Katherine Chancellor
 | This article describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. |
| Katherine Shepard | |
|---|---|
| File:Mrs C.jpg | |
| First appearance | November 1973 |
| Portrayed by | Jeanne Cooper |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Owner of Chancellor Industries Owner of Jabot Cosmetics Legal Trustee for Forrester Creations |
| Family | Unknown |
| Spouse | Gary Reynolds (deceased) Phillip Chancellor II (deceased) Derek Thurston (divorced) Rex Sterling (divorced, first time) Rex Sterling (deceased, second time) |
| Children | Brock Reynolds (son, with Gary) Jill Foster Abbott (daughter, with Arthur Hendricks) |
Katherine Shepard Reynolds Chancellor Thurston Sterling is a fictional character on CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Kay is one of the only two original characters remaining from the show's early years (along with Jill Foster Abbott).
Character
Katherine Chancellor (or Kay to her closest friends) is a wealthy pillar of the Genoa City community. She owns Chancellor Industries and Jabot Cosmetics, is the mother of Brock Reynolds (Beau Kazer), Jill Foster Abbott, (Jess Walton) and the grandmother of Mackenzie Browning (Rachel Kimsey), Billy Abbott (Scott Seymour) and Ethan "Cane" Ashby (Daniel Goddard), born as Phillip Chancellor III. She is widely considered the grande dame and matriarch of Genoa City.
Kay's rivalry with Jill has been a key plot element since the 1970s, when Jill had an affair with Kay's then-husband, Phillip Chancellor II (Donnelly Rhodes), resulting in Jill becoming pregnant with his son. Phillip subsequently died in a car crash caused by a drunken Kay,(Katherine was presumed dead but was then found to be alive in the crash), putting Jill and Kay at odds from that moment on. After years of torment from Kay, Jill turned the tables on her in 1999 when she discovered a letter penned by the now-deceased Phillip, naming Jill as the sole owner of the Chancellor Estate. Jill evicted Kay, who then found a legal loophole which resulted in Kay and Jill being forced to live at the Estate together.
Kay and Jill were mortified when, in 2003, they discovered that they were in fact mother and daughter. The revelation caused Kay to have a stroke. Yet there was a greater sadness attached to this newly-revealed family connection. For years, Jill's son Billy and Kay's granddaughter Mackenzie Browning had been in love. Finally, the two were married. However, the mother-daughter connection between Kay and Jill meant that Mackenzie and Billy were first cousins. A horrified Jill managed to inform the newlyweds of the shocking news before the marriage was consummated. Heartbroken, Billy and Mackenzie (played at the time by Ryan Brown and Kelly Kruger respectively) had their union annulled, and the two separately left town. Jill helped her mother to recover and the two eventually resolved their differences.
Despite several obstacles along the way, the two former enemies have begun to form a true mother-daughter bond. Nevertheless, their feud was decades old. It remains to be seen if Kay and Jill can continue to be cordial, but recent events have caused their deeply-rooted enmity for one another to resurface. Kay began to have disturbing nightmares involving a baby. She soon determined that they were actually fragments of a repressed memory. Eventually Kay recalled that years ago - unable to accept the fact that Jill had given birth to a child with her deceased husband Phillip - she kidnapped the baby, and gave him to another woman, who was to place the child with a different family. The woman then gave Kay a different baby that Jill raised as her son Phillip Chancellor III. While Jill adamantly refused to believe this at first, DNA testing of Phillip's remains confirmed that he was not Jill's biological son. It was then revealed that Jill's real son was, in fact, new-in-town Cane Ashby, who had recently married Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz). It is now being debated whether or not Kay should be prosecuted for her past crime.
Katherine was furious upon learning her daughter Jill was planning on eloping with Ji Min. She offered Ji Min a bribe not to marry her daughter.
While appearing on The Bold and the Beautiful, it was revealed that John Douglas summoned her to be the sole trustee of the Stephanie Douglas Trust. Her instructions were to do nothing.
Family & Relationships
Parents
- Unnamed Man (Father, deceased)
- Unnamed Woman (Mother, deceased)
Sibling(s)
- None/Unknown
Marital Status
- Single
Past Marriage(s)
- Gary Reynolds (Divorced) [1956]
- Phillip Chancellor II (Dissolved) [1961-1976)
- Derek Thurston (Divorced) [1977-1981]
- Rex Sterling (Annulled) [1988-1990]
- Rex Sterling (Dissolved) [1992-1994]
Children
- Brock Reynolds (Son, with Gary Reynolds)
- Jill Foster (Daughter, with Arthur Hendricks) {Given Up For Adoption)
Grandchildren
- Cane Ashby (Grandson, via Jill)
- Phillip Chancellor III (Legal Grandson, via Jill, deceased)
- William "Billy" Abbott (Grandson, via Jill)
- Mackenzie Browning (Granddaughter, via Brock)
- Phillip Chancellor IV (Legal Great-Grandson, via Phillip)
Flings & Relationships
- John Abbott Sr. (Dated, deceased)
- Arthur Hendricks (Affair/Lover)
- Douglas Austin (Dated)
- Felipe Ramirez (Dated)
- Jerry Cashman (Dated, deceased)
- Brent Davis (Dated, deceased)
- Mitchell Sherman (Dated)
- Arthur Hendricks (Dated/Engaged)
Occupation
- Owner of Chancellor Industries
- Owner of Jabot Cosmetics
- Acting CEO of Chancellor Industries
- Legal Trustee for Forrester Creations
- Jabot Cosmetics Board Member
Legal Name
- Mentioned numerous time is the fact that Katherine Shepard's legal name is Katherine Chancellor Sterling, but she is referred to commonly as Kay Chancellor or Ms. Chancellor.