Tragic Details About Eric Braeden From The Young And The Restless

As Victor Newman on "The Young and the Restless," Eric Braeden is a huge name and recognizable face in the daytime television world. He's certainly worked hard to get where he is today with a long list of credits to the actor's name. But his early years were not easy. Back in February 2022, the start of Russia's war on Ukraine triggered Braeden so much so that he took to his X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) account to recall some of his earliest childhood memories from World War II. He wrote at the time, "The pictures I see on our TV screens about what's happening in UKRAINE REMIND ME OF MY EARLY CHILDHOOD IN GERMANY! We were bombed every night & then every night! KIEL was 96% destroyed, 500 000 bombs had been dropped on that town alone! The cacophony was unimaginable!"

Just like his on-screen character, Braeden has a tough-guy persona in real life, but there's a good reason for that. "I had a relatively hard life and don't take any [crap]," he told the Toronto Star in an interview back in 2017. "But I'm very friendly, I'm very open, I love meeting people." However, it was those tough and tragic moments in his life that shaped Braeden into who he is today.

In his book, "I'll Be Damned," Eric Braeden opened up about the challenges he faced very early on. Born during the height of World War II, his family struggled during the Nazi-led occupation of Germany. By the time he was 12, his father had died of a heart attack, leaving his mother to raise her four sons on her own. Braeden also said that he is a survivor of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff sinking in 1945; he and his family were on the ship with other Germans fleeing the Russian army, as detailed by Soap Hub. Over 9,000 people lost their lives in the tragedy, which is regarded as one of the deadliest disasters at sea in history.

Thankfully, Braeden grew up to become a very talented athlete and managed to win a partial scholarship for his track and field talents at Montana State University in 1959. "The great thing about America, what I've loved about it, is how sports-friendly it is," the actor told ESPN in 2012. "In America, sports are respected and loved."

However, all of those years of running, playing soccer, and even boxing forced Braeden to have knee surgery in early 2023, which led to another shocking discovery and turn in his life.

"The Young and the Restless" star Eric Braeden is a survivor in more ways than one. Back in April 2023, the actor explained his cancer diagnosis in a very emotional video. Braeden said that soon after he had undergone his knee replacement surgery, he began having problems with his prostate. Doctors had discovered high-grade cancer cells in his biopsy results. But that certainly didn't stop Braeden from keeping up his fighting spirit. "I will lick this. This bastard ain't gonna get me — I'm gonna get it. All right? I'll be in top form again soon," he said in a video posted to his Facebook page.

If there's anything that fans have learned about Braeden over the years, it's that they should never cast any doubt on him. In August 2023, the actor shared with fans that he was cancer-free in his Facebook Live chat, as detailed by the New York Post. If that weren't enough, the "Y&R" star also posted a video of himself in January 2024 dancing and throwing punches in the air from behind the wheel of his car on his Instagram account. He captioned the clip with, "Feeling better and better! F YOU, CANCER!" Clearly, even Victor Newman couldn't have said it better.