| JT Hellstrom | Gallery |
| J.T. Hellstrom | |||||||||||||||
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| Thad Luckinbill as J.T. Hellstrom | |||||||||||||||
| The Young and the Restless | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Thad Luckinbill | ||||||||||||||
| Current status | Former, Guest | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1999-2010, 2017-2018, 2019, 2023 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | August 27, 1999 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | May 2, 2023 | ||||||||||||||
| Cause/reason | Appeared in a video call with Elena Dawson | ||||||||||||||
| Created by | Kay Alden | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | William J. Bell Edward J. Scott | ||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||
| Family | The Hellstrom Family | ||||||||||||||
| Full name | Jeffrey Todd Hellstrom | ||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | JT | ||||||||||||||
| Gender | Male | ||||||||||||||
| Born | May 3, 1978 | ||||||||||||||
| Age | 42 | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Former Executive at Tucker McCall Unlimited | ||||||||||||||
| Residence | Genoa City, Wisconsin | ||||||||||||||
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Jeffrey Todd "JT" Hellstrom is a character on The Young and the Restless, portrayed by Thad Luckinbill since 1999.
On April 27, 2023 it was announced that Thad Luckinbill would return to Y&R as JT in celebration of the show’s 50th anniversary. He made a guest appearance on May 2.
Biography[]
JT Hellstrom is the son of Martha and Tom Hellstrom. He has two sons, Reed Hellstrom, with Victoria Newman and Dylan Hellstrom with his wife Mackenzie Browning. He also has a daughter Becca Hellstrom, with his wife Mackenzie.
Early Years, Mac and Colleen[]
JT was Billy Abbott's high school friend. He had a reputation of a lady's man, and dated Rianna Miner. He cheated on her and they broke up. JT then starts a relationship with Billy's niece, Colleen Carlton. Colleen is heartbroken when JT cheats on her, but they soon rekindle. When Colleen thinks that she's holding back JT's music career, she leaves town and breaks JT's heart. JT develops feelings for Brittany Hodges. She becomes pregnant and JT decides to pretend that the baby is his.
However, Brittany marries the baby's father, so JT moves on to Mackenzie Browning. Colleen returns but JT isn't interested in her because he's with Mac. However, Mac doesn't tell him that she's pregnant with his child until she miscarries. JT is upset that she confided in Kevin Fisher about the pregnancy and not him. He cheats on her with Victoria Newman, and Mac leaves town. Colleen is upset with this because Victoria has recently become her stepmother.
Despite this, JT and Colleen get back together, but it doesn't last very long. JT is still in love with Colleen, and becomes concerned when she disappears. He rescues her from a fire he falsely thinks that Kevin Fisher started. Colleen is put on a respirator, and he stays by her side until she gets better. Kevin's girlfriend, Jana Hawkes, really set the fire.
Victoria, Reed and Colleen's Goodbye[]
In 2007, he becomes engaged to Victoria. Victoria is pregnant to a child that's either his or Brad Carlton's (Colleen's father). He promises her that he doesn't care who the father is, and he'll raise the child as his own. Victoria is caught in the Clear Springs explosion. She manages to get out but then is hit on the head with a piece of cement and becomes comatosed. The doctor says that a c-section is the only way to save Victoria, but it could possibly kill the baby.
Luckily Victoria goes into labor and they both survive. A DNA test is then done and it shows that the baby is indeed JT"s. JT names the baby boy Reed Hellstrom, after Victoria's mother, Nikki Reed, and because a reed is strong but bends in the wind. In early 2008, Victoria finally wakes up. She and JT soon marry.
In 2009, Victor Newman humiliates Colleen and kicks her out of Newman Enterprises. JT is infuriated by this and quits. Not to long after, Colleen is kidnapped by Patty Williams. She manages to escape by getting in a canoe, but she falls out and almost drowns in the same lake that Brad died in. JT admits to her that he loves her before her mother takes her off life support. JT and Victoria divorce and JT decides to sue for full custody of Reed to keep him away from Victor.
Mac and Reed's Custody[]
While doing this, he reconnects with Mac. At the custody hearing, he becomes concerned when Victoria doesn't show up. The judge gives him full custody of Reed, but JT is worried about Victoria. Billy discovers that she was arrested for Adam Wilson's murder, although Billy knows she couldn't have done it, because they were having sex at the time of his death. JT encourages Victoria to tell the judge, but she refuses. She is eventually let go and tries to get custody of Reed back.
However, Victor takes Reed in hope that JT will be late, but JT's boss calls the court and explains the situation. The judge agrees that Reed should stay away from Victor and JT keeps full custody.
Marriage and Departure[]
In 2010, JT got in a bad accident and was unable to do the career that he wanted to do. His fiance, Mac, suggested moving to DC. JT agreed. Kay said that she could get them married that afternoon if they wanted to. JT and Mac agreed. JT asked Paul to be his best man. JT overheard his son telling Victoria how much he was going to miss her. JT expressed concern and told Victoria he never meant to insinuate that she wasn't a good mother. Victoria said she would never forgive him for taking away her only child.
JT and Mac got married and found out that they were expecting a child. After the wedding, they took Reed and moved to Washington DC. On June 21, 2011 their son Dylan Hellstrom was born.
Return to Genoa City[]
J.T. returns to Genoa City in late 2017 to investigate Victor's personal bank accounts following some "sizable" transfers to offshore accounts. While in town, he reconnects with Victoria and reveals he and Mac had another baby, a daughter named Becca. When JT rounds out that the transfers had been made by Nikki without Victor’s knowledge, JT kept quiet about it.
JT and Victoria rekindled their relationship after it was revealed that he and Mac had broken up, and JT also reconciled with Reed, who was resentful because he felt neglected by JT when he lived with him. Reed drove drunk, and after his girlfriend Mattie Ashby called the police, Reed was sentenced to community service. Victor and Nikki let Reed stay with them as Victor planned to teach Reed responsibility.
JT was revealed to taking medication as his heart had been damaged after being electrocuted back in 2010. Victoria got JT a job working at Newman as the head of security. As JT watched Victoria feud with Ashley Abbott, he became prone to fits of rage, and showed signs of being emotionally abusive when he started insulting Victoria, and playing on her insecurities. JT visited Traci on Colleen’s birthday and they reminisced about her.
JT was revealed to be working with Paul and Christine to get dirt on Victor, but he kept putting it off much to their annoyance. It was part of a deal JT made with them to protect Nikki and Victoria from jail time. JT was manipulated by Victoria to find evidence that she and Jack Abbott had planted that “proved” that Ashley had committed corporate espionage.
Victor later told JT about Victoria’s manipulations, which caused him to walk out on her. Paul told JT they were about to shut down the operation if he didn’t get anything on Victor, but JT promised he could. He came back to Victoria and they reconciled. JT took Reed over to the ranch where he snuck away upstairs and broke into Victor’s office, but had to leave before he could find anything incriminating and was almost caught by Victor. JT encouraged a dinner between Victoria and her parents where he snuck upstairs again, and found a safe in Victor’s office that had a key in it.
Victoria asked JT to come with her to the office for moral support on the day she would have to face her demotion, but JT said he had to take care of some business and told Victoria she will be fine without him. JT took Katie’s bunny and hid it under some pillows, so he would have an excuse to be at the ranch where he tried to find what the key unlocked, but then Nikki came over and JT “found” the bunny and left. However, Nikki pointed out to JT that he seemed very controlling with Victoria.
Violent side and apparent death[]
When Victoria got home, JT lashes out at her for what Nikki had told him. Victoria apologized, but JT continued to berate her and listed of all of her failures. Victoria tried to leave, but JT held her in place, so he could continue berating her. Victoria started hitting JT’s shoulder, and he grabbed her around the neck and pushed her against the wall. JT drew back his fist like he was going to punch Victoria, but instead punched the wall beside her. Victoria ran upstairs and locked herself in the bathroom. JT stood outside and apologized to Victoria. When Victoria emerged from the bathroom, JT won Victoria over with a proposal and they made love.
JT searched the ranch until he found out that the key unlocked Victor’s chessboard. Just after JT took the envelope, Victor caught him and called JT up to his office. In the office, Victor continued JT about his attempts to bring him down and also showed him footage of when JT grabbed Victoria. JT wanted to know how long he has been spying, and Victor said as long as JT has been spying on him. He wanted to know if JT was working for Paul. JT lashed out at Victor for his role in Colleen’s death. Victor demanded JT leave town, but JT contended that Victor had lost and JT will marry Victoria. Victor berated and insulted JT, which led to a fist fight between them that ended when JT shoved Victor down the stairs, and left him to die.
JT took the envelope to Paul, but there was nothing of value in it and Paul refused to give JT a job.
JT comforted Victoria as she worried about Victor. Brittany, Raul, and Mac all returned to celebrate Walnut Grove’s Bicentennial. JT confronts Mac able suing for full custody of their children, and Mac tried to warn Victoria about JT, but Victoria wouldn’t listen. JT and Mac came to some kind of understand, and Mac agreed to let JT see his kids with supervised visits. JT was resistant to the idea, but eventually agreed.
JT was shocked when Victoria suggested they see therapist, but agreed. In therapy, Victoria told the therapist about JT grabbing her throat, but said she hit him to downplay the severity of it. When Victor started to wake up, JT feared losing everything, so he turned off Victor’s life support. Victor survived and woke up, but suffered a stroke.
Fearing the walls closing in, JT convinced Victoria to take the kids and go to Hawaii with him, especially after Victoria’s plan to act like she hadn’t been demoted was foiled when the internal memo Victor has written prior to his fall had been leaked. Victoria agreed with JT’s suggestion and they left for Hawaii, J.T. locked up Victoria’s phone, but Victoria discovered JT had his phone on him. She read a text from Paul that made her realize that JT was working to find dirt on Victor, and when JT tried to justify it by saying he wanted to get Victoria out of Newman to protect her from any fallout, Victoria realized he had leaked the memo, broke up with JT after he admitted it and left Hawaii.
JT showed up at Victoria’s house during a girls night Sharon had decided to throw Victoria. He begged Victoria for another chance and promised to change and be different, but Victoria refused. JT went to Crimson Lights where he left Victoria messages that she kept ignoring. Cane showed up and JT confided in him that he lost Victoria. Cane encourages JT to fight for Victoria, and JT left after telling Cane he may hear some things about him after he is gone.
JT got into the house and cornered Victoria in the bathroom. They went to the bedroom where he constantly begged Victoria for another chance and as he ranted and raved about Victor, Victoria realized JT had been the one who attacked Victor. JT admitted Victor had to pay for what he did to Colleen. Victoria tried to call the police, but J.T. grabbed her phone. Victoria tried to run out of the room, but J.T. blocked the door and backhanded Victoria. As they struggled; Sharon Phyllis, and Nikki ran into the room. Nikki grabbed a fireplace poker and whacked JT with it, causing him to fall to the ground unconscious. Phyllis checked for a pulse and couldn’t find one, so JT was presumed dead and the women decided to bury JT in Chancellor Park, fearing the police wouldn’t believe it was self defence.
Return[]
JT survived and, despite being wounded, managed to escape from under the dirt. He spied on the women for over a year, burned down the stables and terrorized Nikki by planting the clothes he was wearing the night of his presumed death in her bed. When Victor returned to town, JT set up surveillance in the ranch and set up Victor by editing the audio to make it look like he had killed him. He came into contact with Katie and convinced her that he was her friend, so she wouldn’t expose him.
Victoria, Sharon, and Nikki were convicted of JT’s murder and sentenced ten years, three years, and thirty years respectively. JT trailed the prison transport, so he could see them face their punishment, but the women were rescued by Nick and Billy and hid at the Abbott cabin, so JT trailed them where he knocked out a guard and stole his uniform.
JT then cornered the women in the gunpoint where he tied them. He planned to turn down the cabin with them in it, but lost unconsciousness and accidentally set fire to the cabin with him still in it. The women got free and got JT out with Nick and Rey's help. JT was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a brain tumour that was believed to be the reason he changed so much.
The brain tumour was removed, and a remorseful JT apologized for Victoria and decided to take responsibility for his actions. Reed was glad JT was alive, and didn't want him to go to prison, suggesting that he blame the tumour. JT refused and pled guilty to all of his crimes, and was sent to prison for an unknowing amount of time when he was released from the hospital.
Crimes Committed[]
- Held Bobby Marsino at gunpoint [Jul 15-18, 2005]
- Adultery; had an affair with Victoria Newman while she was married to Brad Carlton [Apr-Jul 2007]
- Punched Deacon Sharpe [Oct 27, 2009]
Hospitalizations & Maladies[]
- Slapped by VictoriaNewman [May 10, 2010]
- Had a brain tumor that caused him to act violently [2017-2018]