Soap Vet Jason Thompson's Tribute To Billy Miller & Their Shared Role Will Break Your Heart

As family, friends, and fans continue to process the untimely death of actor Billy Miller, peers such as Eric Braeden (Victor, "The Young and the Restless") have paid loving tribute to him. Miller played the complicated and often troubled Billy Abbott on "Y&R," who struggled with addictions to alcohol and gambling. Billy was married to Chloe Mitchell in 2009 and, on September 17, her portrayer, Elizabeth Hendrickson, posted a loving tribute to him on Instagram that followed up a now unavailable IG story in which she shared his last text message to her, showing his sweet side. Miller left "Y&R" in 2014 and migrated over to "General Hospital" where he played Jason Morgan who eventually learned he was really Drew Cain. There, he worked with Jason Thompson, who played Dr. Patrick Drake. In 2016, Thompson made a lateral move over to "Y&R," taking on Miller's former part of Billy.

Thompson posted an emotional video on Instagram on September 18, simply captioning it with a heart emoji followed by the words "Billy Miller." In the video, he explained that he tried writing something for his friend, but had trouble expressing his thoughts. "It was shocking, and really, really tough to hear about [Miller's death], for whatever reason. It's hard to think about him being gone." He explained he knew who Miller was because of his fantastic acting, and when he joined "GH," the two became friends. He praised Miller's honesty, and remarked that he "raised the bar."

"The Young and the Restless" star Jason Thompson explained in his Instagram video that when he planned on leaving "General Hospital" — before knowing he'd become Billy Abbott on "Y&R" — Billy Miller told him, "If you go to 'Y&R' I think you can play Billy. It's a big character. There's a lot going on with him but you can do it." When the part was eventually offered to Thompson, he took it on and always had Miller in the back of his head because he knew how impressively he'd built the character.

"I have to say that, knowing it was his role, knowing he was the one that really made that character. He kept me honest for the last eight years," Thompson stated, feeling that Miller would have been surprised that he often appeared in his thoughts. He noted he was afraid of losing his job because, "I thought that [Miller] was always going to be able to come back whenever he wanted to because he was that good," further remarking that the cast and fans loved Miller. "I worked very hard to try and live up to his level. To where he brought Billy."

Thompson had a hard time wrapping his brain around Miller's death, but shared his own resolve, declaring, "I'm just gonna be so dedicated to making sure that I can do right by it." Fighting back the tears, he ended the video.