Recently on The Young and the Restless, teenage Lucy Romalotti (Lily Brooks O'Briant) has been rebelling and dealing with stress by drinking. This led to a series of events involving Lucy drinking more, sneaking out, and telling many lies. Ultimately, her drinking landed Lucy and her friend Faith Newman (Reylynn Caster) in the hospital’s emergency ward.
The irony of Lucy’s drinking is that she has heard many examples of why it could negatively impact her life. Several Genoa City residents in Lucy’s small circle of friends and family have had their lives rocked by underage drinking.
The fate of Cassie Newman on The Young and the Restless
When Lucy’s father, Daniel Romalotti, was a teen, Cassie Newman had a crush on him. Cassie was the daughter of Sharon and Nick Newman and would have been Faith’s half-sister, but she died before Faith was born.
Similar to Lucy, Cassie wanted to hang out with older teens, and she began to rebel by skipping classes and lying to her parents. One night, Cassie sneaked off to a party where Daniel was drinking. When she found Daniel passed out in the back of a car, Cassie decided to drive him home.
Cassie crashed the car and died as a result of her injuries, and Daniel never got over the guilt. Cassie’s story has been retold many times on The Young and the Restless over the years, not only as a reminder to other teens in Genoa City to not drink and drive but as a message to viewers, as well.
The effects that Cassie’s death had on so many of the show’s characters are still seen to this day. Many current storylines are interconnected and filled with pain and blame that stem from that fateful night so long ago.
Summer Newman was drinking vodka as a teenager
Lucy’s aunt, Summer Newman, also rebelled as a teen. Underage, she was drinking vodka and partying. She was caught using a fake ID at the Underground nightclub. Summer’s best friend Fen, son of Michael and Lauren Fenmore, was partying with her. Fen also got involved with (and went to prison for) drugs.
Nick and Phyllis compared Summer’s behavior to Cassie’s and talked with their daughter. With the help of Summer’s brother Daniel, they shared how Cassie’s crush on an older boy and underage drinking led to Cassie’s death, and it seemed to resonate. Summer still pursued a relationship with Kyle, who was older than she was, but her reckless attitude toward drinking and partying settled down.
Faith Newman was underage drinking on The Young and the Restless
When Faith Newman was a young teen, she was hanging out with an older girl named Jordan, who was a bad influence on Faith. Jordan pressured Faith to sneak out alcohol so they could party together, and, wanting to be cool, Faith obliged.
When a story about her uncle Adam was published online, Faith was stressed. The exposé revealed how Adam had kidnapped Faith as a baby, and Faith was mortified at being the center of a family scandal. Cyberbullies attacked Faith, and then her supposed friend Jordan catfished her.
Nick had already tried turning Faith around by telling her what had happened to Cassie, but she continued to sneak out and was still drinking. Nikki tried to get through to her granddaughter, relaying her own experiences with alcoholism.
Life pressures got to be too much for Faith to handle, and she continued drinking as a solution. Ultimately, Faith left the house with a bottle of tequila and crashed a truck. The drinking-and-driving accident nearly took Faith’s life. She had broken bones and trauma to her kidneys, and she needed a kidney transplant to live.
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.
