The Young And The Restless: Victor And Nikki Newman's Relationship Timeline
Perhaps the most popular and beloved couple in "The Young and the Restless" history is one of the most popular in soap opera history, too. The love story of Victor (Eric Braeden) and Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) has spanned the decades and withstood the test of time.
Sure, they have been married four times, but this is a soap opera, and marrying the same person four times is considered child's play, especially when compared to Ridge (Thorsten Kaye) and Brooke Forrester (Katherine Kelly Lang) on sister soap "The Bold and the Beautiful."
But the fact that they keep coming back together says something about their longevity.
Today, Victor and Nikki are the patriarch and matriarch of the large Newman family, with several children between them and grandchildren to boot. They sure have come a long way since a mysterious newcomer businessman arrived in town and walked into a strip club. Let's take a look at Victor and Nikki's relationship timeline.
Victor Newman meets a stripper and marries her
Victor Newman arrived in town married to Julia (Meg Bennett), but, when that union ended, he needed something to do with his time, so he frequented a strip club called The Bayou and became mesmerized by one of the young strippers, Nikki Reed. Victor and Nikki had a brief affair, and she ended up pregnant, but Victor was already engaged to someone else: Lorie Brooks (Jaime Lyn Bauer).
After Victoria Newman was born, it took a while for her parents to truly get it together, but, when they did, they wed in a lavish 1984 affair fit for a fairy tale — and Victoria was even the flower girl. It seemed like they would live happily ever after, but this is a soap opera, after all, and happily-ever-after is very hard to accomplish, especially when you're still considered a young couple.
Victor and Nikki meet the Abbotts
Too bad Victor and Nikki couldn't stay faithful to each other. When Victor met cosmetics heiress Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson), he was mesmerized. They started an affair and fell in love. Nikki was not about to take this lying down and entered into her own affair with Ashley's playboy brother, Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman).
Eventually, Nikki was diagnosed with cancer, but, after she was cured, she faked her illness so that Victor would stay with her. However, when he thought Nikki was involved with a tell-all biography about his life, Victor divorced Nikki just after she gave birth to their son, Nicholas Newman.
Much to Victor's surprise, Nikki married Jack Abbott, and they genuinely fell in love. She miscarried their first child, and their second was stillborn, which put a strain on the marriage, so it didn't last. But Neither did Ashley and Victor's marriage.
Victor and Nikki seem to marry everyone but each other
After Nikki married a doctor named Joshua Landers (Heath Kizzier) and Victor married a woman named Hope Adams (Signy Coleman), who gave birth to his son, Victor Adam, who now calls himself Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) as an adult, they finally made their way back to each other.
The 1990s gave them a second wedding and a third. The second was on Nikki's deathbed after she was shot. But, after she recovered, Victor gave her another lavish wedding. It seemed they had a second and third chance at love, but, like any good soap opera couple, they blew those chances.
Other affairs got in the way as Victor and Nikki could never seem to stay faithful to each other — but they couldn't stay away from each other, either. The two became engaged once again, but Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) conspired to break Victor and Nikki up and succeeded for a bit when he got the alcoholic Nikki to fall off the wagon.
Victor and Nikki marry for the last time
In 2013, after a series of other marriages and even some jail time for Victor for a murder he did not commit, Victor and Nikki wed one last time — and this one looks like it's sticking. Sure, Nikki learned about her long-lost son from her wild teenage years, Dylan McAvoy (Steve Burton), and Victor married Sharon Collins (Sharon Case), their former daughter-in-law who spent many years married to Nick, but that union was never meant to last.
For a while, Victor and Nikki, now active grandparents of young adults, decided they would have an open marriage, and Nikki had an affair with the much younger Arturo Rosales (Jason Canela). But Arturo ended up engaged (briefly) to Victor's daughter with Ashley, Abby Newman (Melissa Ordway).
In 2022, as of this writing, Victor and Nikki have stayed faithful to each other for about four years, which is certainly a record. They even remain more devoted than ever before.