Diane Jenkins in THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS was first introduced in 1982 but finally met a tragic fate in 2011. Originally played by alex donnelly, the role was then taken over by Suzanne Walter in 2001, but it was Maura West who portrayed Diane for just under a year when she was murdered in 2011. However, when Diane turned up alive and well in March 2022, it was Walters who was back in the role. If you’re not sure who she was or just need a refresher on her story Y&RWe’ve got you covered!
Diane Jenkins hoped that sleeping with Jack Abbott would help her become a top model at Jabot, and since they continued their affair even after he married Patty Williams, she was able to blackmail her way into the job. Although Patty miscarried Jack’s baby after she spotted him having sex with Diane, out of spite she decided to stay married to the guy.
Eventually Diane Jack gave up and started dating Detective Andy Richards and they even got married. But she got bored with him and restarted her affair with Jack. Assuming he would propose, she divorced Andy in preparation, but was disappointed when Jack couldn’t commit. She went to Europe in 1984 but returned in 1986 hoping to rekindle things with Andy. Unfortunately he was happy with Farren Connor so she left.
In 1996 Diane returned to Genoa City as an architect and again spent time with Jack. Old feelings returned and they were engaged. Seeking revenge on Jack, Victor Newman stole her and he and Diane married. She was bitterly disappointed to learn that Victor had a vasectomy and couldn’t give her a baby, but then he divorced her anyway to remarry Nikki on her deathbed.
Landing a board seat at Newman Enterprises in their divorce settlement wasn’t enough for Diane, who planned to steal Victor’s sperm from the lab and still have his baby. After the birth of Christian Victor Newman, Diane was shocked when a DNA test proved he wasn’t Victor’s child! Diane later renamed her son Kyle and learned that Jack was his real father. He fought for custody but lost after Phyllis screwed up her testimony at the hearing. Determined to get Jack back, she moved into Abbott’s pool house and trained with his wife, Phyllis Summers. After the pool house burned down and Diane barely survived, Phyllis was the prime suspect, but it turns out Diane staged it all. This helped Jack and Phyllis get custody of Kyle, but he eventually returned the boy to her, and Diane left Genoa City with her son.
Diane returned again in 2010 hoping Jack could meet his son. She slept with Tucker McCall and then began a short-lived affair with Nick Newman. Victor put an end to that and married Diane himself, but that too ended abruptly when he reunited with Nikki. Diane teamed up with Adam Newman to defeat Victor but when that failed she turned her back on Jack but he didn’t want anything romantic to do with her.
Desperate to get out of town, Diane sent Kyle to Switzerland under an alias and then attempted to extort money from Victor. When that failed, she tried Ashley, who simply punched her. After Diane mass-texted everyone who wronged her, she was found murdered in the park. After much investigation, Nikki Newman confessed to killing her in self-defense, but later her then-husband, Deacon Sharpe, admitted he hit her a further number of times before disposing of the body and disposing of evidence.
Shockingly, Diane resurfaced very much alive and well in March 2022 and approached Allie about buying the home that had belonged to her late father, Keemo! She was also the one who wrote Jack and brought him and Allie together in Los Angeles. Jack was stunned to see her alive again and refused to believe Diane’s claims that she was only trying to help. She explained that everyone in Genoa City hates her and she feels the only way to escape is to fake her own death. With Deacon’s help, she used a corpse from the morgue and paid the right people to escape. But leaving Kyle behind broke her heart and she begged Jack to help her reach her son now.
Diane then ignored Jack and traveled to Genoa City to check into the Grand Phoenix under an assumed name. Kyle was stunned to learn his mother was really alive, and along with Jack, he was one of the few willing to believe Diane’s claims that she had reformed. Nikki refused to give her another chance and Phyllis argued so badly with Diane that Jack dumped her! Diane decided to settle back close to her family and convinced Kyle to give her a job in PR at Marchetti so they could work together. But has she really changed?
Keep watching to find out what happens next!
