Nicholas and Sharon Newman are fictional characters and a supercouple from the CBS soap opera "The Young and the Restless". Nick is portrayed by Joshua Morrow and Sharon is portrayed by Sharon Case. The characters of Nick and Sharon first met in 1994 and soon became involved. They were faced with a range of problems, such as their different levels of class, Sharon's ex-boyfriend Matt Clark, and Sharon's secret past: she was pregnant three years earlier and gave up the child, Cassie, for adoption. The couple married in February 1996, and after having a son, Noah, Sharon was reunited with Cassie. Nick grew to love Cassie and became her adoptive father. Sharon's best friend Grace Turner developed an obsession with Nick and slept with him twice. In the following years, the couple dealt with the return of Matt Clark and infidelity on both sides among other obstacles, which Nick and Sharon managed to eventually move past.
In 2005, Cassie was killed off in a car accident, which led to Nick's affair with Phyllis Summers. Nick impregnated Phyllis, who gave birth to a daughter named Summer, which ultimately meant the end of Nick and Sharon's marriage. Despite Nick's marriage to Phyllis and Sharon's marriages to Jack Abbott and Nick's brother Adam Newman, Nick and Sharon's pattern of periodically getting back together and breaking up continued. A 2009 affair (while both were still married to others) resulted in the birth of another daughter, Faith.
The couple's marriage lasted for over ten years, which is considered a rarity in the soap opera genre. The couple is often referred to by the portmanteau "Shick" by fans on social media, message boards and in magazines. "The Huffington Post" and "Soap Opera Digest" named them one of soap opera's greatest supercouples. Their 2009 on-screen reunion was a high-profile event on the show which garnered media attention, while lifting the show's ratings by nearly half a million viewers.
Casting.
Nick was born on-screen on the episode dated December 31, 1988. In 1994, his birth-date was revised to December 31, 1976, when Joshua Morrow began playing the role. Sharon was initially portrayed by Monica Potter and later Heidi Mark, before Case took over four months into the character's duration. Case was cast as Sharon Collins following a screen test with Morrow, with several other actresses also being screen tested. Morrow said: "They had all these beautiful actresses come in and Sharon was clearly 'The Sharon'! (...) I said, 'She is definitely the best of all of them.' Now my word didn’t mean anything back then, as I was just a kid off the bus from Oklahoma."
History.
Teenage years (1994–96).
Eighteen-year-old Nicholas "Nick" Newman, son of the rich business tycoon Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) and his ex-wife Nikki Abbott (Melody Thomas Scott), met Sharon Collins, a student from modest means who recently relocated from Madison, Wisconsin to Genoa City. Although it was "love at first sight", Nick was dating Amy Wilson (Julianne Morris) and Sharon was dating Matt Clark (Eddie Cibrian). However, they soon broke off their other relations and became a couple. Nikki did not approve of Sharon and her mother Doris Colins (Karen Hensel) because of their lower class status. Nick became increasingly angry at the pressure from his family to break up with Sharon, although Victor fully accepted Sharon. Nick dreamed of running away and eloping with Sharon, but Sharon refused because of the high class status of the Newman family. Matt became extremely jealous of Nick and Sharon, and although he began dating Amy, began scheming to break them up. Matt investigated Sharon's past and found out her deepest secret which she was keeping from Nick; she lost her virginity to her high-school boyfriend from Madison, Frank Barritt (Phil Dozois), which resulted in a pregnancy. Sharon gave her baby up for adoption, unable to provide for it. Nick believed it was a lie and that Sharon was a virgin, and confronted Matt at the Crimson Lights coffeehouse. It turned into a physical altercation in which Nick was badly beaten by Matt. Eventually, Nick and Sharon broke up after he discovered about her lies. Unable to stay apart, Nick and Sharon reunited within weeks. However, Matt became enraged and trapped Sharon in his car where he raped her. Traumatized and humiliated, Sharon kept the rape to herself.
Nick and Sharon decided to elope. However, on their first night together, Sharon pulled away from making love to Nick and finally confessed that she was raped by Matt. Nick ran to confront Matt at his apartment, only to discover Matt lying in a pool of blood having been shot. Nick's DNA was found on the gun and he was arrested. Victor hired Paul Williams (Doug Davidson) and a range of attorneys to free Nick, who had to go to trial for attempted murder. Nick was found guilty and sent to jail, where he spent Christmas of 1995. However, in February 1996 he was acquitted when Amy came forward as the actual shooter after Matt tried to rape her. Amy was in seclusion after recovering from mental trauma. Matt skipped town after he became in trouble for lying in court, claiming he remembered Nick shooting him. Nick and Sharon then married.
Marriage and parenthood (1997–99).
At the beginning of her marriage to Nick, Sharon became insecure and felt like she had to have a child so that Nick would stay tied to her. During this period, Nick hired Sharon's best friend from Madison Grace Turner (Josie Davis) to work at his father's company Newman Enterprises. Sharon became pregnant by deliberately skipping her contraceptive pills, which she confessed to Nikki. Nick asked Sharon to have an abortion. Without his permission, she arranged to have an abortion to save her marriage. However, at the last minute, Nick realized he was wrong and stopped it from happening. Grace's old boyfriend Tony Viscardi (Nick Scotti) arrived in town but she resisted him because she began having fantasies about Nick. Their firstborn baby son Noah Christian Newman was born prematurely on March 3, 1997 after Sharon fell. Noah became ill and nearly died. Believing he would eventually die, Grace (now played by Jennifer Gareis) and Tony tracked down Sharon's long lost eight-year-old daughter Cassie (Camryn Grimes) and brought her to town, believing it would help Sharon get through Noah's death. However, once Noah survived, Grace kept Cassie so she could raise her as her own, as her "pet". She did this despite knowing very well Sharon was definitely Cassie's biological mother. Nick became drunk one night after partying with his college friends, the same night Sharon was sick with a cold and Grace was babysitting Noah. Nick entered the nursery and had sex with Grace who he believed was Sharon, leaving him guilt-ridden after he found out it wasn't.
Sharon eventually found out Cassie was her daughter and Cassie came to live with her and Nick at their home, a refurbished cottage on the Newman Ranch. Despite Grace's engagement to Tony, she continued to dream about Nick and wanted to take him away from his family. During a trip to Denver, Nick cheated on Sharon with Grace after drinking, despite him claiming their relationship was only "professional". Sharon left Nick afterwards, feeling like a fool.
Nick and Sharon remained apart for a number of months. However, they worked together in court to legally adopt Cassie as their own. Nick moved back into the family home, Case explained "Neither knew what the other wanted. So, Sharon went to bed and Nick slept on the couch." During this time, they reconnected and eventually got back together, as Nick grew even closer to Cassie as his own daughter. The show's then head-writer at the time Kay Alden, said "This has been a long time coming for Sharon and Nick [...] For the last several months, there's been a lot of stop-and-go — and mixed messages — between them. But now the feelings they have for each other are definitely clear." Sharon and Nick were awarded custody of Cassie, and Nick adopted Cassie and became her father. Joshua Morrow stated: "Nick has accepted Cassie as his daughter. He loves her as much as he loves Noah. She's an incredible child and Nick is crazy about her". Of their reunion, Case said: "Happiness doesn't just mean lying around in bed saying, 'I love you' everyday for the rest of their lives. Love expresses itself in other ways. One way is getting over the hurdles of life together. So, I'm sure they will be more hurdles to come." Describing Nick's redemption after his infidelity, Case said: "Every time Sharon sees Nick take control, she feels like he's her knight in shining armor. After what happened between Nick and Grace, Nick really needed to prove himself for Sharon to feel better about what happened. Now, time has passed and he has redeemed himself. Nick didn't want to be a father — and look at him now."
Infidelities, Cassie's death and divorce (2000–06).
In 2000, Nick and Sharon experienced a health scare when Cassie nearly had tuberculosis, but ended up being okay. The couple became the new owners of the Crimson Lights coffeehouse, their teenage hang-out spot. Having undergone severe cosmetic surgery, Matt Clark (now played by Rick Hearst) returned to Genoa City under the fake identity 'Carter Mills' and began working at the coffeehouse where he schemed with Larry Warton (David "Shark" Fralick) to frame Nick for selling drugs. Matt became a "beloved" employee and Sharon invited him over to the ranch, where he attempted to drug and date rape her but failed. His plan to have Nick thrown in jail worked, and he lured Sharon to an isolated cabin where he nearly raped her until help showed up and he ran. Matt was driven off a cliff in a car driven by the unstable Tricia Dennison (Sabryn Genet). A dying Matt told Nick that he raped Sharon, and later pulled out his own ventilator and framed Nick for his death; Nick was arrested again but eventually freed. Sharon became pregnant and Nick believed it was Matt's child, and wanted her to give it up for adoption. They argued, causing Sharon to fall and give birth to a stillborn baby-girl which was later confirmed through DNA testing to be, in fact, Nick's child. They drifted apart and the marriage began to breakdown. Sharon became hostile towards Nick, resenting him, and she left him. Months later, they came close to a reunion. Sharon mistakenly believed Nick slept with Grace again, so she slept with the Newman handyman, Diego Guittierez (Greg Vaughan). Angry, Nick assaulted Diego and had sex with Grace, which he immediately regretted. Sharon and Nick spent the Christmas of 2002 together for the sake of the kids, but once it was finished, Sharon realized she needed to move on and decided to file for divorce.
In 2003, realizing he needs to fix his marriage, Nick goes to give Sharon flowers but is shocked when he sees Victor kissing Sharon. Humiliated, Sharon leaves town. During this time, Sharon Case was absent for months due to lengthy contract negotiations which left her fate on the show in question. She eventually struck a deal with the producers and returned, after being off-screen from February 17 to May 1. Instead of having the character depart fully or be killed off, executive producer at the time David Shaughnessy chose to have her leave town. While away, Sharon became depressed and on the verge of suicide. During her absence, Cassie nearly dies after falling into an icy pond, and resented Sharon upon her return. Sharon was confronted with her past when a man who she had sex with and who later abused her while she was out of town, Cameron Kirsten (Linden Ashby), came to town with intent of sleeping with her; as well as Cassie's biological father Frank arriving in town. He attacks her on New Year's Eve and she throws a bottle at him; Sharon believes that she murdered Cameron. However, he turned out to be alive; Cameron killed Frank and used his dead body to make Sharon believe it was his corpse. Case praised the storyline as one of her favorite, feeling that Sharon was still a hero; stating: "Your romantic lead shouldn't just be a simple romantic lead. Sharon was that for a long