The Young and the Restless: The three faces of Diane Jenkins

Diane is a troublemaker

Alex Donnelly debuted as Diane Jenkins on The Young and the Restless in 1982. Susan Walters took over the role in 2001, and Maura West was portraying Diane in 2011 when she was murdered by Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott). Y&R fans were stunned when Walters recently reprised the role but she is in Los Angeles using a different name.

Diane was a troublemaker and her history in Genoa City was pretty sordid as she caused a lot of pain. She first set her sights on Jack Abbott ( Peter Bergman) and began sleeping with him in the hope of becoming a Jabot model. Their affair continued even after Jack married Patty Williams and Diane used this to blackmail her way into working for Jabot. Patty miscarried Jack’s baby after catching him in bed with Diane but remained married to him just to spite her rival.

Diane moved on by dating and marrying detective Andy Richards ( Steve Ford) but soon had another affair with Jack. She divorced Andy but Jack refused to make a commitment so she moved to Europe. When she returned a few years later she found that Jack was happy with Farren Connor, so Diane left Genoa City again in 1984.

Diane returns to Genoa City

She returned again in 1996 and this time Diane and Jack became engaged. Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) broke them up and married Diane who was shocked to find out Victor had a vssectomy. Victor later divorced her and married Nikki Newman ( Melody Thomas Scott) again because he thought she was dying.

Vengeful Diane stole what she thought was Victor’s sperm from a donor bank and gave birth to a son, she named Christian Victor Newman and was shocked when a DNA test proved he wasn’t Victor’s son. She renamed her son Kyle and soon it was revealed that Jack was the boy’s father. Jack fought for custody but lost because during the hearing the testimony given by Phyllis Summers ( Michelle Staffotd) hurt rather than helped.

Diane moved into the Abbott pool house and burned it down in the hope of framing Phyllis. This led to Jack and Phyllis obtaining custody of Kyle. Jack later gave his son back to his mother and Diane and Kyle left Genoa City. She returned in 2010 so that Jack could spend time with Kyle and get to know him.

Diane's alleged death

While in town Diane had sex with both Nick Newman and Tucker McCall. Victor married Diane again to keep her away from his son but left her a second time for Nikki. In her anger, Diane began working with Adam Newman Mark Grossman) to take down Victor, but their plan failed. Once again she turned to Jack but he rejected her.

Diane was found dead and it was at least six months before her murder was solved. Nikki finally admitted that she and Jenkins were fighting on a bridge and she hit Kyle’s mother in the head with a rock in self-defense. Waters has returned to The Young and the Restless but she is not in Genoa City. She is in Los Angeles playing mind games with Jack's granddaughter and texting him anonymously.

The 3 Diane's today

No one had any reason to suspect that Diane was still alive so this has been very shocking and will stun Jack and the rest of Genoa City as it has Y& R fans. In addition to The Young and the Restless Alex Donnelly was in the films Cruel Intentions 2 and Human Instinct. Maura West has been portraying Ava Jerome Cassadine on ABC's General Hospital since 2013 and Susan Walters had roles on the CW series The Vampire Diaries and One Tree Hill. Be on the lookout for updates related to what will happen next with Diane Jenkins.