Diane Jenkins on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS was first released in 1982. However, she was ultimately to suffer a tragic end in the year 2011. The character was initially the character was played by Alex Donnelly, but the role was later transferred to Susan Walters in 2001, however, the role was played by Maura West who was playing Diane for less than one year before she was killed in 2011. But when Diane returned in March 2022 and was resurrected in March 2022, it was Walters who returned to the role. If you’re unsure who she was, or want to refresh your knowledge of her background on the Y&R We’ve covered it all!
Diane Jenkins hoped that sleeping with Jack Abbott would aid her in becoming an elite model at Jabot as well. And because they continued to have an affair even after he had married Patty Williams, she was in a position to use blackmail to get into the position. While Patty had a miscarriage after discovering he was having sex with Diane She was able to keep her marriage to him because of her resentment.
In the end, after abandoning Jack, Diane began dating detective Andy Richards and they even got married. However, she became bored of Andy and began a relationship and Jack again. She was convinced that Jack would propose to her, and she ended her relationship with Andy as a prelude however she was disappointed that Jack was unable to promise to marry her. She went to Europe at the end of 1984 and returned in 1986 to rekindle the romance with Andy. However, he was unhappy in his relationship with Farren Connor, and she left again.
The year 1996 was when Diane was back in Genoa City working as an architect. She began to spend time with Jack again. The old feelings returned and they got engaged. Looking for revenge on Jack, Victor Newman took her away, and the two of them Diane became married. Diane was highly disappointed to discover that Victor suffered a vasectomy, and was unable to give her an infant. Still, the divorce was granted to marry Nikki in her final days.
The chance to get a seat on the board at Newman Enterprises in her divorce settlement was not enough for Diane she planned to get Victor’s sperm off the lab, and then get his child in the end. After the birth of Christian Victor Newman, Diane was stunned by the results of a DNA test that proved that he was not the child of Victor! In the following days, Diane renamed her son Kyle and found out it was Jack was his father. He fought for custody but lost when Phyllis was unable to stand her ground during the hearing. Determined to win Jack back, Diane relocated to the Abbott pool house, where she fought against his spouse, Phyllis Summers. The pool house was destroyed when it went up in flames and Diane barely made it through, Phyllis was the prime suspect and it turned out that Diane was the one who set everything up. This allowed Jack and Phyllis to obtain custody of Kyle and he eventually returned Kyle to his family, and Diane went to Genoa City with her son.
Diane returned to the scene in 2010 in hopes that Jack could meet his son. Diane was a slumber partner together with Tucker McCall and after that, she had a brief affair and Nick Newman. Victor stopped the relationship and eventually got married to Diane herself, however, it abruptly ended when he was once more married to Nikki. Diane joined forces with Adam Newman to get rid of Victor, however when they were unsuccessful, she reverted to Jack however, he didn’t want anything romantic with her.
In a desperate attempt to leave the city, Diane wanted to get out of town, Diane Kyle forwards to Switzerland with an assumed name. She, and then attempted to extort Victor to pay him money. If that didn’t work then she tried Ashley and she was beating her to death. After sending a massive text message to all who were wrong, Diane was found murdered in the park. Following a lengthy inquiry, Nikki Newman confessed to killing herself in self-defence. However, her husband, Deacon Sharpe, admitted that he had hit her several times, before disposing of the body and throwing away evidence.
In March 2022, it was shocking to discover that, Diane reappeared very much alive and well, contacting Allie regarding buying the house which was the home of her late dad, Keemo! It was also she who was messaging Jack and bringing her along with Allie to Los Angeles. Jack was shocked to see her alive and refused to believe Diane’s claim that she was just trying to assist. Diane told him that there was no one in Genoa City hating her, and she decided that the only way to get away was to lie about her death. With the help of the Deacon, they utilized a corpse found in the morgue and paid the right people to escape. But the thought of leaving Kyle at home hurt her deeply and she pleaded with Jack to assist her in reaching out to her son.
Diane did not pay attention to Jack and went towards Genoa City to check into the Grand Phoenix under an assumed name. Kyle was shocked to discover that his mother was alive and Jack was among the few who would believe Diane’s claims that she’d changed her ways. Nikki was not willing to give her a second chance and Phyllis was at odds with Diane enough that Jack quit her! In the end, deciding to live near her family once more, Diane convinced Kyle to offer her a position in the PR department at Marchetti to allow them to collaborate. However, Phyllis did the same with Summer and both women continued to fight at work, and even were fired!
Following the publication of an investigative journalist article that exposed her previous criminal activities, Diane was relieved to receive a call from someone telling her that they had destroyed the remainder of the series of news articles. She was then frightened when she received a second message from them, stating that they’d been to Genoa City! It turned out to be Tucker McCall, who pushed Diane to fulfil the deal and also spied upon Ashley to help his benefit. When the walls began closing in around Diane, Diane finally confessed to Jack that Tucker was calling her blackmail, and threatened to reveal her connections to a man called Jeremy Stark. She had been with Stark at a party in LA and fell in love with the man but was shocked to discover she was being used as a courier to funnel money. She was hoping she wouldn’t prove too difficult too much for Jack or Kyle to accept.