The Young and the Restless fans fear Esther is leaving the show after spotting clue in latest episode

THE Young and the Restless fans have started to fear that Esther Valentine is leaving the show after they spotted a possible clue in Friday’s episode.

Actress Kate Linder has been portraying the character since she was first introduced to viewers in 1982.

CBS

CBS

The fear arrived after The Young and the Restless decided to include a bunch of Esther flashbacks during the episode.

While spending some time with her daughter, Chloe Mitchell (aka Katherine Tina Valentine), Esther reminisced about the last few decades of her life.

Fans were treated to some of their favorite scenes and memorable moments that they might’ve forgotten over the years.

Instead of simply enjoying the nostalgia of it all, some became nervous that the show’s only doing this because Esther’s going to be leaving Y&R soon.

One scared viewer tweeted: “I hope there’re not letting Esther Character go or something why all the flashbacks.”

Another assumed: “Trouble [is] coming for Esther.”

A third was hopeful, writing, “I think they are celebrating her years on the show,” before anxiously adding, “Hopefully that’s all it is.”

While the show didn’t rule out the possibility that Kate’s character could be leaving, like the other user mentioned, the official Y&R Twitter had share that this episode would be in celebration of Esther.

The account teased the emotional episode earlier in the day with a gif of Esther, writing with it: “Ready for some Esther flashbacks? 

“Tune in to today’s episode to celebrate 40 years of @KATELINDER on #YR!”

No matter what’s to come, many fans were just happy to see Esther on their screen and to have all of the fun flashbacks to enjoy.

“Esther, Chloe and the flashbacks are all that matters this episode,” one viewer wrote.

A second wrote: “LOVING ALL THESE ESTHER LOOK BACKS. ON YR TODAY.. SOO MUCH..”

Another said: “It’s always great having Esther Valentine on screen. 

“@KATELINDER This is a legacy character that deserves more storylines & interaction with others in GC. 

“Love the Esther/Chloe scenes & flashbacks moments especially with Katherine & Jill.”

Others said that all of these flashbacks “bring back memories” and that since Esther is “one of the originals, they better give [her her] due.”

When the character of Esther was introduced as Katherine Chancellor’s housekeeper, it was meant to be just a one-episode role, but it soon turned into a recurring gig.

A few years later, Kate was hired onto a full-time contract to continue on in the role in a larger capacity.

When the character was first introduced, she had no name attached , but Katherine portrayer Jeanne Cooper helped come up with one.

Kate told Soap Opera Digest: “One day, Jeanne began calling me Esther out of the blue and I responded. 

“Then other people started calling me that and the writers picked up on it. 

“That’s how Esther was born.”

As for the last name of Valentine, the show let the public decide.

Kate explained: “We decided to have a national contest for the last name. 

“Bill Bell [the late head writer/creator] went through them and said, ‘Out of these, which would you like?’ 

“One was Valentine and one was Diamond. 

“I picked Valentine because I liked the way it went with Esther and I thought it might be good luck. It definitely was!”

CBS

Y&R shared that they were celebrating Kate’s 40th anniversary of being part of the cast[/caption]

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The character of Esther was introduced as Katherine Chancellor’s housekeeper in 1982 and was originally meant to be just a small role[/caption]