The Controversy Surrounding Y&R Star Melody Thomas Scott's Second Marriage

"The Young and the Restless" star Melody Thomas Scott is soap royalty in the daytime television world. Off-screen, she's also someone who has sparked real-life controversy with her second marriage. The actor, who is best known for her role as Nikki Newman on the hit CBS soap, has seen her character endure a lot over the years. But then again being married to a man like Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) isn't for the weak. The Newmans' romantic timeline reads like a classic soap opera storyline, with the two of them getting married to other people so many times that even viewers have had a hard time keeping track of their relationship throughout the years.

Luckily for Melody, her personal life has not been as dramatic as Nikki Newman's. That's because "The Young and the Restless" actor has been married to her real-life partner Edward J. Scott for almost four decades. However, there was a moment before their marriage that did raise some eyebrows. But no, Victor Newman had nothing to do with it. Instead, it had all to do with the timing from her first marriage to the next.

Melody Thomas Scott has been married to her husband Ed Scott since 1985. The couple met on the set of "The Young and the Restless," as Ed worked as an executive producer on the soap back then. But before she met and fell in love with Ed, Melody was married to an actor by the name of Lindy Davis. In her book, "Always Young and Restless," she wrote that her marriage to Davis had only lasted six months. 

Melody actually moved on pretty quickly with a man named Bob Shield, who was her first husband's friend and even officiated her first wedding. The timing between her relationship with her first husband and her second husband did cause some people to throw a little side-eye in her direction, which Melody was very well aware of at the time. In her book, Melody admits that she wasn't ready to get into something very serious after her divorce from Davis, but destiny had something else in mind for her and she ended up divorcing Shield as well. "I was just too young to get married ... I was just ready to move on," she wrote in her book, adding that she understood she was to blame for hurting both Davis and Shield. "But I'll admit that leaving that relationship was very hard. And I regret hurting Bob the way I did. I regret hurting both of them."

And while life might sometimes imitate art, Melody knows that if there's one person that she shouldn't take any marriage advice from, it's Nikki Newman.

Victor and Nikki Newman are by far one of the most iconic couples on daytime television. While they've experienced their fair share of ups and downs over the years, even "The Young and the Restless" fans know that they are both meant to be together forever or until the soap airs its final episode. In 2013, Melody Thomas Scott opened up about Nikki's dynamic with Victor in an interview with TV Guide. "She always falls for his bulls**t, but that's what's so charming about her," Melody said. "She goes with her heart, not her head. She's a good example of what not to be."

Now, as far as Melody's marriage to Ed Scott is concerned, the soap star admits that it's not exactly a fairytale, either. She told Soap Opera Digest in 1995 that the two of them definitely put in the hard work to make their marriage work.  "A marriage is two people who love each other, obviously, and respect each other enough to both be caretakers of the unit they've created," she said. "It's swallowing your pride about something if it makes your partner feel better." Now that's something that Nikki Newman could probably agree with, too.