Karen Taylor (character)
| Karen Taylor | |||||||||||
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| The Young and the Restless character | |||||||||||
| File:NiaPeeples.jpg Nia Peeples as Karen Taylor (2007) | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Nia Peeples | ||||||||||
| First appearance | April 18, 2007 | ||||||||||
| Created by | Lynn Marie Latham | ||||||||||
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Karen Taylor Winters is a fictional character in the U.S. soap opera The Young and the Restless, portrayed by actress Nia Peeples from April 18, 2007.
Character's background
Karen Winters (née Taylor) arrived in Genoa City as Nikki Newman's (Melody Thomas Scott) campaign manager for state senator election of Wisconsin, after being hired by Nikki's daughter, Victoria (Amelia Heinle). Nikki lost the election, and Karen began dating recently-widowed Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John), after taking a job as Director of Beauty of Nature at Newman Enterprises, which was left vacant after the death of Neil's wife, Drucilla (Victoria Rowell). Neil's adult children, Lily (Christel Khalil) and Devon (Bryton), didn't seem to approve of Neil and Karen's relationship, and were somewhat hostile towards Karen. At Neil's urging, Lily and Devon decided to give her another chance and even invited her to Thanksgiving dinner.
In search for a new singer at Indigo, Neil's club, Neil discovered that Karen has a beautiful voice. he urged her to audition for the singing act at Indigo, but she declined, and another singer was hired. The singer was sick on their opening night at indigo, so Neil turned to Karen, begging her to fill in. Karen was very opposed to singing, but eventually, she unwillingly accepted. Right before the show, when Neil was introducing her, she ran away because of her stage fright, therefore the pianist filled in for her.
Karen however managed to get over her stage fright when Neil hired Pat Benatar and her husband Neil Giraldo to come and encourage her to forget about her stage fright. Neil then told Karen that he's ready to live with her, and they moved in together, but when Lily ended up pregnant by Cane Ashby (Daniel Goddard), Neil intervened. He proposed raising the child with Karen, but Karen was extremely against it, and that's when the problems started. Karen realized that it was too soon for them to live together, and she moved out of Neil's place. Karen gave Neil a choice to choose between her and the memory of Dru, and Neil finally realized he was still in love with Dru. Karen then moved away to New York.
A month later, following Devon's and Lily's advice, Neil surprised Karen in New York by asking her to marry him, but she rejected him. Shortly afterwards, Karen decided to give Neil a chance by returning to Genoa City and agreeing to take things slow. She started to show off a different side of her character when a woman named Tyra Hamilton (Eva Marcille) came to town and started spending a lot of time with Neil. She was recognized by Olivia Winters (Tonya Lee Williams) in October 2008 when Olivia returned to Genoa City, but they agreed to keep a secret between them hidden, since Karen was Olivia's patient in the past. Not being able to hide it anymore, Karen confessed to Neil that she had a hysterectomy after learning she could give her child cancer, and she asked him to think about if he wants to stay with her now that he knows she can't give him a child. Karen was left feeling uneasy, even though Neil reassured her that he wants to be with her.
Upon hearing the news of Katherine Chancellor's (Jeanne Cooper) death, Neil started thinking about life and decided to propose to Karen, who happily accepted after a little reluctance. They planned to get married later in 2009, but when Ana Hamilton (Jamia Simone Nash) was taken away from Tyra's custody, they decided to get married sooner so they could have the custody of Ana and save her having to spend time in a foster home. The couple got married on New Years Eve.