Key Takeaways
- Victoria Rowell says she left The Young & the Restless after 17 years for “self-preservation and self-respect,” declaring that “enough is enough.”
- Rowell says resentment over co-creator Bill Bell’s support and accommodations for her outside roles fueled workplace hostility, including an alleged incident in which Michelle Stafford spat on and insulted her; Stafford disputes that account.
- Rowell later settled a lawsuit accusing CBS and Sony of retaliating against her advocacy for Black talent, and she has not returned as Drucilla despite recent Winters-family comebacks.
Victoria Rowell is opening up about the alleged mistreatment she experienced during her 17 years on The Young & the Restless, including an incident in which she claims a fellow cast member spat on her. In a recent interview with Carlos King, the actress revisited the behind-the-scenes tensions at the CBS soap and explained why she eventually decided she'd had enough.
Rowell, who played Drucilla Barber Winters from 1990 to 2007, traced some of the workplace friction to her relationship with The Young & the Restless co-creator Bill Bell, who she said openly supported her career.
“He was very vocal about his excitement about me joining the cast. That was the first issue,” Rowell explained.
According to the actress, Bell's support extended beyond the studio. She recalled being invited to his home and said the cast knew his appreciation for her work.
But Rowell said the situation became more complicated as she began landing roles outside daytime television.
“There was that, and then it was deemed that I had preferential treatment because I started booking features,” she recalled.
Those opportunities included working alongside Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey and Beau Bridges. Rowell also secured a regular role opposite Dick Van Dyke on Diagnosis: Murder, which she filmed while continuing to appear on The Young & The Restless.
She said at least one fellow actor and the actor's producer husband objected to the scheduling accommodations that let her pursue those projects.
“There was pushback from one of the actors and her husband who was a producer like, ‘this isn’t fair,’” Rowell said.
Despite the tensions, Rowell said she kept fulfilling her professional obligations.
“All I know is I do my job. I’ve never stopped doing my job. I will always do my job,” she said.
When King asked why she ultimately left the soap in 2007, Rowell made clear that walking away hadn't been her original intention.
“I didn’t want to [but] enough is enough and too much is foolish,” she said, adding that her decision came down to “self-preservation and self-respect.”
Rowell previously accused costar Michelle Stafford of spitting on her and verbally berating her during filming. In a 2015 interview, Rowell alleged that Stafford “spat on me on set, called me a ‘freak,’ then screamed, ‘no one here likes you.’”
Stafford, a white woman who portrays Phyllis Summers, has disputed Rowell's account. She previously maintained that the spitting occurred during a scripted comedic scene involving a “spit take,” rather than a deliberate act of hostility.
The dispute did not end with her departure. According to The Hollywood Reporter, in 2015, Rowell sued CBS and Sony, alleging that her advocacy for Black actors and behind-the-scenes workers led to retaliation and kept her from returning to the series. The lawsuit was eventually settled.
Rowell earned three Daytime Emmy nominations and multiple NAACP Image Awards for her portrayal of Drucilla, whose storylines were closely tied to Neil Winters, played by the late Kristoff St. John.
Her comments come as The Young & the Restless brings back several prominent characters from the Winters family's history. Earlier this year, Shemar Moore returned as Malcolm Winters, Neil's half-brother, alongside Vivica A. Fox, who reprised her role as Dr. Stephanie Simmons for the first time since 1995.
Their reunion introduced a major development for the Winters family when the series revealed that Malcolm and Stephanie are Holden Novak's parents, played by Nathan Owens. Fox initially planned an eight-episode comeback, but CBS expanded it into a six-month run.
While Moore and Fox have returned to Genoa City after lengthy absences, Rowell has not reprised Drucilla since 2007.
