Christian Andrew Newman in THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS is an adorable little boy currently played by Alex Wilson, but his young life is already filled with drama. Since his birth, his paternity has been a bit complicated, and newer viewers may be wondering why both Adam and Nick believe they are the boy’s father. Born to Adam and Sage Newman, Christian had quite a few different parents in his young life. Heck, the kid was presumed dead too! Let’s start at the beginning and see if we can’t make it all make sense…
When Sage became pregnant, she wasn’t sure who her baby’s father was. She hoped it was Nicholas Newman, but she had slept with Gabriel Bingham during a temporary separation. After marrying Nick, Sage took a paternity test and Nick was furious when he found out she had a one night stand with Gabriel. But after he calmed down, they reconciled and agreed to raise the child together.
But after Gabriel was revealed to be Adam Newman, who had come back from the dead with a new face, Nick was devastated, and a distraught sage went into premature labor in Chancellor Park. Adam helped deliver the child and took her to the hospital, where Nick asked Sage to forgive him. Unfortunately, they were later informed that Christian had died. It was then revealed that Adam had bribed a lab technician to manipulate the paternity tests to show Nick as the father because he was pretending to be Gabriel and didn’t want to be exposed. Victor was disgusted by Adam’s actions but agreed to keep the secret so as not to hurt Nick or Chelsea.
However, Christian was not actually dead, but was handed over to Sharon, who had miscarried while a patient at Fairview Psychiatric Facility. Her doctor led her to believe that she never lost her baby and gave birth to this one instead. Dylan McAvoy was thrilled to be a father, and he and Sharon decided to name the child Sullivan “Sully” McAvoy after an old war pal of his.
Sharon and Sage learned the truth about the baby swap, but when Sage died in a car accident, Sharon decided to continue raising Christian as Sully. But eventually the truth got out (thanks to Patty who couldn’t wait to chat!) and Sharon tearfully confessed the truth to Nick and begged for a chance to tell Dylan the truth himself. Dylan was heartbroken and said goodbye to his “son”.
Meanwhile, Adam had become close to Chelsea Lawson and confided in her that he was Christian’s real father. After Sage’s death, she left Adam a letter thanking Adam for rigging the test results and asking him to never tell Nick the truth. After Adam’s death in a blast, Chelsea became friends with Nick, and then even more so as a romance developed.
When Chelsea was caught embezzling money, she decided to leave town and almost took Christian with her, but left him at the last minute to stay with Nick. Sadly, Nick was devastated to learn the truth that Adam really is Christian’s father, but he continued to raise the boy he loved so dearly as his own son. Things got even more complicated when Adam showed up alive and told Nick he wanted to take his boy back.
During the custody hearing, Adam played dirty, revealing Nick’s gaslighting of his father by disguising himself as JT and Nick fought back by bringing up Adam’s crimes, including killing Delia! In the end, the judge appointed Victoria Newman as Christian’s guardian and allowed Nick and Adam to supervise the boy. But as both men fought for custody, Nick appeared to be successfully arguing his case and Adam stepped aside. Connor Newman was living with them at the time and was going through some troubles that led him to lock Christian in the garage! Although the boy was shaken by the experience. Connor apologized and the boys made amends.
When Nick visited Summer in Milan in December 2021, he left Christian Sharon. And when Sharon was left alone after Rey’s death in May 2022, Nick suggested she could spend time with him and Christian whenever she wanted.
Look out Y&R to see how little Christian’s story unfolds!
