A Throwback Soap Rivalry: The Young and the Restless Katherine and Jill, Read more here--->>
Katherine Chancellor versus Jill Foster that's where it all began. This epic rivalry transcended actresses, regimes, decades and millenniums. Name any soap rivalry and this one was just as good if not better. This was soap gasmic. There were several actresses who played Jill. But Brenda and Jess were/are Jill, in our opinion, (more so than the other also very talented actresses). Both actresses had different demeanors. Both equally talented and each brought a different vibe to the rivalry. And both so good. The one thing that always stood out to me during their countless fights/arguments between Katherine and Jill was Jeanne's hands always flailing all around with those "rocks" on her fingers. Just my own personal memories. LOL. We won't detail every single moment of this tale for brevity's sake. But we gonna get more than enough in. Let's Geaux!
Let's be honest what is the thing a lot of women fight about? Yep, men. That's what started this rivalry, fueled it and many times it continued over a man. But this rivalry also had; children, money, power, position, and some OMG moments. Let's begin by saying Katherine and Phillip Chancellor's marriage was already in trouble when Jill came on the scene. Our beloved Katherine was hardly a saint. She was an alcoholic and was known to "partake" in a stable boy or two. Katherine chalked her appetite, for the younger men, up to Phillip working too much, dealing with her age, her estranged relationship with her son Brock. So, basically, she wasn't a happy camper and neither was Phillip. An already shaky marriage when Jill blew on the scene.
Katherine befriended her manicurist, Jill, and they became friendly. Katherine hired Jill as her personal companion. Katherine also employed Jill's mother, Liz, who was also Katherine's maid. Katherine and Jill became more than employer and employee. Jill supported Katherine in her struggle with her addiction. Katherine continued to struggle and her marriage continued to suffer as a result. Jill, from meager means, was drawn to what Katherine's life had to offer. Jill had dreams of a bigger, better life. Being at the Chancellor mansion gave her a taste of that life. She spent more time at the Chancellor mansion which meant she saw Phillip more and more. Phillip and Jill grew close, very close. You could say too close. Phillip told Jill that no matter how he felt about her he wouldn't leave his wife. When Katherine witnessed a close moment between her hubby and Jill it snapped her into reality. She needed to get it together or she was going to lose her husband. She started going to AA and started keeping tabs on them, bugging them. Jill did start to feel guilty and she planned to leave. But her and Phillip's goodbye moment turned into a HELLO moment and they had sex with Katherine watching. Whew Chile.
Katherine had to think quick. She had her son Brock, who was interested in Jill, propose to her. It worked they got married! But Jill was pregnant (the baby was Phillip's Brock and Jill hadn't consummated the marriage) and that changed everything for Phillip. He told Katherine he wanted a divorce. Katherine fell off the wagon. When she signed the divorce papers she was drunk. Phillip anxious to start his new life with Jill flew to the Dominican Republic for a quickie divorce. Katherine wasn't ready to give up. She picked up Phillip from the airport and tried again to convince him to give their marriage another try. Phillip was like; "I said, no". Katherine rounded a curve, hit the gas pedal hard and there was that video of them riding off that cliff captured in infamy. Epic. Epic. Epic. Katherine survived her critical injuries. Phillip and Jill were married but it was on his death bed. Phillip didn't survive. And that ladies and gents is what started it all. Jill would accuse Katherine forever and a day of killing the man she loved. And Katherine would always remind her Phillip's was hers first. Such good stuff.
Jill had Phillip's son, Phillip Chancellor III. Katherine tried to buy him for a million dollars. Jill said, "Here is what I'm going to do, I'm going to sue you for half of Phillip's estate." Katherine said, "Try it." She had Jill and Phillip's marriage annulled halting any inheritance by Jill because her and Phillip's divorce papers were signed when she was drunk. In retaliation, Jill set alcohol around the estate and tried to drive Katherine crazy. Those were the days!
The next man they fought over was cosmetologist, Derek Thurston. Jill loved him and wanted to marry him. That was all Katherine needed to hear. She lured Derek with her wealth and married him for no other reason but to stick it to Jill. Katherine did fall in love with him. But he was in love with Jill. His crazy ex-wife, Suzanne Lynch came to GC and drugged Katherine which drove Katherine to the sanitarium. Katherine was thought to have died in a fire while there. Jill and Derek thought they had Katherine's money and each other. Now that was only until an alive Katherine showed up at their wedding. Katherine took her money and her man back. She and Derek divorced later on.
Next man up, John Abbott, Katherine's best friend. John and Jill fell in love and were married. You know how much Katherine hated Jill being with John. This might be one of my top five storylines ever on Y&R. Jack, John's son, and Jill went up the hill to fetch much more than a pail of water when Jill was married to John. Epic. Epic. Epic. Katherine got her hands on negatives of Jill and Jack. And what did she do?! Did she go over to her bestie and hold his hand and gently break the news. Heck no, this is when Y&R was nevermind....Katherine Chancellor had the pictures made into a puzzle. A p-u-z-z-l-e! And sent it to John. Yes, John and Katherine were very good friends. But Katherine "hated" Jill so she was serving her revenge ice cold and John was collateral damage. John put the puzzle together and had a stroke. OMG. We could stay here all day. But we must move on.
Jill wasn't exactly a perfect mom, not that one exists. One could say her men, money, power, and revenge kept her from being the best mom she could have been. Katherine fought Jill for custody of Phillip. Things got ugly during that custody battle and every truth exposed. Katherine won temporary custody without the right to adopt. Katherine and Jill fought over Phillip constantly.
Another favorite pawn in this rivalry was Rex Sterling. Who sees a "bum" on a park bench and says, "Yeah I'm gonna clean him up, set up my arch-rival to fall in love with him and he will mess her life up?" Jill that's who! That was soapy enough. But then that "bum" turned out to be Brian Romalotti, an ex-con, and father of Danny and Gina Romalotti. Jill thought she had the perfect plan. But Rex really fell in love with Katherine. And even when Katherine found out the plan she loved him so much she forgave him. And they got married. We loved us some Rex and Katherine. It was past time Katherine had someone who really loved her. Katherine and Rex made it through doppelganger Marge, Rex "marrying" Jill, and his relationship with Leanne Love. But it was Esther's con man, Norman Petterson, trying to break into the safe at the Chancellor mansion that shot and killed Rex. SIGH.
Remember when Katherine took Jill in after she divorced John (again)? One day feeling nostalgic Jill went through boxes in the attic. She found a deed signed by Phillip from all those years ago. The deed gave Jill the Chancellor Estate. Jill wasted no time in bringing Katherine to court for what she felt was overdue for her. Jill won half the estate. She had half and Katherine had half. It was a whole disaster. The tension and constant battling between the two almost drove Katherine back to the bottle. It made me want to drink. LOL. Instead of drinking, Katherine almost committed suicide, ran into the night and ended up lost on the streets. But this actually was for the best. Because it was then that Katherine met a homeless girl, who we would all come to know and love as Katherine's granddaughter, "Mac", Mackenzie.
Next up is the "mother" of all storylines. To be honest, this wasn't exactly one of my favorite storylines but most definitely a memorable one. We knew something was amiss when all of a sudden Liz showed up in Genoa City. Liz, unfortunately, needed brain surgery and she couldn't go under the knife without unburdening her soul. Poor Jill. You find out your mom needs brain surgery and then you find out you are adopted. Double Whammy. The third one would come soon. Jill went on a mission to find her parents. Liz told her all she knew was that Bill (who Jill thought was her father) brought Jill home in a blanket. That was not much to go on but Jill was determined. Jill's search initially led her to Charlotte Ramsey. But Ms. Ramsey was lying. She couldn't have children so there was no way she could have been Jill's mother. But she knew who was.
Long ago when Katherine was married to her first husband, Gary, he took Brock to Europe for a year when Katherine and Gary were separated. During that time Katherine slept with and got pregnant by her husband's friend, Arthur Hendricks. Charlotte agreed, for a price, to bring the baby to be adopted. And Charlotte used her own name to protect Katherine. It was a ride with some twists and turns but in the end, Katherine was Jill's bio mother. Say what?! Katherine literally had a stroke when she realized it (we almost did too.) Jill went a bit off her rocker as well. Katherine and Jill both dealt with the life-altering earth-shaking news each in their own way. Jill had extravagant plans to renovate the Chancellor estate to make it her own. When Katherine saw the demolition crews that was the last straw. The weight of everything came crashing down and after twenty years Katherine started drinking again. It took her loved ones, visions from a dead Rex and a "dead" Phillip III, and a stint at rehab but Katherine would return to sobriety.
If you can believe it, things got even crazier. We found out that the combo of drinking and shame had Katherine to suppress a decades' long memory of her switching Phillip III for another baby. So that meant Phillip wasn't dead. He was really Cane. But he wasn't really. Cane was a fraud sent to GC by the real Phillip who was still alive. So did Katherine switch the babies? No lies y'all, I can't remember. Anybody remember? Hit me up if you do. And also during another time when Katherine was faux dead, it was discovered that Jill wasn't Katherine's daughter after all. We found out she was Lauren's sister by her father. So, the child that Charlotte gave away so many years ago, was Tucker McCall. But wouldn't Katherine and Charlotte know the difference between a boy and a girl? Was that ever resolved? And did we ever find out who Jill's bio mom was? Hit me up. Help! LOL.
There were moments when Katherine and Jill were close or at least not trying to claw each other's eyes out. I mean there had to be at least a few. Who could go at that speed 24/7 and not explode from just sheer combustion! One of the very few things Katherine and Jill were in 100% agreement on was that Nina Webster wasn't worthy of Phillip Chancellor, III. Thinking back, it was a soap miracle that Nina managed to survive those two. Again, that was such good soap back then. Also, when either one of them really needed the other one, no matter what they were there. When Katherine was diagnosed with breast cancer or a brain tumor who was right there by her side? Jill. And when Jill found herself unemployed and back doing nails who found her and gave her 100K for her to pay her taxes to get back on her feet? Katherine. It was things like this that made this rivalry extra special.
We loved the tender moments. But no lie we loved it most of all when they tangled up. They slapped, choked, tussled, screamed, hollered and schemed. Our most recent memory was their food fight at Chloe and Billy's wedding.
Jeanne's Cooper last airdate was May 3, 2013 (taped in March on the 40th Anniversary of Y&R). I'm really getting emotional. Katherine's last scene was with who? Jill/Jess Walton. Where? At the Chancellor mansion. We were going to detail it. But instead, the video is at the end of the article. We couldn't do it justice. Jeanne passed away five days later. We miss her so.
All of Katherine's loved ones gathered at the Chancellor mansion after receiving individual postcards with instructions from all over the world. Katherine's husband, Murphy, arrived alone and told of the sad news that The Duchess had passed on. Each of Katherine's loved ones received a letter from her. And Katherine's will was read a few days later with her detailed bequests. That brings us to the music box. Goodness. Okay, it wasn't a Memoriam storyline worthy of Queen Jeanne or Katherine. But it's what we got. Katherine left Jill with a mysterious music box that actually wasn't worth anything. But we found out later (almost a year later) Katherine had left Jill her favorite necklace, an expensive necklace (worth eighteen million dollars). But most importantly Jill received the message meant especially for her, "Don't look for hidden agendas, trust, and love." We were satisfied with that ending.
Katherine and Jill! Thank you! We love you!
Check out one of the many fights between Katherine and Jill!
Jeanne's Cooper last scene!
I AM KP Smith
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