Over and over again as we’ve watched Young & Restless’ recent storylines for Sharon Newman unfold, we’ve wondered, “How much can one

person possibly take?” Now at least we may have figured out why the show is dishing so much out to the beleaguered heroine.

It all started in the spring of 2023 when Cameron Kirsten was released from prison and immediately began targeting the object of his

obsession once again. We thought that maybe Sharon would catch a break when she killed the psycho and inherited his company, but no.

In the fall of 2024, Ian Ward and Crazy Aunt Jordan™ Howard messed with Sharon’s bipolar medication, framed her for Heather Stevens’ murder and chained her up in a sewer. In Wisconsin. In winter. Without so much as a scarf!

But wait, there’s more. Next, Sharon was on hand for the murders that took place in Aristotle Dumas’ Cane Ashby’s French maze. Then, horrific memories of daughter Cassie’s death came flooding back when son Noah was involved in a near-fatal car accident.

And the fates writers still weren’t done with Sharon. Investigating who ran Noah off the road brought his mother face to face with Matt Clark, who’d raped her in high school and attempted to frame true love Nick for not only his attempted murder but his actual murder. (Needless to say, that second murder should be in air quotes.)

Despite the back-to-back-to-back traumas Sharon has endured, she is doing pretty well all things considered, right? But how can that be? And why would the show choose to have her remain so relatively unaffected by the many awful things she’s been through? There’s only one explanation.

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Sharon is headed for the mother of all breakdowns. She’s lost it before and found her way back. She’s gone off the rails. But what’s coming up… this promises to be the ultimate crack-up — and no one can say it isn’t well-earned. There’s almost nothing poor Sharon hasn’t had to live through at this point.

Though fingers will be pointed at Matt — and rightly so; he’ll certainly play a role in Sharon’s mental collapse — he won’t be the only one to blame. No, her implosion will be due to Ian and Jordan’s remorseless plotting, Cameron’s insanity, Martin’s mind games, Cane’s “killer” party, Matt’s resurrection — the lot of it!