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Y&R Yesteryears: Neil Winters Tuesday, July 08 2008

With Kristoff St. John having recently won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor, it is a great time to take a look at his Y&R character Neil Winters, and take a peek into his history on the show!

Neil Winters was an up-and-coming young executive at Jabot Cosmetics when he had a chance encounter at work with the new, rough-around-the-edges, Jabot model Drucilla Winters (Victoria Rowell). Drucilla, who was smitten with her sister Olivia's (Tonya Lee Williams) boyfriend, Nathan (Nathan Purdee), convinced Neil to accompany her on a double date with the pair. Neil promptly fell for Olivia, and both Dru and Neil pined for their respective crushes until Nathan and Olivia finally married. Neil and Drucilla turned to one another in their disappointment and wound up sleeping together. Neil fell hopelessly in love with Drucilla once he saw her dance ballet, and ultimately, Neil married Dru in the Chancellor Mansion. They had their honeymoon in Antigua.

Over the years, Neil's marriage faced many ups and downs. He battled with accepting his wife's decision not to have children, but was pleasantly surprised when she turned up pregnant with Lily. He was not so happy years later when it came out that his brother Malcolm (Shemar Moore) had slept with a medicated Drucilla when he was away on business, and that Lily was actually Malcolm's daughter.

During the years after Neil found out about the one-night stand and he and Drucilla were separated, Neil had affairs with Alex Perez (Alexia Robinson), Dru's sister, Olivia, and none other than Victoria Newman! Neil and Victoria became engaged when she was pregnant with Cole's child, and she and Neil decided they would raise the baby together. When the premature baby died, Neil and Victoria's relationship did not survive either, and the engagement ended. Neil and Victoria remain close to this day.

Another major event in Neil's life was his battle with alcoholism. When Dru took their daughter away to live in France, Neil faced the demons of alcohol. He became alienated from his family and friends, but eventually got clean and sober, and eventually Lily and Drucilla came home.

In more recent years, when a paternity test proved that Malcolm was Lily's biological father, and the truth became known to both Lily and Neil, he and Drucilla once again went through an estrangement. During this time, Neil became attracted to Carmen Mesta (Marissa Ramirez). Their romance caused a jealous Drucilla to go a little over the top - she cut up all of Carmen's clothes - but when Carmen wound up dead, Neil defended his wife and they got back together. It wasn't long after Neil's reunion with his wife that he lost her again, however, as she and Sharon (Sharon Case) took a tumble over a cliff at a photo shoot after arguing with Phyllis (Michelle Stafford). Drucilla's body was never recovered and she was assumed dead. Neil turned to the bottle once again in his grief, but this time the battle was short-lived as he realized he had a responsibility to Lily and their adopted son, Devon (Bryton McClure).

Neil is now a top gun at Newman Enterprises, sharing confidences with the likes of Victor Newman, and also runs his own nightclub, Indigo, where he indulges his love of jazz music. Neil is one of the most enduring and well-loved characters on The Young and the Restless.

Currently, Neil has become embroiled in an on-again, off-again, relationship with Karen Taylor (Nia Peeples), and much of his life revolves around the dramas with his children, including Lily's recent pregnancy and her struggles with school and a new career path.

Neil's latest drama, will unfold as he deals with the mystery of Devon's relatives appearing from out-of-the-blue. Aunt Tyra (Eva Marcille) and her daughter Ana (Jamia Simone Nash) will be bunking with Neil, and their agenda is far from clear. Will Tyra interfere in Neil's relationship with Karen? Will Neil fall for the attractive single-mom? Only The Young and the Restless's writers know for sure, but we hope it means more great dramatic material for Neil and his portrayer, Kristoff St. John!