Cancer Survivor Eric Braeden Says “Hell No” to Retiring After More Than Four Decades on ‘The Young and the Restless’: “I Enjoy Doing What I’m Doing”

Eric Braeden is in it for the long run. The 82-year-old Young and the Restless star, who recently beat cancer, shut down any speculation that he may retire from the long-running soap opera.

Braeden has played Victor Newman on Y&R for more than 43 years — since January 1980, to be exact. When Fox News Digital asked him if he sees himself stepping away in the near future, he replied, “No, hell no, no, no,” before joking, “I’ve known friends and colleagues of mine … athletic friends of mine who suddenly are retired. And now what? Pickleball?”

However, the actor did reveal to the outlet that he considered leaving the show at one point — but ultimately decided to stay after the “genius” show creator William Bell wrote in a scene explaining his villainous character’s backstory.

“I had asked him to please write something that explained why I was, the badass guy that I was,” Braeden said. “Once I did those scenes with Nikki, Melody Thomas Scott, who plays my longtime wife — we’ve been married five times, I adore her.  But once I did the scene, I went to my dressing room and called my wife, my real wife, and said, ‘I’m staying.'”

After more than four decades in the Hollywood business, Braeden also opened up about his secrets to success.

“The first answer is money,” he explained. “And the second answer, actually, the more profound answer is that I enjoy doing what I’m doing. I really do. I still feel very good about it. We have some very good actors in the show, wonderful actors.”

He continued, “When you start rehearsing it, it starts making sense. And then suddenly you do the scene and say, ‘That’s it. It felt real.’ That feeling of satisfaction, of having done a scene that seems real, still has not left me. I love it, I still love it today.”

Earlier this month, Braeden announced that he is cancer-free — just four months after he went public with his bladder cancer diagnosis. While he continued to work full-time on the series throughout his treatments, he said he’s still recovering from the disease. Despite everything, he has managed to remain positive.

“My state of mind is good. But I don’t give a damn. You fight it,” Braeden said. “I’ve been working out as much as I could. … I’m an athlete, always have been all my life, and I’m used to a certain amount of pain or discomfort.”