‘Is Malcolm Going to Die?’: Young & Restless’ Christel Khalil Addresses the Devastating Twist Fans Are Dreading

No one can accuse The Young and the Restless of dragging its feet where the Malcolm story is concerned. In less than a week, the returning hunk told daughter Lily of his potentially-fatal illness, learned he had a secret son in Nathan and, in a shocking twist, was told neither of his children were bone marrow matches capable of saving his life.

“I was very surprised when Josh Griffith told me what was going to be coming up,” admits Lily’s much-loved portrayer, Christel Khalil. And it wasn’t only the initial twist regarding her new sibling Nathan which caught her off guard.

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“It was just kind of assumed that one of [his] children would be a match,” she admits. After all, isn’t that Soap 101? The truth about a heretofore unknown child comes to light just in time to save the parent they never knew? So to find out that neither Lily nor Nathan were a match? “It was kind of like this devastating blow of, ‘Oh my God, how can this be?’ Because I think they both kind of expected that it would be one of us! So the fact that it wasn’t was a really big deal and devastating.”

And of course, the negative test results left the entire Winters family — as well as all of us — sharing the same thought. “They’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, is Malcolm going to die?’” previews Khalil. “Are they not going to find a match in time? Because they’re up against the clock! So I think it’s a really scary, stressful thing for them to find out!”

All of which means it might be a very good thing that Lily has a new brother to lean on… because they might both soon lose their father!