While every job has some stress, starring on a soap opera seems particularly unnerving. You know that at any moment, your character could die or disappear, or another actor could replace you. If you’re on The Young and the Restless, you might always wonder if your days are numbered. Since Melissa Ordway started portraying Abby Newman in 2013, we bet she’s often thought about her possible exit.
If you love soap operas, you grow even more attached to the actors and characters than you do when watching sitcoms or dramas, since there are so many seasons and episodes. After watching where characters like Cassie Newman (Camryn Grimes) end up, we’re worried about Ordway. Are we going to be able to keep watching her on The Young and the Restless?
Did Melissa Ordway leave The Young and the Restless?
Ordway isn’t leaving The Young and the Restless (and Abby fans are sighing in relief). As is often the case with soap operas that have frequent cast shake-ups, though, viewers become concerned about her place on the soap opera every once in a while.
Ordway did leave The Young and the Restless for a little while, but it wasn’t because she was tired of playing Abby, or hoped her career would look different. According to Soaps.sheknows.com, she took some time away from her character in 2017 when she had her daughter, Sophia Jolie Gaston.
Being a Young and the Restless fan is a rollercoaster, though, and we don’t just mean following all the characters like Aunt Jordan (Colleen Zenk). In 2020, fans thought Ordway exited the soap opera because she shared on social media that she was living in Nashville. As Soaps In Depth reported, she explained that she and her family “still live in L.A.” but had a second property in Nashville. She said, “I’m still on Y&R. Thank God! I love the show and all the amazing, talented people I get to work with!”
While Ordway could go at any time depending on her character’s storyline, Abby is a staple of The Young and the Restless and seems pretty safe. The actress has starred in some other TV shows and movies, from the underrated and adorable CW drama Privileged to A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, but she’s been playing Abby for over a decade. Some actors have much shorter soap opera careers, so this must speak to Ordway’s talent and how much people love Abby’s romances and family drama.
It would be amazing if Ordway was on Y&R for another 10 years. As far as we can tell, she’s thrilled with her career path. We can agree that being a soap star seems pretty awesome since you get to play such over-the-top characters and you have steady work. According to Yahoo!, the actress shared a video of herself on The Young and the Restless set on Instagram and wrote in the caption, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”