Phyllis and Billy's partnerships on The Young and the Restless

On The Young and the Restless, Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) recently announced to her children, Summer (Allison Lanier) and Daniel (Michael Graziadei), that “the Red Queen is back!”

The Red Queen wasn’t a self-appointed title at that moment. It was the nickname that Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) gave to Phyllis years ago. Summer and Daniel were hesitant to congratulate their mom when she announced her new position at Abbott-Chancelor, and for good reason.

While Phyllis seems to remember the good times fondly and conveniently dismisses the past disasters, she and Billy have quite the history.

Phyllis and Billy’s personal history on The Young and the Restless

Years ago, Phyllis was married to Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman), who nicknamed her Red. Jack and Phyllis became distant, and Phyllis spent more and more time with his brother, Billy.

Eventually, Phyllis and Billy had an affair, which ultimately led to Phyllis and Jack’s divorce. On the day of Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Sharon’s (Sharon Case) wedding, Billy proposed to Phyllis.

Unfortunately, Billy’s relationship with Phyllis ended (and Sharon dumped Nick at the altar) when it was revealed that Phyllis and Nick had had an affair.

Billy was crushed. He had revenge sex with Summer and made sure Phyllis found out.

Billy and Phyllis made it work on The Young and the Restless

Despite their fierce personal feelings, Phyllis and Billy’s professional paths have crossed multiple times over the years.

Aside from both working for Jabot and Newman Enterprises, Billy and Phyllis worked together at a magazine. Phyllis had founded Restless Style with Nick, Sharon, and Jack. However, after some time passed and shares were sold, Billy became the owner.

While running Restless Style, Billy managed to fire Phyllis a couple of times. Billy was enraged when Phyllis was going to run a story about Lucy’s (Lily Brooke O’Brien) mother. He was trying to keep custody of the baby, and Phyllis' exposé would jeopardize him.

Phyllis and Billy worked it out, but the next year, he fired her again. This time, she had plowed down Paul and Christine and left them for dead in the street. Phyllis hoped she could use the magazine to plead her case, but Billy fired her instead.

To make matters worse for Phyllis, Billy planned to put her picture on the magazine cover, run a hack job on her, and discuss her arrest as a lead story on his new Restless Style TV gossip show.

Billy and Phyllis vs. the Newmans

Billy and Phyllis teamed up to bring down Victor in the past by using Paragon, a computer virus that wreaked havoc on Newman Enterprises. Billy and Phyllis secretly owned Pass Key, a product that would make all files and emails completely un-hackable.

Victoria found out Billy and Phyllis were working together and declared another Newman-Abbott war. However, she did offer Billy a settlement offer. Much like her offer to Billy today to do a buyout rather than a takeover, Billy declined.

Throughout the years, Phyllis has been a fierce defendant of Billy to friends and family, both professionally and personally. Their common disdain for Victor Newman has made them a formidable team with a common cause.

Watch what happens when The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.