Young & Restless’ Melissa Claire Egan Reveals Her All-Time Favorite Leading Man — and She Has a *Lot* of ’Em to Choose From
Friday, January 28th, 2022
Gotta say, we can understand why the actress leaned in that particular direction.
“With Valentine’s Day around the corner,” Melissa Claire Egan began a January 27 Instagram post, love was in the air. And it had her reflecting on some of the leading men with whom she’s had on-screen relationships as both Chelsea on The Young and the Restless and Annie on All My Children.
More: Young & Restless star details impactful life change
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with some [amazing] co-stars between All My Children and Young & Restless,” she wrote, “and lots more wonderful men than these 10 [slides] will fit!”
Included among the actors are everyone from the late, great David Canary (Adam/Stuart, All My Children) to Young & Restless’ Joshua Morrow (Nick) and not one but two Adams, Justin Hartley and Mark Grossman. The new Drew on General Hospital is in there, too, a reminder of Annie’s All My Children pairing with Cameron Mathison as Ryan. (Press on the below arrow pointing right to scroll through the images.)
Of them all, though, Egan couldn’t deny that she liked one more than the rest. “No. 9,” she admitted, “is my personal fave.”
Well, of course he is. No. 9 is the actress’ real-life husband, Matt Katrosar, who tackled small roles on The Young and the Restless in the fall/winter of 2020. (Here, she shares why he decided showbiz wasn’t for him.)
Before you bop along to read another story, check out the below photo gallery which reviews in detail Chelsea’s life and loves.
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Image: Sean Smith/JPI
1/19
<p>Chelsea arrived in Genoa City on Billy and Victoria’s doorstep. She was pregnant and claimed that Billy was the father. He was, as it came out later that she’d drugged Billy in Myanmar and slept with him whilst being paid to pursue Victor’s agenda of keeping Billy from his daughter. Victoria and Billy moved Chelsea into the apartment over the garage and offered to adopt the child when it was born.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
2/19
<p>Chelsea and Adam met at the Genoa City Athletic Club. They bonded over being town pariahs and what started out as friendship grew stronger (why does this remind us of an REO Speedwagon song?) and they fell in love.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
3/19
<p>Chelsea grew up with her mom, Anita, who taught her how to be a con artist. Anita’s arrival in town, ready to fleece anyone and everyone, caused Chelsea no end of headaches. She later learned Jeffrey Bardwell was her biological father and the quirky, kinda crooked family were reunited.</p> <p> </p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
4/19
<p><em>The Young and the Restless</em> being a soap opera, Chelsea’s love for Adam was anything but uncomplicated. In this case, Chelsea had to battle Adam’s first Genoa City love, Sharon, for his affections time and again. That push and pull still exists to this day.</p> <p> </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
5/19
<p>Chelsea and Chloe Mitchell became close friends and started working together on Chelsea’s fashion line. They’ve parted ways over Chloe’s hatred of Adam, who drove the car that killed her daughter, Delia, more than once, but are currently back to being besties.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
6/19
<p>Chelsea struck up a relationship with Dylan McAvoy while on the outs with Adam. After discovering she was pregnant, Chelsea told Dylan he was going to be a father and he was ecstatic. However…</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
7/19
<p>Chelsea’s baby was actually Adam’s, not Dylan’s. As is wont to happen on soaps, the truth came out when it was discovered the baby inherited a genetic eye disease, and McAvoy was left devastated after having named the boy after his late father, Connor.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
8/19
<p>Chelsea agreed to move in with Adam in return for him not pursuing sole custody of their son. The two grew closer and fell back in love, thus forming a happy little family for a time.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
9/19
<p>After Adam unwittingly hit and killed Delia with his car and later covered it up so that Connor would get Delia’s cornea to save his sight, things came to a head with Delia’s dad, Billy, and Adam. The result was that Adam was presumed dead and Chelsea, naturally, took up with Billy. But when a stranger named Gabriel Bingham turned up in town, moved in across the hall, and began inserting himself into their lives, Chelsea found herself drawn to him in more ways than one…</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
10/19
<p>Chelsea couldn’t resist Gabriel Bingham. It turned out there was a good reason why…he was Adam, very much alive and back with a new face. Needless to say, her planned wedding to Billy did <em>not</em> go off with a hitch!</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
11/19
<p>After Adam was presumed dead again — this time at the hands of her best friend Chloe — Chelsea found new life working alongside Nick and Noah at The Underground. She began romancing Nick, who Adam had asked to look out for his son, Connor, when he was incarcerated prior to his latest “death.”</p>
Image: Chris D/JPI
12/19
<p>Chelsea, Nick, Christian (Adam’s biological son with Sage), and Connor formed a family. They were happy and planning to build their dream home until Chelsea grew paranoid and was drawn back to her old ways, extorting money from Fenmore’s. On the verge of being exposed, she did a runner with Connor and Christian (but left Christian at Victoria’s at the last minute) and left town after konking Sharon on the head and knocking her out cold so she wouldn’t talk.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
13/19
<p>Chelsea returned to Genoa City after Adam was revealed to be alive and living in Las Vegas. She had remarried, but conveniently, her wealthy husband died soon after. Chelsea reconciled with Nick, but was ultimately drawn back to making a family with Adam and Connor.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
14/19
<p>Things went sideways for Chelsea and Adam again after she fell down and hit her head in an elevator whilst caught up in one of Adam’s schemes against Billy. Her condition worsened until she suffered a stroke and wound up in a wheelchair unable to speak or move. Adam brought Sharon in to “help” with her recovery, which was wildly unpopular with the woman who could hardly protest. She began to secretly recover, and when she suspected Adam was fooling around with Sharon, she framed him for the attempted murder of Sharon’s cop hubby, Rey.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
15/19
<p>Victor realized that Chelsea had framed Adam and offered her a way out of going to prison… confess and be committed to a mental facility. Chelsea, knowing it was the only way, went along with the plan. She was later released and left town to see to her ailing mother, Anita, who had broken her hip. While she has been away, a new fashion division was established at Adam’s Newman Media, with Chloe heading it up, for her to work at upon her return.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
16/19
<p>Despite her having poisoned him, Rey was kind to Chelsea and Connor, and she grew to have a great deal of affection for him. Though it was lableled friendship, those close to her — namely Chloe — realized she’d fallen for him. On the night Rey was slated to travel out of town with Chelsea to take Connor to a hockey game, he took a heart attack behind the wheel and died. Chelsea was shocked and devastated and her erratic behavior after the fact seemed to give away her true feelings for the married man.</p>
Image: CBS screenshot
17/19
<p>Once again making a move on a man who’s already taken, Chelsea got carried away when Billy was extra-sweet during their final podcast session together and laid one on him! Billy was kind about it, told Lily, and they all moved on… but Chelsea began pushing a new agenda to tell Johnny that he is Connor’s half-brother, which may have been be a ploy to get closer to Billy again!</p>
Image: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
18/19
<p>Chelsea got her wish when Johnny and Connor learned they were biological brothers, but their negative reactions to the reveal seemed to be the last straw where her spiraling depression was concerned. She ended up on the hotel roof and was about to jump when Billy saved her life. He then called Sharon, who helped the distressed woman get professional help and get back on her feet. Adam and Billy have both been supportive as Chelsea has made amends and slowly rebuilds her life.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
19/19
