'Self-preservation and self-respect': Victoria Rowell on leaving The Young and the Restless
Sharon Reed walks Indisputable viewers through the actress's account of being mocked and spat on during her years as Drucilla.
Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 98,433 views a day, 7.1 times a normal first day on this channel (13,905).
Soap Star EXPOSES Brutal Racism On Set
For seventeen years, Victoria Rowell was Drucilla Barber Winters on The Young and the Restless. In "Soap Star EXPOSES Brutal Racism On Set," Sharon Reed turns to what Rowell says it cost her to play the part.
Reed, who has been sitting in on Indisputable lately, opens on a personal note: her family grew up watching the show. Then the archive clips take over. In them, Rowell describes a castmate running onto the set in an afro wig to mock her hair, and another spitting on her during a dramatic scene. She says there were no repercussions. Reed is blunt about the spitting: "That's assault in my view." Drawing on People magazine, she also notes the response that the moment was an unscripted dramatic choice.
Reed traces how Rowell explains the resentment. She points to co-creator Bill Bell's fondness for her and the backlash when she landed film roles. Rowell's own explanation for leaving in 2007 is the line Reed quotes: "it's called self-preservation and self-respect." She still speaks warmly of co-star Eric Braeden.
The segment drew about 100,000 views in its first day, roughly seven times the show's usual start, and the comments came in just as fast. Some viewers say they have believed Rowell for years. Others say this is the first they have heard of it, and many compare her story with their own workplaces. A day later, Reed's segment on a police shooting of an unarmed Black teenager also started well ahead of the usual pace.
Published on Trari
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- Subscribers
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- Channel views, last 7 days
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- Channel views, pace per day
- 230,292 (on a normal day: 380,387)
- Video published
- October 8, 2026
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- Video views, pace per day
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The numbers
A segment about a soap opera set drew one of the strongest starts among Indisputable's recent regular videos, with comments keeping pace with the views.
