Interview Y&R: Peter Bergman Celebrates a Milestone

Believe it or not, Peter Bergman is celebrating 20 years with The Young and the Restless as everyone’s favorite bad boy, Jack Abbott. I caught up with Peter recently, and he was just as astounded by the milestone as I was.

“It’s wild — 20 years! — I can’t believe it,” he tells me. “When I first think about it, it feels like yesterday. But then I realize, my daughter was 4 weeks old when I started the show, and she is now a sophomore at USC. I had been married for five years, and now I am coming up on my 25th anniversary.”

How does Peter keep his character fresh and exciting after all these years? Simple: He truly cares about what happens to Jack next. “I’ve got two scripts that they dropped off to me this morning, and I can’t wait to read them to see what Jack does next.

“I just take it scene by scene. I have a genuine enthusiasm and excitement for what I do. I am challenged by it — how do I make this interesting? How do I make this more real? I work with people who care about that stuff too. I don’t get bored. And that says a lot, because I am easily bored.”


What are some of Peter’s favorite milestones that Jack has reached in his 20 years of portraying the lovable rogue? “Through all the milestones, we’ve watched Jack evolve from an absolute cad to a more whole person than when I first got here, and I can name the reasons: Nikki, Phyllis and Sharon.

“With each one, he had to face things about himself that he’d never faced before. With Nikki, it was his falling for someone and not being able to help her. Jack can usually make things go his way every single time, and he had to watch her spiral into an alcoholic mess. And he can’t do a thing to help her, as much as he loves her and as much as he wants to help her. He’s an enabler, and it pulled Jack up short. He had to stop and examine things about himself.

“With Phyllis, the least likely of all relationships, suddenly it was perfectly wrong. The two of them were just terrific together — screaming and scratching at each other — passionate as all hell with each other. Jack got completely lost in it.

“I think the Sharon thing was, as much as anything, it was convenient for the writers. ‘We put Nick and Phyllis together — crap, what will we do with Jack and Sharon? What if they found comfort in each other?’ I think they expected that to last about six weeks. Sharon and I decided, ‘What if we gave them something to play with?’ And so we went all out to make our scenes everything they could possibly be. Jack was confronted with a type of goodness in Sharon that he’d never confronted before. It only exposed his foibles: just how much of a liar he’d been and just how deceptive he’d been.”

And while Jack’s romantic relationships taught him a lot, he also is learning every single day since the passing of his father, John. “Jack is still reeling from his father’s death. This was his conscience, his guidepost, his strength, and when he died, Jack was a rudderless ship for a while. He’s just now, three years later, finding his rudder.”

As Peter thinks about some of his favorite story line moments of the past 20 years, he has to admit that he likes it when Jack isn’t being quite so good. “There is one scene — Victor has a massive coronary episode in his office, and Jack was left with the choice of whether to call for help or to walk out. Not only did he leave, but he kicked Victor’s hand on the way out.”