Y&R’s Jack Ass Abbott: Disrespecting Diane at EVERY Turn

Diane Jenkins has a Jack Ass Abbott problem, & Young & the Restless fans are the only people who know.

What just happened on Y&R?  I’ll tell you.  Soap Opera fans who never ever thought they would become ‘Team Diane’ are, & they’re proud, thanks to Jack Ass Abbott.

Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) & Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters) have been through hell together on Young & the Restless. Real hell. Betrayal, exile, years of rebuilding trust brick by brick. That’s the kind of history that should mean something. So it’s genuinely baffling to watch Jack turn around and disrespect Diane at every opportunity, especially when it comes to Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott).

Vibrante Is a Competitor, You Jack Ass. A Competitor.

Here’s the part that makes this personal instead of just annoying: Jack offering to help Nikki get Vibrante off the ground isn’t a neutral favor between old friends. Vibrante is shaping up to be direct competition for Jabot’s cosmetic division as far as Soap Opera World is concerned.  Y&R fans who wear make up understand there are too many cosmetic companies for one person to name, but that quandry is for another post.  Regardless, Jack Ass Abbott is not just spending time with another woman while his suit & tie stays crisp and his loyalty quietly wanders. He’s actively helping build something that could hurt his own family’s business, all in the name of being Nikki’s BFF who her husband, Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), despises.

All over social media, it’s clear that Y&R fans have asked themselves if Jack Abbott would be this generous with his time & expertise if it were literally anyone else’s competing business? The answer is absolutely freaking not. This is Nikki-specific behavior, and Diane knows it, but still somehow still has not had her fill.

Jack’s Been Playing Husband to Someone Else for Years

This isn’t a new pattern, either. Jack has functioned as Nikki’s sober companion, her confidant, the person she calls before she calls her own husband, for years now. That’s not an exaggeration; that’s just what the show has repeatedly put on screen via lather, rinse, repeat. Diane didn’t marry a man with healthy boundaries around Nikki. She married a man who has spent years being everything to Nikki except legally her husband, since Jack Abbott was Nikki Newman’s husband all those years ago.

Diane Says What Fans Are Thinking, Then Shuts Up. Again.

The real tell is what happens when Diane tries to push back on any of this. She doesn’t get a conversation. She doesn’t get acknowledgment that her frustration is valid. She gets Jack getting all defensive, shutting the discussion down, & making her the problem for daring to have boundaries around her own marriage.

Think about what it takes for Diane to even raise this. This is a woman who fought her way back into Jack’s life, who rebuilt trust from absolute zero, who knows exactly how fragile their relationship history is. If she’s still bringing this up despite all of that, it’s because it’s genuinely bothering her, not because she’s being dramatic. Jack’s response shouldn’t be defensiveness. It should be listening, but he has his head shoved so far up Nikki Newman’s rear, it’s impossible.

RELATED: Y&R’s Jack Abbott On-Demand, Diane Jenkins Left In The Dust

Y&R Fans Have Had it, & It’s About Time Diane Has Too

Jack wants to have it both ways. He wants to be Nikki’s rock, her sober companion, the man she runs to before her own husband, all while expecting Diane to smile and support it without complaint. That’s not partnership, that’s entitlement. Every time Jack chooses Nikki’s needs over Diane’s feelings, he’s making a choice, & it’s not the one a husband who values his marriage should be making.

Diane Jenkins deserves a husband who prioritizes her feelings the same way he prioritizes everything that has anything to do with Nikki Newman. The current regime at Young & the Restless is writing a version of Jack who talks a big game about loyalty & partnership but doesn’t actually practice it when it’s inconvenient. If the show wants us to root for Jack & Diane long-term, this is exactly the kind of behavior that needs a reckoning, not a pass.

Jack Abbott needs a wake-up call, and Diane deserves better than this.  Will the new writing regime right this wrong in November 2026?