What happened to Mariah on The Young and the Restless?

Martha Clifford

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Mariah Copeland is one of the characters introduced in 2014 into the long-running American daytime soap opera, “The Young and the Restless,” aired on the CBS TV network. Her character portrayed by Camryn Grimes may not be among the original cast, or belong to the central group of characters, but she was part of one of the well-known storylines in the drama series. She was involved in some crucial key elements in their narrative, including stolen at birth, an unknown twin sister, revenge, and secret affairs. When her character explored a same-sex relationship, Camryn received a backlash from conservative fans, but her amazing portrayal as one of the loose cannons in the series won her a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2018. Fans speculated that Mariah would create more havoc in the city of Genoa.

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Who is Mariah Copeland?

Mariah Copeland was introduced to the viewers of “The Young & the Restless” as someone mischievous, a disreputable girl notorious for doing everything and anything to get what she wanted.  She was later revealed to be the daughter of Sharon Newman, but was separated from her mother since birth. Sharon didn’t know she existed, and was shocked to learn she was the twin of her dead daughter, Cassie Newman. When the secret was out and she was taken in by her mother and stepfather, she slowly resented the fact that all her life she had to fight for everything she had, which was practically nothing as compared to the affluent life her twin sister had. She was quite different from her adored twin, who was always described as kind and good. She ended up being wild and bad, as she was raised by a bitter woman named Helen.

Before Sharon was married to the wealthy Nick Newman, she gave birth to twin daughters.

At that time, Helen was one of the nurses in the delivery room, and a member of a religious cult called Path, and stole one of the twins as instructed by Ian Ward, the cult’s leader. Helen never liked children, and even if she was the one who named her Mariah and raised her as her own daughter, she often left the girl on her own. The young Mariah resented her, but looked up to Ian who often took care of her and served as her father figure. When she became an adult, she left the cult and went to live in Portland, where she dated Tyler Michaelson, who was then the boyfriend of Abby Newman, which relationship she was able to break, and then later became Tyler’s fiancée. However, that didn’t last long, as she stole from Tyler’s boss for which Tyler was blamed; Mariah slept with the boss to keep the latter from pressing charges.

The Young & the Restless fascinating historical facts

The daytime soap opera “The Young & the Restless,” has been regaling its audience with complicated storylines over the past 49 years.

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With more than 12,000 episodes aired and still counting, it’s changed the lives of many actors, as well as the people behind the scenes.

Original working title

When the daytime TV series made its debut back on 26 March 1973, creators Lee Phillip Bell and William J. Bell initially wanted it called, “The Innocent Years”, however, the husband and wife writing team soon realized that the title didn’t represent the narrative of the story they were about to present to the public, and so changed it.

William Bell’s legal woes

William was the head writer of another daytime series at that time, called “Days of Our Lives.” He wanted to quit so he could focus on creating his own soap opera, but the TV producers sued him, and he was then forced to write long-term narratives for the TV series, and stayed on until 1975. However, he wasn’t disheartened, and with the help of his wife, continued with his plans, becoming the head writer for “The Young & the Restless” from 1973 up to 1998.

One of the top 10 longest-running soap operas on TV

The Americans love their soap operas, which have been the guilty pleasure of many viewers, even if they found some of the narratives mindboggling; they couldn’t help but follow the lives of their favorite characters. The “Young & the Restless” took seventh spot in the longest-running soap operas in the history of television, fifth place on American TV.

Most-watched daytime drama

People were fascinated when it was revealed that during its first year, the drama didn’t get enough attention from viewers; William was so embarrassed that he asked the TV executives to cancel the soap. However, the executives had a little more faith in the show, and let it continue airing, as they felt that given time it would be a huge hit. True enough, it has been one of the most-watched daytime series not only in the US but in other parts of the world. Out of the four longest remaining soap operas still airing on TV,  “Y & R” has the highest TV rating, but those numbers were just a fraction of what it enjoyed in the past.

Genoa is a real city

The backdrop of the soap was inspired by a real city called Genoa, which can be found in the State of Wisconsin, as the creators of the TV series would pass by the city on weekend trips. However, the scenarios and situations depicted have of course all been fictional.

Mariah Copeland’s evolution on “The Young & the Restless”

It was on 27 January 2014 when Mariah Copeland first appeared in the daytime TV series. The character was initially supposed to last just a month and a half, but the narrative changed, and her character evolved into a permanent one.

Pretended to be Cassie’s ghost hired by Victor Newman

When Mariah first came to Genoa City, she showed up as the ghost of Cassie Newman, feeding the hallucinations of Sharon Newman as ordered by Victor Newman, Sharon’s father-in-law. The purpose was to somehow make her confess some of her best-kept secrets so that Victor could use them to break the relationship between her and his son, Nick. When Sharon was able to touch “Cassie,” she believed that her daughter was alive, and that led to her hospitalization.

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As a result, Victor ordered Mariah to leave town immediately, but she took pity on Sharon and went to the hospital to explain things.

Mariah was arrested and Sharon helped her

It was at this point that “Young & the Restless” writers expanded Mariah Copeland’s character. Mariah’s past problems in Portland came to haunt her, as she had some outstanding warrants for robbery, while Sharon was interested in Mariah, since she looked exactly like her dead daughter. Eventually, she helped settle her problems and gave her a new start in Genoa; Nick offered her a job at his club, and it seemed everything was going great for her, especially since she became closer to the Newman family, until her peaceful life was threatened, when Abby Newman, Tyler’s girlfriend framed her. Mariah was accused of stealing the wallet of Noah Newman, who was Nick and Sharon’s son, but she was able to prove that she was just framed, and Nick allowed her back into the club, but told her to leave Genoa after she paid off her debts to Sharon.

Mariah was infatuated with Nick who discovered her connection to Ian Ward

Ian encouraged Mariah to ingratiate herself with the Newman family, and when Nick discovered she was close to Ian, he confronted her. Apparently, Ian had a history of abusing young girls, but Mariah said that Ian was like a father to her. Fearing for her safety, she was invited to live in the Newman’s house, and when she met their children, they took a liking to her. However, Mariah developed a crush on Nick and tried seducing him subtly, which Sharon immediately discovered, and threw her out of the house.

Ian kidnapped Mariah, the Newmans rescued her, and her real identity revealed

Mariah was about to leave town and Ian was supposed to help her, but he drugged her instead, and woke up in a wedding dress as Ian tried to marry her. Nick and Sharon rescued Mariah, and revealed to her that Sharon was her real mother. Nick had Ian under investigation, and discovered the truth about the twin’s birth. Mariah had a hard time accepting the truth, and for a time wanted revenge on Sharon for the life she was forced to live, while Cassie grew up good and adored by everyone.

She tried messing up Sharon’s life, but eventually accepted her love and supported her by siding with her when Victor tried again to ruin Sharon’s life.

Developed a relationship with Kevin and had new friends

With a new goal and life in Genoa as Sharon’s daughter, she developed a friendship with Kevin Fisher that turned into a romantic relationship. They tried to make it work, but when they had sex it was disastrous and both of them realized they were better off as friends. She also met new friends, and was for a time became involved with a murder mystery regarding a man named Austin, whom she once kissed. Mariah, Kevin, and other friends including Austin had a party in a cabin – someone spiked the punch and they all passed out. When they all woke up, Austin was dead with blood on his head. Initially, they tried to cover it up and investigate it themselves, but eventually told the police about what happened. They all suspected each other, but later on they caught the real killer.

Mariah found work at GC Buzz

Mariah worked for many years at GC Buzz, a local news gossip corporation.

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She started as an intern or gofer, was promoted to one of the hosts, and later on became an executive producer. She co-hosted a show with Hillary Curtis, and had great chemistry with her on-screen but they hated each other off-camera. They also shared a common interest, Devon Hamilton, their boss and owner of the news organization. Devon was in love with Hillary and vice-versa, but she chose his brother over him due to some misplaced loyalty. He then dated Mariah on the rebound, which created a rivalry between the two women in the workplace. There was a time when Hillary tripped her up on live television, and Mariah got her revenge when she created a script that exposed Hillary’s past. Eventually, they were able to patch things up, as Devon ended up with Hillary after they sorted things out with his brother.

Mariah discovered feelings for Tessa

Sometime in 2018, Mariah developed a romantic relationship with Tessa, a professional guitar player and singer, who was also Noah’s girlfriend at that time.

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They both started as friends, since Tessa would share her problems with Noah, and Mariah would ask for advice about her issues with Devon. Initially, they tried to deny whatever attraction they felt toward each other, but at a festival, Mariah couldn’t help herself and kissed Tessa. She later apologized for it, and Tessa said not to think about it since they were just caught up in the excitement of the event.

Mariah couldn’t forget about the kiss; Tessa, on the other hand, didn’t want to go further in that regard. Later on, she composed a song and used the words she found in Mariah’s journal as lyrics, at a time when the journal was supposedly missing. When Mariah recognized the words, she was so mad with Tessa. She showed Noah her journal so she could prove that Tessa used her own private words to write a song. However, it wasn’t only the thing that Noah read from the journal, but also the kiss that the two women shared. He was heartbroken by it and felt betrayed, so he broke up with Tessa.

The conservative fans of “The Young & the Restless” didn’t like the introduction of a same-sex relationship. The actors as well as the show took a backlash, but eventually viewers accepted the evolution of the characters.

Mariah and Tess’ relationship was threatened by Sharon

Eventually, Mariah and Tessa officially dated with help of the match-making skills of Kyle, Devon, and Hillary. The two women eventually lived together under one roof, but their relationship was threatened for a while by Sharon and her friends. Apparently, Tessa needed money to help her sister, Crystal, to pay off bad people, and blackmailed Sharon and her friends with her knowledge of what actually happened with JT’s death. Mariah discovered that Tessa terrorized her mother, and contemplated breaking it off with her. However, everything was sorted out later in court, and Sharon supported her daughter’s newfound love.

Mariah’s new love life was threatened by Tessa’s ex-husband

Just when the relationship between Mariah and Tessa was improving, and Sharon was grateful that her daughter found “the one” for her, there was another threat that entered the scene; apparently, Tessa neglected to inform Mariah that she was previously married.

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Her former husband was Tanner Watts, a successful professional singer, and Tessa received an offer from Tanner to be the opening act for his concert. Devon, as her producer, knew that it would elevate Tessa’s career if she joined her former husband’s tour, so she advised her to do it. During the tour, Tanner expressed subtly that he wanted her back, and made sure that photos on social media would make them seem to be the new power couple in the music industry.

Cheating for revenge

Mariah thought that Tessa was sleeping with Tanner, and in retaliation she slept with another girl; when Tessa discovered it, she felt betrayed. Mariah sought her forgiveness, but Tessa was quite hurt. Mariah then asked Tanner to help her, and surprised Tessa by singing a song for her at the concert. Tessa was mad at Mariah for invading her space, as she felt that the stage was her domain. However, Tessa couldn’t stay annoyed with Mariah that long, and eventually forgave her.

Surrogate mother for Abby and Chance’s baby

Mariah surprised everyone when she agreed to be the surrogate mother for Abby and Chance’s baby.

Everything seemed to be going great with the pregnancy, until a man named Stitch from Abby and Victoria’s past came back to Genoa. They weren’t alarmed by it, but when Mariah was nowhere to be found, they all became worried, until they received text messages from her saying that she just needed time alone to sort things out. They were all placated except for Tessa, who was bothered by the messages. Eventually, the others also started to worry, especially Devon who thought Stitch acted suspiciously. Later, they all learned that Mariah had been abducted by Stitch, but they were able to get to her before the baby was delivered, and named the baby Dominic.

At first, Mariah couldn’t let go of Dominic, but knew that she had to give him to Abby and Chance. She then asked Tessa to have a baby for the two of them, but Tessa told her that she wasn’t ready yet, and besides, Mariah was only acting that way because she was trying to fill a void when she gave up the baby. Tessa told Mariah not to pressure her as the timing wasn’t ideal to raise a baby, since they were still living, albeit temporarily, in a hotel room. However, after a while, Tessa surprised Mariah with a marriage proposal and she accepted.

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