Young And The Restless’ Eric Braeden – The Tragedies He’s Endured In His Life

Actor Eric Braeden is undeniably a soap opera icon, playing the infamous Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless (Y&R) since 1980. While he basks in success as one of the top stars in daytime drama right now, growing up was a struggle, and he was also met with health challenges, later on in life.

The Young And The Restless’s Spilers – Eric Braeden His Challenging Childhood

Eric is very active on X/Twitter, and when the Ukraine/Russia war started in early 2022, he hopped on the social media platform to relay some triggering World War 2 memories from his childhood.

In a post he writes that the pictures he’s seeing on television in the Ukraine reminded him of his early childhood in Germany. The soap legend went on to say that 96% of Kiel was destroyed with 500, 000 bombs dropped on that town, alone.

In “I’ll Be Damned”, Braeden’s book, Eric goes into further detail about the struggles he and his family endured during WW2 when the Nazis occupied Germany. His dad had a heart attack and passed away when he was 12, leaving his mom as a single parent to raise four boys.

He also revealed that he and his family were MV Wilhelm Gustloff survivors in 1945, on the boat running from the Russian army.

Y&R Spoilers’s Eric Braeden – Health Struggles

Still, there were some good moments for Eri growing up, who had a love of sports. He would end up winning a scholarship in 1959 at Montana State University for track and field.

Unfortunately, the years of wear and tear from running and soccer had Eric facing knee surgery, early last year.

This would also lead to the reveal of an even bigger health concern. In April 2023, doctors found cancerous cells in Braeden’s prostate biopsy tests.

Still, in the true fighting spirit Eric has, he promised to beat this, in a social media video where he updated fans about his latest condition.

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The disease had nothing on Braden, as by August 2023 of that year, he revealed he was rid of cancer, during a Facebook Live session.

Months later in January 2024, he’d post a fun video on Instagram, dancing in his car, with a caption that revealed he was feeling great and gave a “F YOU” to cancer.

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