As Young & Restless’ Mamie Gleefully Prepares to Reveal All, Here’s the *Real* Reason Jill’s Head Will Explode

Longtime viewers of The Young and the Restless probably got a little chill of delight the moment Jack walked into the Abbott mansion to find Mamie sitting there. And that was doubly true after fans did a little math and realized that Mamie was also the person who’d gotten a rise out of Jill by purchasing those Hamilton-Winters shares.

Newer viewers, however, may not quite get exactly what’s going on. But the long-standing animosity between these women is about to become very important in the days ahead, as we build toward a showdown literally decades in the making. So let’s back up a little and fill in a few blanks for those who weren’t watching back then (or may have forgotten some of the details).

The most important thing to know here is that Mamie was much loved by not only the audience, but the Abbott family. Yes, she served as the housekeeper, but over the years, she became so much more. This was especially true after partiarch John’s wife abandoned the family, leaving him to raise daughters Traci and Ashley, as well as son Jack. By the time we met the entire family — long after Dina’s departure — Mamie had become a surrogate mother to the children. There was also a deep and abiding affection between Mamie and John. But more on that later… because everything in the household changed when Jill entered the picture.

To say there was no love lost between John’s brash younger wife and his longtime housekeeper would be the understatement of the century. Jill failed to understand the bond that existed between John and Mamie. And while Jill wasn’t exactly dying to play stepmother to her husband’s grown children, she didn’t like that the housekeeper held such sway with them.

It was very clear that to Jill, Mamie was the help and should always remember her place. What Jill seemed to have forgotten was that she herself wasn’t exactly to-the-manor born. In fact, she’d grown up on the wrong side of the tracks, with her own mother having worked in a factory while Jill (reluctantly) worked in a beauty salon, doing the nails and hair of fancier women while waiting for her ship to come in.

By the time Jill married John for the first time, she’d successfully climbed the social ladder by any means possible… including that time she stole newspaper magnate Stuart from his true love, her mom, Liz!

Truth be told, Jill neither respected Mamie nor understood the depth of her connection to the family. That was never clearer than in the clip featured in the flashbacks below, during which Jill grew incensed at the idea of Mamie going to Jack’s wedding… an affair which Billy’s mother had not been invited to! “You’ve been a fixture around this house for 100 years,” Jill said, as if to make herself feel better about the situation. “Don’t overestimate your position. You’re the housekeeper here.”

But of course, Mamie was so much more… as became evident when she and John very nearly wound up getting together. John was planning to divorce Jill when he had a heart attack which required a long convalensence. While caring for him, Mamie proclaimed that she’d long loved John… who admitted he felt the same. Sadly, he was soon slipped into a coma. Not about to lose John, Jill — newly clued in to their feelings for one another — fired the housekeeper and wrote her a very big check to get out of Genoa City. Although she had no intention of doing so, John’s eventual decision to remain with Jill — if only for the sake of young Billy — prompted Mamie to take the money and leave.

Now, obviously, she’s found a way to take that money and turn it into a weapon which she is wielding against the very woman who put it into her hands to begin with. And this week, battle lines will be drawn when the truth comes out and the longtime rivals come face to face!