On The Young and the Restless, Lucy Romalotti (Lily Brooks O'Briant) is making quite a mark on the lives of many Genoa City residents. Lucy’s version of the classic rebellious teenager may seem familiar, but her twisted family tree might make us wonder if there’s more to her behavior than meets the eye.
The young teen is the daughter of Daniel Romalotti and his wife, Heather, but she is also the granddaughter of Phyllis Summers and Sheila Carter.
Lucy’s biological mother on The Young and the Restless
Lucy came into the world under circumstances that were not the best. Her father, Daniel, had been drugged by a woman named Daisy Carter, and Lucy’s conception was against his will. Daniel didn’t want to be in a relationship with Daisy, but he thought he had no choice when he lost custody of his daughter and feared for her safety. Daniel proposed to Daisy, and they married; however, he never loved her.
When last seen, Daisy had checked into Fairview, a psychiatric hospital. She was mysteriously released and hasn’t been seen since, and Daniel and Heather raised Lucy. The person who signed Daisy's release form, however, was none other than her mother, Sheila Carter.
Of all the characters on The Young and the Restless, old and new, Sheila likely has the longest list of crimes. A crossover character, Sheila also wreaks havoc on The Bold and the Beautiful, where she currently appears regularly.
From hostage-taking to murders, Sheila has done it all—and she's committed most of her crimes multiple times. One would be hard-pressed to pick what Sheila's craziest idea was, but having plastic surgery to make herself look like Daniel’s mother, Phyllis Summers, is high on the list.
Phyllis Summers is Lucy's slightly better grandmother
Granted, Lucy's other grandmother is not the plastic-surgery-altered murderer that Sheila is, but Phyllis has her own issues. Phyllis has been a fairly good influence on her granddaughter, although Lucy lived most of her life outside Genoa City. However, Phyllis wasn’t always considered stable.
Genoa City residents met Phyllis when she was pregnant, claiming that superstar Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian) was the father of her child. She falsified DNA tests to "prove" paternity, breaking up Danny and Christine's marriage. When Danny found out the truth, Phyllis tried to run Christine down with a car.
Phyllis’ temper was often paired with physical altercations, and she didn’t hold back from slapping or punching whoever got in her way. A risk taker (to put it mildly), Phyllis found herself in many love triangles, although most of them involved her inserting herself, uninvited.
Phyllis’ crimes may have sometimes reached Sheila's level of crazy, but she is no longer as violent or unhinged…although she did copy something Sheila excels at and faked her own death.
Is Lucy the average teenager, or is it hereditary?
This year, Lucy began showing signs of becoming a rebellious teen. She started drinking and lying to her parents, and she wanted to befriend college-aged Faith Newman, Nick and Sharon's daughter.
Thinking Faith would think she was “cool,” Lucy showed Faith that she had sneaked alcohol into a concert they attended together. When Faith was unimpressed and scolded Lucy for underage drinking, Lucy asked Faith to lie and cover for her.
When Faith realized that Lucy’s attempts to hang out were getting awkward (and, dare we say, borderline obsessive), Faith backed off. She clearly explained to Lucy that she would be leaving for college soon and that Lucy should find kids her own age to befriend. Lucy reacted by drinking again, this time with a bottle she stole from a bar. Lucy again asked Faith to cover for her, but it resulted in a near-fatal accident.
While horrified at Lucy’s recent behavior and its fallout, Lucy’s mother, Heather, characterized her daughter as a typical teenager who makes these types of mistakes. But is there more to Lucy’s personality?
Lucy claims to have learned her lesson, but these could be early clues that she is prone to more manipulative, if not sociopathic, traits developing through her DNA. If that’s the case, viewers should buckle up.
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.
