How did Melissa Claire Egan’s Chelsea Lawson leave The Young & The Restless? Melissa Claire Egan’s Young & Restless character Chelsea Lawson is a relatively new addition to the long-running soap opera, having joined in 2011 – some 38 years into its 48-year history. A con artist, Chelsea arrived in Genoa City pregnant with Billy Abbott’s child (a product of a one-night stand they had in Myanmar) and attempted to blackmail him into giving her $3 million to leave town. Chelsea soon did an about-turn, however, after realizing her lifestyle was incompatible with raising a baby and surrendered her parental rights to Billy and his wife Victoria.
Chelsea’s time in Genoa City didn’t end there as she soon struck up a romance with resident bad boy Adam Newman. Their star-crossed relationship was marred by the dramas typical of soap opera couples – marriage, a meddling ex-wife, divorce, a baby that Chelsea tried to pass off as someone else’s, and several inevitable reunions. It looked like their romance was over for good when Adam seemingly died in a horrific car crash, leaving Chelsea heartbroken and their son Connor without a father. However, Adam returned to The Young & The Restless under the guise of Gabriel Bingham with a brand-new face (thanks to reconstructive surgery due to a change of actors) and eventually reunited with Chelsea after she discovered his true identity.
As is par for the course in soap opera land, Chelsea and her beloved’s reunion was short-lived when Adam “died” again (this time in a cabin explosion orchestrated by Chelsea’s BFF Chloe). Soon after, Chelsea returned to her con artist ways and it was discovered she’d embezzled a pile of money from local company Fenmore’s. With the walls closing in and her one true love dead (again), Chelsea decided it was time to skip town with her son in a March 2018 episode of The Young & The Restless.
She may have left The Young & The Restless, but Melissa Claire Egan’s exit from the soap opera was just as short-lived as one of Chelsea and Adam’s many reunions. She returned to Genoa City a little over a year after her departure with a new husband in tow (the wealthy Calvin Boudreau) who had adopted her son Connor. Chelsea and Adam eventually reunited after Calvin croaked it and made plans to leave Genoa City which were thwarted when Chelsea suffered a brain aneurysm that left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak.
Her medical condition has left soap opera fans wondering if Chelsea is leaving Y&R once again. Given all the Young & Restless comings and goings, that’s a fair question but it seems Chelsea is sticking around. Unbeknownst to everyone but her BFF Chloe, Chelsea has been slowly recovering while plotting revenge on Adam for getting close to his ex-wife Sharon while she was sick. To that end, she is currently trying to frame Adam for poisoning Genoa City police detective Rey Rosales with thallium. So, while Chelsea remains on The Young & The Restless for the time being she might be taking another break in the not-too-distant future – possibly behind bars at the Genoa City jail.