‘The Young And The Restless,’ a long-running and beloved daytime television show, has embarked on a powerful storyline raising awareness about the urgent topic of coercive control.
Attorney Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) mentions the term when he tells siblings Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei) and Summer Newman (Hunter King) that he suspects their mother, Phyllis Summers(Michelle Stafford), could be a victim of coercive control.
Michael explains, “With any luck, I’ll be able to prove that Phyllis was a victim of coercive control. Stark manipulated her fleshing out his plans to get revenge on Diane and to get his hands on Phyliss’s fortune.”
Stark is, of course, Jeremy Stark (James Hyde), an ex-con from Diane Jenkin’s (Susan Walters) shady past. He was lured to Genoa City by Phyllis to undermine Diane. However, Phyllis bit off more than she could chew with Stark, who she killed in self-defense with scissors.
The show has boldly opened a discussion about coercive control, a pattern of acts used to subjugate, oppress, and exploit someone. Expect to hear more about it in future episodes of ‘The Young and the Restless,’ as Michael revealed that it will feature prominently in his defense of Phyllis. By addressing this critical issue in its narrative, the show is creating a teaching moment where audiences can learn to spot the signs of this behavior and how to get support for themselves and their loved ones.
‘The Young and the Restless’ is at the forefront of raising awareness about coercive control on daytime television. By tackling this sensitive issue head-on, the show proves that entertainment can be a powerful tool for education and the empowerment of survivors with the knowledge that can help them reclaim their lives.
Watch the episode
Watch the scene from ‘The Young and the Restless,’ Episode 196, in which Michael Baldwin talks about coercive control with Daniel Romalotti and Summer Newman.
Manya Wakefield is a narcissistic abuse recovery coach, coercive trauma specialist, and the developer of the Coercive Trauma Recovery Method™ and TENEL™ (Traumatic Exposure to Narcissism in Early Life) — proprietary recovery frameworks built from seven years of direct professional work with survivors of coercive control, narcissistic abuse, and Adult Children of Narcissists. Both frameworks have been reviewed by Dr. Michael Kinsey, PhD, clinical psychologist, New School for Social Research. She is the founder of Narcissistic Abuse Rehab, a global social impact platform launched in 2019 to support survivors through evidence-based recovery frameworks. Manya is the author of Are You In An Emotionally Abusive Relationship (2019), a resource used in domestic violence recovery groups worldwide. Her original research contributions include the Global Coercive Control Legislation Index (2020) — the first systematic index of its kind on the web — and the Global Femicide Legislation Index (2026), comprehensive legal references used by advocates, legal professionals, and policymakers internationally, cited in peer-reviewed publications including the Southern Illinois University Law Journal, Palgrave Macmillan, and the University of Agder. Her expertise has been featured in Newsweek, Elle, Cosmopolitan, HuffPost, Parade, and YourTango. She hosts the Narcissistic Abuse Rehab Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. All content on this site reflects Manya's direct professional experience working with survivors of narcissistic abuse and coercive control, her published research, and her ongoing advocacy work.
