Young and the Restless brings Roger Howarth on the CBS soap as Mitch Bacall, Sienna Bacall’s (Tamara Braun) husband. But the big twist just came out that he’s really Matt Clark, a nasty villain from almost 25 years ago that has been presumed dead for a long, long time.
We’re going to do a quick dive into history so you understand why Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) and Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) are so freaked out to find Matt Clark is alive and in LA.
Young and the Restless: Matt Clark Back from the Dead
Sharon’s tormentor from back in the day, Matt Clark, supposedly died back in 2001, but now the mega villain popped up alive and ready to do bad things to Sharon and Nick. Again, now I was super excited when we first heard that Y&R landed soap vet Roger Howarth. If you don’t know his work from other soaps, Roger is a super nice guy, very soft-spoken, kind of shy in real life, and he plays villains so well. First, Young and the Restless revealed that he was playing Sienna’s husband, Mitch. But then came the shocking reveal he is recast mega monster Matt Clark.
He terrorized and traumatized Sharon on and off from the early 1990s up until his death in 2001. And he did a lot of horrible things to Nick as well. But right now, Matt’s living undercover as Mitch. And nobody in Los Angeles knows about his sordid and criminal past in Genoa City because Holden Novak (Nathan Owens) has known him for years and years and has no idea.
Longtime Young and the Restless watchers obviously were stunned to hear the name Matt Clark, but not as surprised as Sharon when she bumped into Matt who lied and said his name was Mitch. He started gaslighting Sharon immediately, insisting his name was Mitch. She’s mistaken. He doesn’t know what she’s talking about. And then he walked away and had the bouncer block her from going into his club.
A Villain’s Origin: The Early Days of Matt Clark
So, if you’re newer to Young and the Restless or need a refresher because it’s been two decades, here’s the important stuff real quick that you need to know about Matt Clark. When they first introduced the character onto Y&R, it was 1994 and hunky Eddie Cibrian originated the role. In 2000, Russell Lawrence took over the role for four months and then Rick Hearst took over as Matt Clark up until his presumed death in 2001. Rick Hearst is another one who plays villains like nobody’s business. He is incredible.
So, when Matt first came onto the scene on Y&R, it was way back when Nick and Sharon were in high school. She dated Matt and then he and Nick quickly became enemies and then rivals for her attention because Nick also wanted to be with Sharon. Now, eventually she did choose Nick over Matt and then the two guys got into a terrible physical fist fight altercation and Nick was badly, badly beaten. Not long after that, Matt raped Sharon and that triggered her to go into this deep depression.
Young and the Restless: Matt Reveals Sharon’s Secret as Payback
And then Matt started dating Sharon’s best friend, Amy Wilson (Robin Scott/Julianne Morris). So, at a high school dance, Nick and Sharon won King and Queen. And that set Matt off. So, he went to Nick and said that Sharon was not a virgin, which Nick thought she was. And Matt also said that Sharon had a baby that she gave up for adoption when she was 16.
And that right there, that reference is to Mariah and Cassie’s birth, just by the way. So, at first when Matt told him all this, we had Nick going and confronting Sharon. He was angry that she had hid this stuff from him, but hothead Nick eventually got past it and he proposed to Sharon.
And then right before her wedding to Nick, we saw Sharon finally tell Nick that Matt had raped her back in the day. Nick was furious and he went to confront Matt, but Nick found Matt shot and lying in a pool of his own blood. However, he survived and then he accused Nick of shooting him. And of course, Matt was lying, but Nick was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Young and the Restless: Nick’s Exoneration & Matt’s New Identity
Well, Victor wasn’t going to let this stand. And he tracked down Matt’s ex-girlfriend Amy, who was in a mental health facility suffering from PTSD. And it turns out it was Amy who shot Matt because he had also raped her. This guy is a horrible creep. So Nick was exonerated and then Matt ran away from Genoa City in 1996.
Fast forward four years later, it’s 2000. Matt returns with a new face. He had gotten plastic surgery to alter his appearance. And in addition to a new face, he had changed his name to Carter Mills. So when he first came back using the fake identity of Carter, it was initially Russell Lawrence as the recast.
He played the role from July through October of 2000. And then in October, Rick Hearst took over the recast role and played Matt until the character died in 2001. So, just for purpose of clarity, I’m not going to call him Carter. I’m going to keep calling him Matt, even though he was using the name Carter back then.
Young and the Restless: Matt Gets Nick Tossed in Jail
Okay. So, back in 2000, Matt came back to Genoa City and he got a job at Crimson Lights, which back then Nick owned with Sharon. And right away, he started causing trouble. So, Matt got this woman that he was sleeping with to frame Nick for selling drugs. And Nick wound up going to jail. And while he was behind bars, Matt got close to Sharon, but she didn’t know it was her high school rapist because he had a new face. So Matt drugged Sharon and he nearly raped her again. But by then, Nick had gotten out of prison and showed up just in time to save Sharon.
And finally, after a bunch of bad stuff, the police realized that Carter was really Matt with plastic surgery and they started a manhunt for him. Meanwhile, Sharon was with Matt in a remote cabin and he almost raped Sharon again, but that time Victor intervened and stopped it. So later, Matt’s ex-girlfriend, the one with PTSD, drove them over a cliff trying to kill herself and Matt. She survived, but his injuries were too severe. And he was in the hospital laying there dying, still scheming till the bitter end. And Matt lied and told Nick that he raped Sharon again. So, then Matt pulled out his own breathing tube to try and frame Nick for his murder.
Young and the Restless: Matt’s Last Dying Scheme Traumatizes Sharon & Nick
Nick was initially a suspect but was later exonerated. And then Sharon found out she was pregnant. So, because Matt had lied and said he raped her, Nick was worried that the creep was the father of her baby. And Nick was pressuring Sharon to do a paternity test while she was pregnant. But back then it was a lot riskier for a fetus. So she refused to do it and Nick was angry and he and Sharon argued and then she tripped and fell, went into early labor and the baby was still born. They did posthumous paternity test and it confirmed that Nick was the father.
So this series of events traumatized Sharon and Nick and it messed up their relationship. Bottom line, Matt’s a terrible human, a repeat rapist, a criminal, and an all-around creep. And Sienna has no idea she is married to a monster. She does not know the name Matt Clark, and he wants to keep his wife Sienna in the dark and keep living his fake identity as Mitch.
Young and the Restless: Matt Desperate to Protect His Secret
In a recent interview, Roger Howarth said Matt’s been faking it as Mitch for so long, he now believes that’s who he really is, and he will do absolutely anything to protect his secret dirty past. So, I wonder if Noah Newman (Lucas Adams) somehow found out his true identity, and it was Matt who ran Noah off the road. We’ll see. But that’s what you need to know. a rapist, a creep, a liar, a sexual predator, and back to torment Sharon. They keep bringing back these villains from her past. And here it comes again.
