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Jess Walton, best known for playing the bold and complicated Jill Abbott on The Young and the Restless since 1987, took a heartfelt moment on Mother’s Day 2025 to honor someone even more important in her life, her mom.
On May 12, 2025, Walton shared two personal photos on X with the caption:
"My mom was the sweetest person I’ve ever known. ❤️”
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The first image shows Jess smiling alongside her mother, both looking happy and close. The second is a vibrant throwback of her mom, surrounded by bright flowers and beaming with joy.
The post quickly resonated with fans who have followed Jess for decades, admiring her talent on screen and her openness off it.
While Walton turned Jill Abbott into an iconic character in daytime television, her work spans far beyond Genoa City. Before Y&R, she played Kelly Harper on Capitol, another CBS soap, where she tackled emotionally charged plots, including a story involving drugs that mirrored her own past struggles.
Her acting credits also include appearances in shows like Starsky & Hutch, Barnaby Jones, Ironside, The Rockford Files, and Kojak. She also starred in TV movies like You’ll Never See Me Again and Christmas with a View.
Inside Jess Walton’s run as Jill Abbott on The Young and the Restless
Jess Walton joined The Young and the Restless in June 1987, stepping into the role of Jill Foster Abbott after Brenda Dickson's controversial exit. Jill had been a major character on the show since its early years, but Walton’s portrayal took her in new directions.
Originally introduced as a manicurist turned gold digger, Jill evolved under Walton into a cutthroat businesswoman who never lost her edge. Her most famous rivalry was with Katherine Chancellor, played by Jeanne Cooper. Their feud spanned decades, filled with lawsuits, fistfights, love triangle sabotage, and even a toilet paper theft scene that fans still talk about.
One of Jill's most talked-about storylines during Walton’s tenure was her rocky relationship with John Abbott, played by Jerry Douglas. They married and divorced multiple times, with Jill’s scheming with Jack, clashes with Ashley, and manipulation at Jabot Cosmetics keeping her storyline constantly active.
Her son, Billy Abbott, whose father was later revealed to be John, became another key part of her emotional journey. Jill constantly struggled to balance control with love, often pushing Billy away while trying to protect him from self-destruction.
Jill also tangled with Victor Newman, Neil Winters, and the Chancellor family estate, especially after discovering she might be Katherine’s daughter—a twist that later turned out to be false.
Even with false starts and rewrites, Walton grounded Jill’s behavior in pain, ambition, and a hunger for validation. Her scenes with Katherine on The Young and the Restless were electric, and their rivalry eventually evolved into a messy but loving friendship before Katherine’s on-screen death in 2013.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Jill took a step back from the daily drama but returned for major arcs. She reappeared during the Chancellor Industries power shifts, threw herself into corporate wars, and often butted heads with Billy over business.
Her most recent storyline in The Young and the Restless had her furious at Billy for pushing Lily Winters out of her co-CEO role and trying to drag Phyllis into Chancellor’s orbit. Jill made it clear she wouldn't let the company spiral out of control and demanded Billy fix the mess he created.
Though Jess Walton began appearing less frequently in the late 2010s, she never officially left the show. Her appearances became more limited, partly due to her real-life preference to split time between Oregon and Los Angeles. Still, whenever Jill returns, it’s clear she hasn’t lost her bite.
She remains one of the last truly original characters still driving storylines on The Young and the Restless, and Walton’s performance continues to be one of the reasons longtime viewers keep tuning in.
Watch The Young and the Restless on CBS.
