Who Is Coco Spectra on The Young and the Restless?

Coco Spectra is returning to the soap world when Ashley Campbell takes over the role on The Young and the Restless next week. Coco is Sally Spectra’s younger sister and the great-niece of the original Sally Spectra, who was played by Darlene Conley on The Bold and the Beautiful.

Who Is Coco Spectra?

Fans of The Bold and the Beautiful may remember when Coco Spectra (then-Courtney Grosbeck)  first arrived in Los Angeles in February 2017, planning to study fashion design. 

Originally, Coco began with the family business, Spectra Fashions. Led by her sister, Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope), the new Spectra Fashions was in direct competition with Forrester Creations — just like the original fashion house led by Coco and Sally’s great-aunt, the legendary Sally Spectra (Darlene Conley). 

The fashion house reboot also employed Shirley Spectra (Patrika Darbo), Coco and Sally’s grandmother, Darlita (Danube Hermosa), Saul Feinberg (Alex Wyse), who was the grandson of the tailor with the same name who’d worked at the original Spectra. 

Coco Dated RJ Forrester

When Coco accepted an internship at Forrester Creations, she quickly made an impression on the Forresters. She pulled RJ Forrester (then-Anthony Turpel) away from a moving forklift on the shipping dock, and the two began dating soon afterward. 

Coco’s relationship with RJ became complicated by a secret she didn’t actually know about. Wanting to find out what the competition was up to, Sally, Shirley, Darlita, and Saul planted a micro-camera inside a necklace. Shirley gave the necklace to Coco as a gift for her first day at Forrester.

Coco wore the necklace to her internship without knowing that it could transmit images of Ridge Forrester’s (Thorsten Kaye) fashion sketches, including the showstopper. Those designs eventually appeared in the Spectra Fashions collection.

When Ridge discovered what had happened, he fired Coco and involved the police. Sally ultimately protected her younger sister by confessing to grand larceny so Coco wouldn’t face prosecution.

The criminal charges were eventually resolved, and Coco’s relationship with RJ continued. The pair later got in trouble when Coco crashed Ridge’s Camaro while taking selfies behind the wheel, though neither suffered serious injuries.

Coco was also present when Ridge Forrester and Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) married in early 2018. She attended the wedding with RJ, but the character later quietly left Los Angeles when RJ departed for Europe. 

Coco Arrives In Genoa City

Sally moved to Genoa City in November 2020, where her story became centered on her career and relationships with Adam Newman and Nick Newman. Coco remained off-screen during Sally’s time in Genoa City, although Sally’s grandmother appeared through video calls in 2021.

Now Coco is finally coming to The Young and the Restless. Ashley Campbell takes over the role as Coco arrives at an important time for her sister when she surprises Sally next week at her bachelorette party. 

Sally is engaged to Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson), and their October wedding is close to her due date. Although Sally recently left town to be with her sister during a medical procedure, this is the first time Coc has been in Genoa City.