The Young and the Restless Recap Dec 18: Adam and Chelsea get told off, Diane has a strategy
In The Young and the Restless recap for Thursday, December 18, 2025, Jack told off Adam and Chelsea, Billy asked Phyllis to name her price, and Daniel had more accusations for his mom.
The Young and the Restless Recap
At Crimson Lights, Jack did a press release about the status of Jabot. Adam and Chelsea came in and instantly infuriated Jack by wishing him a merry Christmas. Jack went off on both of them for their hit piece, knowing why they did what they did. “I thought we were friends, Adam,” Jack said.
Adam insisted that he had an obligation to report the news. Chelsea asked if there was any part of the story they didn’t get right. Jack snapped they only did what they did was because of Victor’s attack and laid into him for being his friend for a long time.
“When you went back to Newman Media the second time, it was under the condition you wouldn’t be used as Victor’s battering ram against me,” Jack seethed. He said Adam wanted to pretend it was business as usual, knowing everything with Victor was personal. “This was a stab in the back from a friend, Adam — and I will never forgive you for this,” Jack bellowed as Adam hung his head.
Jack ripped into both of them about the hundreds of people who could lose their jobs because of them, and for not doing the right thing and issuing a retraction or apologizing. Adam offered to interview Jack and let him tell his side of the story but Jack told him off. He said he’d rather burn Jabot to the ground than let Victor damage his father’s legacy. “You hear me? I will never give Victor that satisfaction!” Jack growled.
After Jack stormed out, Chelsea and Adam felt awful. Chelsea said they both knew the real story was that Jabot was able to defend itself from a cyber attack, but they pushed aside the truth because it wasn’t part of Victor’s narrative.
Adam noted that Victor owned the company, and they couldn’t report that he had the AI program. He agreed he hated it too, and how he’d taken her side when she wanted to protect Billy months prior. Chelsea wondered at what point they were going too far.
Chelsea didn’t want to be ashamed of what she did for a living, and didn’t think either of them should be reverting to who they used to be. She wanted to protect what they built together as a family, and be people that Connor could be proud of. “That’s more important to me than doing Victor’s bidding,” Chelsea pleaded.
At the Abbott mansion, Kyle left Summer a message about the status of Jabot and Marchetti, asking her to call him back to discuss. Diane lamented to Kyle that using Summer to get through to Victor or Phyllis to steal the app back were both shots in the dark.
At the GCAC, Phyllis left Victor a third message but he wasn’t returning her calls. Billy overheard and asked if Victor wasn’t keeping up his end of their deal.
Phyllis tried to leave, but Billy followed her to the lobby and empathized as he’d been in her position many times and knew how it felt. He offered a deal as well, but from someone she could actually trust. “What kind of deal?” Phyllis asked. “Have you ever heard of the expression generational wealth? That’s the kind of deal I’m talking about,” Billy said.
Billy got Phyllis to sit down with him and said he knew that Phyllis stole the app from Cane and wanted her to steal it back from Victor. He told her to name her price, and they’d pay it. Phyllis wouldn’t confirm or deny and tried ot argue his points. But Billy pointed out that if she didn’t help them, Jabot would be destroyed, and then she’d really get nothing from Victor, or the Abbotts.
Daniel came in as Billy left. He went to his mom and asked if he even wanted to know what that was about. Phyllis told him it hurt her heart to hear his constant accusations. Daniel said he was concerned that she hadn’t dealt with her kidnapping with Sharon and was making desperate choices. He asked her to stay out of a Newman-Abbott war. Phyllis insisted she had kept no secrets from him, and she wasn’t lying.
Phyllis asked how Mariah was doing and when she’d be coming back to her wife and child. Phyllis noted that Tessa and Daniel seemed joined at the hip and saw them kissing, and that he was destined to heartbreak if he kept going down that path.
Daniel didn’t like being in the hotseat and turned the attention back on Phyllis. He asked if Phyllis stole the software from Cane and gave it to Victor in exchange for some promise. “Who told you that?” Phyllis asked.
Daniel said he figured it out on his own, and Summer came to the same conclusion. Phyllis appreciated his concern but insisted she was better than fine and she was about to bring their family together once and for all.
Billy went to the Abbott mansion and told Diane and Kyle that Phyllis denied stealing the app but had no qualms about getting it back. Kyle thought Victor would’ve anticipated that and put a safety net around the program.
Diane said she had an idea to counterattack Victor just as Jack came home, still fuming from his conversation with Adam and Chelsea and more determined than ever not to let Victor win. Diane revealed she didn’t have the proof yet to put Victor in jail, but she knew where she could find it.