Gloria Abbott Bardwell is a fictional character from The Young and the Restless, an American soap opera on the CBS network. The role was originated by Joan Van Ark on June 9, 2004, who portrayed the role until 2005, with Judith Chapman assuming the role on January 17, 2005. She is the mother of Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) and Kevin Fisher (Greg Rikaart). She is known for attracting troublesome men, and being quite troublesome herself. Gloria can be naive at times, always taking things to the extreme. Known for her over-the-top personality, she owned and operated Gloworm, the hottest Genoa City club, until it burned down.
Casting In March 2004, it was reported that former Knots Landing star Joan Van Ark would join The Young and the Restless as Gloria Fisher, mother of Michael Baldwin and Kevin Fisher. CBS reportedly wanted a "big name" star to tackle the role of Gloria. Van Ark debuted on June 9, 2004. By December, news broke that Van Ark had decided to leave The Young and the Restless because she was unaccustomed to the rigors of daytime television, including the long work days and the fast turnaround on scripts and production. Within weeks, the role was recast with Judith Chapman; Van Ark was last seen on January 7, 2005, and Chapman assumed the role on January 17, 2005. In March 2011, it was announced that Chapman had been taken off her contract and bumped to a recurring status.
In October 2014, it was announced that Chapman would appear as Gloria on the soap opera's sister series, The Bold and the Beautiful, with her scenes airing on November 20, 2014 (episode 6958). In September 2015, Chapman stated on her Facebook page that she had "no idea" whether or not she would ever be asked back to The Young and the Restless, writing that she personally believed she would never return. In November 2016, however, upon the installation of Sally Sussman as co-executive producer and head writer, Chapman was announced to be returning to The Young and the Restless the following month for an unspecified amount of time. Upon her return, the actress stated: "This is all such a nice surprise. I had truly made peace with the idea that I would never be called back to the show." She last appeared on October 1, 2018. In September 2020, it was announced Chapman would again reprise the role; she returned October 20.
Development Gloria is known for her larger-than-life personality. According to Chapman, "She makes gallons of lemonade when the world gives her lemons!" Chapman also admires Gloria's resilience: "Somehow she just keeps finding the bright things. She gets very depressed of course, but the universe keeps throwing her a bone. I love that about her; that she's willing to pick herself up by the boot straps. Even though her intentions and her judgments are often times misguided. Gloria is not a malicious person, but she will certainly take every opportunity to improve her lot in life!"
On October 21, 2014, Michael Logan from TV Guide reported that Chapman would cross over to The Young and the Restless''' sister soap The Bold and the Beautiful on November 20. Gloria will attend a Forrester fashion show, where she makes "a beeline" for Eric Forrester (John McCook), whom she previously met at Victor (Eric Braeden) and Nikki Newman's (Melody Thomas Scott) wedding in 2013. A show spokesperson commented, "expect some business talk and a little flirting."
Storylines
Backstory In the 1960s, Gloria Simmons was a naive 16-year-old girl living in Detroit, Michigan. She met the charming River Baldwin (Michael Gross) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and he dropped out of college to live in a hippie commune with Gloria. Then, Gloria got pregnant, and she gave birth to their son, Michael Baldwin (now played by Christian LeBlanc). River and Gloria became Vietnam War protesters, and River was accused of a bomb conspiracy that killed a janitor. In reality, River tried to stop the bomb threat, but he was forced to flee to Canada in order to protect Gloria and Michael. Thus, Gloria was left alone to raise her son for 10 years.
In the 1970s, Gloria still lived in Detroit with Michael, and she worked as a waitress at a diner. There, she met Tom Fisher. Gloria and Tom got married, and their son, Kevin Fisher, was born. Terrible Tom, as he soon became known, was an alcoholic who often took out his anger on the boys. When Michael was a teenager, he left home to escape Tom's wrath. Gloria was too afraid to stop her husband, and Kevin was often beaten and locked in closets by his father. When Kevin was old enough, he ran away from Tom, and he moved in with Michael. Both brothers ended up in Genoa City; Michael became a prominent lawyer, but both boys got into their fair share of troubles. Eventually, Kevin fled Genoa City, and he found Gloria in Detroit, living in the same apartment as before. Kevin's criminal activity followed him there, and Gloria accompanied him back to Genoa City when he was found with her. Reluctantly, Michael agreed to let Kevin and Gloria live with him.
2004–2018
Gloria arrived in Genoa City in April 2004. Soon Gloria enchanted the much older owner of Jabot Cosmetics, John Abbott, Sr. Gloria and John went on a cruise together, and they returned as a married couple. John's children, Ashley and Jack Abbott, disapproved of their new stepmother. The following year, Tom arrived in Genoa City. While investigating, Michael found out that Gloria never officially divorced Tom as Gloria believed he had died, invalidating her marriage to John. Tom blackmailed Gloria into stealing money from John, while she led him to believe that she was using the money for Michael's wedding to Lauren Fenmore. Tom and Gloria legally ended their marriage and she and John remarried in an official ceremony. Gloria went along with Tom's lie in order to prevent herself from being outed by him to John. Tom teamed up with an old accomplice, Sheila Carter, to take down Michael and Lauren on their wedding day. Eventually, John gunned down Tom in an alley after Tom and Sheila took Lauren hostage. During a struggle, Tom was killed and John later got into a car accident, where he lost his memory.
Though Ashley falsely confessed, John soon remembered what he had done and after confessing, was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing Tom. While John was incarcerated, Gloria, hoping to endear herself to her stepchildren, obtained a sample of "GloAgain," Jabot's latest skincare product, from Ashley. She tainted it, planning on catching the "mishap" just in time, before the product went out to the market, hoping she'd look like the hero. Unbeknownst to Gloria, however, Jack sent the samples of product out early to select Jabot customers, and a woman died from using the tainted skin cream. Katherine Chancellor, who was running Jabot in John's absence, blamed Jack for the tragedy, firing him from the company. Gloria became friends with Katherine and John's ex-wife, Jill Abbott. She moved Kevin into the Abbott Mansion, and both she and Kevin got jobs at Jabot. While John was in prison, Jack, Ashley, and Gloria found out that he was being over-medicated. While his father was not in his right mind, Jack convinced him to write a letter that wrote Gloria out of his will. Six months after his incarceration, John was due to be pardoned by the governor. Before he was released, he suffered a massive stroke, and he was left in a vegetative state. Before his health decline, John signed a DNR, and he died with his family and friends surrounding him in 2006.
Jack, still resentful over the circumstances that led to his father's incarceration, intentionally lied to Gloria about the time of the service, causing her to miss John's funeral. When Gloria, Michael, Kevin, and Lauren arrived and discovered that they'd missed the funeral, they held their own memorial, where Gloria eulogized John. Jack and Ashley were stunned to discover that Gloria received 50% of their father's fortune through his will. A prison chaplain came forward, and he gave a judge John's handwritten letter that wrote Gloria out of the will. Appalled, Gloria did not receive any of John's fortune through his final modification and she discovered that her divorce from Tom was never finalized, yet again invalidating their second marriage. Jack kicked Gloria and Kevin out of the Abbott Mansion and they were forced to move in with Michael and Lauren. Still, Gloria wasted no time moving on. She romanced district attorney William Bardwell, who recently inherited a fortune from his uncle's death. William was also recently widowed and he and Gloria met at a grief counseling session. Jill Abbott also pursued William, but Gloria schemed in order to win his heart. She then discovered that William was investigating the Jabot skin cream scandal and she quickly married him to throw him off in 2007. William soon admitted that he didn't receive his inheritance yet due to legality issues. When William discovered that Gloria tainted the skin cream, he loved her too much to turn her in. The stress of his decision affected his health. Suddenly, he had a stroke and Gloria went to turn herself in. William stopped her from throwing her life away but his condition worsened and he later died in 2007. After his death, Gloria received a letter that William's inheritance was finalized and she received $50 million. The truth about John's "modification" to his own will was revealed, and the judge's previous decision was overruled. Gloria received half of John's billion dollar fortune and she quickly went from rags to riches in no time at all. She threw an extravagant memorial service for William at the Genoa City Athletic Club, and William's twin brother, Jeffrey Bardwell (also played by Ted Shackelford), arrived for the service.
Jeffrey came to Genoa City, intent on getting his brother's money. When he discovered Gloria's secret about the skin cream scandal, he blackmailed her into marrying him. Gloria and Jeffrey moved back into the Abbott Mansion, but Jack and his then-wife, Sharon Abbott (Sharon Case), were also living there. The two couples shared the mansion but both intended on keeping it for themselves. With Jeffrey's help, Jack hired Alistair Wallingford (Jerry Douglas) to haunt Gloria due to his uncanny resemblance to John Abbott. In the end, Jack felt guilty and he and Sharon moved out of the mansion. Gloria felt guilty and she gave the mansion back to Jack. Gloria and Jeffrey moved into the Abbott pool house. While there, they admitted their feelings for each other and they had sex. Suddenly, Jeffrey filed for divorce, including half of Gloria's net worth, because they couldn't agree on her finances. Meanwhile, Gloria decided to donate half of her net worth to the Marksalogria Charitable Foundation. "Marksalogria" was an anagram for "Gloria's Karma." When she and Jeffrey were divorced in 2008, he received the other half of her fortune. Gloria was then left without a penny to her name. Gloria tried to find a stable job, but when Jeffrey saw how his ex-wife was living, he reconciled with her. Jeffrey also felt guilty about stealing Gloria's diamonds before their divorce.