Actor Kristoff St. John will be returning to work on the CBS soap opera "The Young and the Restless" after a four-month leave of absence from the show. The 51-year-old actor, who has been open about his battle with depression, reportedly had a mental health scare that prompted him to take a hiatus from work in October.
St. John has been playing the character of Neil Winters for 25 years on the CBS soap. He has also won numerous awards for the role, including two Daytime Emmy Awards: one for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series and another for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
The actor last appeared on the soap in a Nov. 29, 2017 episode. The show explained St. John's absence by having his character fly to New York to visit Moses, his son with his former wife Sofia Dupre (Julia Pace Mitchell). Since then, St. John has not appeared on the show. It was reported by Entertainment Weekly that the actor had to begin undergoing psychiatric treatment after experiencing an issue with his mental health.
St. John has been open about his battle with depression in the wake of the death of his son, Julian, who committed suicide in November 2014. Julian St. John had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and had been battling the illness for a long time before his death at age 24.
Both St. John and his former wife, Julian's mother Mia St. John, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the mental health facility that Julian was staying in at the time of his death. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court.
Initially, it was reported that the actor had threatened suicide, although Mia St. John denied those claims. She did not elaborate on what had happened to her ex-husband exactly, but she confirmed that he was struggling with his mental health as Julian's death anniversary neared.
However, according to a new report by Entertainment Weekly, St. John is set to return to work on "The Young and the Restless," possibly next week. The actor himself also posted a photo on Instagram that seemed to hint at his upcoming return.
"The Young and the Restless" is now in its 45th season, having first premiered on March 26, 1973. The show airs every weekday at 12:30 p.m. EST on CBS Daytime.
