2024, Christel Khalil told TV Insider “people are going to see a different side of Lily.” We’re on board for whatever happens to this beloved character.
