‘Y&R’ Bringing Back Patrika Darbo as Shirley Spectra After 5-Year Absence
Sally Spectra (Courtney Hope) will be hosting some out-of-town visitors next month on The Young and the Restless when her family comes to Genoa City for the first time.
Emmy-winner Patrika Darbo will reprise the role of Shirley Spectra, Sally’s grandmother, and Ashley Campbell will assume the role of Sally’s sister, Coco Spectra, last played by Courtney Grosbeck.
Darbo and Hope first worked together on The Bold and the Beautiful in 2017, when the Spectra family — and their company, Spectra Fashions – were reintroduced on the canvas. Darbo remained on the soap until 2018, while Hope was a part of the cast until 2020, then moved to Genoa City a few months later, where she has become an integral part of the storytelling. Darbo last appeared on Y&R in a series of video calls with Sally in 2021.
Russell Baer
“I always said if the stars aligned, that Courtney and I would get the chance to work together again and, well, the stars aligned,” Darbo told Soap Opera Digest in 2021. “The Y&R people called my people, and they had a great idea.”
Darbo also previously discussed the connection between Sally and Shirley. “Basically, Sally and her grandmother are schemers and manipulators. As far as they’re concerned, if you allow yourself to be manipulated by them, then too bad. Shirley wants to make sure that Sally is well taken care of, but she’s also, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Shirley was once living pretty well on B&B, but now she’s stuck at a bakery in Texas and doesn’t want to stay there. Shirley values who her granddaughter is and wants to make sure that Sally is always well taken care of.
Campbell, a newcomer to soaps, has appeared in The Sex Lives of College Girls and most recently in a short called Prom Party Massacre. Her predecessor, Grosbeck, did a four-episode run on The Pitt in 2025 playing Piper Fisher.
Sally’s family is coming at a particularly significant time in her life. She’s preparing to become a first-time bride with her upcoming Great Gatsby-themed wedding to Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson), the couple is expecting their first child together as well.
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