Peter Bergman Gets Candid About 35 Years as Jack, His 25th Emmy Nod and Becoming a Grandfather (EXCLUSIVE)
The 'Young and the Restless' star opens up about 35 years as Jack Abbott—and the joy of being a granddad
With the 52nd Annual Daytime Emmys airing tonight, Woman’s World sits down with The Young and the Restless leading man Peter Bergman—whose 25th nomination puts him in contention with General Hospital’s Dominic Zamprogna and Days of Our Lives’ Eric Martsolf, Greg Rikaart and Paul Telfer!
Once half of All My Children’s beloved supercouple, Cliff and Nina, Bergman joined the soap opera world in 1979 and is a three-time Daytime Emmys-winner for his decades-long run as Jack Abbott on The Young and the Restless.
Last time we spoke with Bergman, he dished on falling in love on The Young and the Restless, battling with Eric Braeden’s Victor Newman and how he almost walked away from the role of a lifetime.
This time, the soap opera veteran plays favorites—from the long story with Nikki that earned him this year’s Daytime Emmy nomination to the love triangle and Victor showdown he’ll never forget.
Peter Bergman on his first Daytime Emmy win–‘By God, it was powerful’
After over a decade on All My Children, Peter Bergman joined The Young and the Restless as Jack Abbott in 1989—and took home back-to-back Daytime Emmys in 1991 and 1992.
“That first one was so significant because my job at All My Children had come to a very sudden end, and I had not been emotionally ready for that,” he admits. “I’d also replaced somebody at Y&R, which is a daunting task for anyone. Winning felt like, ‘Now, it’s my job,’ and I had worked crazy hard to make that happen.
“Add to that, in the audience that night were a large contingent of All My Children friends, who were on their feet clapping in the same way The Young and The Restless people were, and by God, it was powerful.”
The storyline that earned Bergman his latest nomination
35 years later and with three wins in his pocket, Bergman earns his silver nomination for his 2024 work in the epic episode that saw Jack throw away his own sobriety to bring Nikki back from the brink.
“That was the most challenging show I’ve ever done, and God bless Melody Thomas Scott,” he says of his costar. “She was so completely there, so completely committed, so incredibly brave and strong and talented.
“She was the first person I worked closely with on the show, and to come full circle to that terrible evening was a fun journey,” he adds. “There’s a trust there that’s hard to establish without all the time we put in.”
How Jack and Nikki’s tragic past still shapes ‘Y&R’
Not only did the scenes rely on trust, they played on history that goes back to Jack having to tell Nikki that the baby they were expecting hadn’t survived birth.
“That was crazy, powerful stuff, and I had very young children at home at the time,” Bergman says. “What I recall most is my inability to talk as I tried to hold tears back.”
In addition to giving Jack a dose of much-needed humility, the couple’s crushing loss triggered Nikki’s fall into the bottle.
“Jack was not the right person to help her then, because he was an enabler,” Bergman says. “Now imagine, Jack sees he has a second chance to help Nikki find sobriety, 35 years later! That’s what was underneath the determination you saw in that one episode. Nikki knew it, and Jack knew it—and he was not going to mess this up!
“I’m also grateful for those scenes because they reestablished—in giant, red hot letters—why Victor hates Jack,” he adds. “Jack was alone in a hotel room with his wife, and neither one of them can responsibly tell him what happened. When Victor got there, Jack was sloppy and unconscious. That’s bad!”
Bergman’s favorite, ‘magical’ unscripted Victor/Jack moment
Having spent much of his career sparring with Eric Braeden’s Victor, Bergman’s favorite showdown took place in the ‘80s.
“Victor is furious with Jack, screaming… and suddenly grabs his chest,” he sets up. “He collapses in his office, and Jack is left with a stark choice: Either I call for help or walk out. Jack decided to walk out, and on my way out the door, there was his outstretched arm… so I kicked his hand out of the way
“As I shut the door behind me, I thought, ‘They’ll never get that on camera,’” he continues. “But boy, did they get it. It was a magical moment, not scripted—and to Eric’s great credit, it was a dead hand. He did not fight it at all.”
The onscreen nemesis Bergman didn’t appreciate? Himself!
While Bergman is forever grateful for sharing this onscreen enmity with Braeden, he was less pleased when Jack’s doppelganger, drug lord Marco Annicelli, showed up on the scene.
“It was just not a Y&R story,” he maintains. “We do some wild things, but a doppelganger that Victor pulled out of a prison in Peru who looks and sounds just like Jack Abbott and talks with no accent at all? And his sisters fall for it? That was a bridge too far.
“And what I love is the kitchen sink stuff,” he continues. “Those smaller, quieter moments, like when two people are sitting at a table and one is finally honest with the other. Those are the most rewarding to play.”
The love triangle Bergman most enjoyed
Amid all the Abbott machinations and Jack’s wild romances, those grounded moments have often involved the ladies of Genoa City—from his sisters and mother to the many, many women who’ve caught his eye.
“When I first came on the show, Jack was a cad, a womanizer, not to be trusted, self-absorbed, ever-wrong—a lot of things that slowly, the women he loves have worked out of him,” he says. “And I have been very fortunate. I’ve been with some damn good actresses!”
Among them are Michelle Stafford and Susan Walters, who play Phyllis and Diane, and helped Bergman nab his 2002 Daytime Emmy.
“My third Emmy happened in one of my favorite periods on the show, when Phyllis and Jack had to let Diane into their lives,” he recalls. “They were two remarkable actresses who were so good with and against each other. I was just along for the ride.
“But what won the award was when Jack had to talk Phyllis into getting married after she suddenly had cold feet,” he adds. “He poured his lifeblood into a monologue to convince her that this was the right thing.”
Bergman on his 25th Emmy nomination–‘It’s always flattering’
Almost 25 years later, Jack is happily married to Diane, not Phyllis, and over 35 years later, he’s still battling Victor and getting into it with Nikki.
Such is the nature of soap operas, and Bergman’s thrilled to still be in the game—not to mention in the running with Dominic Zamprogna, Eric Martsolf, Greg Rikaart and Paul Telfer at the 52nd Annual Daytime Emmys Awards!
“It’s always nice to be invited to the party,” Bergman tells Woman’s World. “And I’ve been there, I guess, more times than anybody! But it’s always flattering when my peers say, ‘Yeah, he’s one of the good ones.’”
Win or lose, he concludes, “What a rich, full life I’ve gotten to have, and I’m in such a neat place, right now. My kids are both very happy and I have a grandson, Fred, who I cannot get enough of. If my number comes up today, oh man, I would have nothing to complain about—except I wouldn’t get to have sleepovers with Fred!”
The 52nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards start at 7:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. PT tonight and while the celebration won’t be televised, you can stream it via watch.theemmys.tv or through The Emmys app.
Soap opera fans can also watch Daytime Emmy red carpet moments, winner reactions, and exclusive footage from the night’s festivities on Access Hollywood next week.
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