Karen Taylor (The Young and the Restless)

Infobox soap character
name = Karen Taylor
series = The Young and the Restless
portrayer = Nia Peeples
first = Episode 8622
April 18 2007
last =
cause =
creator = Lynn Marie Latham



caption1 = Nia Peeples as Karen Taylor (2007)
image1_size = 220px
nickname =
alias =
gender = Female
born =
death =
age =
occupation = Director of Beauty of Nature Cosmetics at Newman Enterprises
Former Senate Campaign Manager for Nikki Newman
title =
residence = Genoa City, Wisconsin
parents =
siblings =
spouse =
romances = Neil Winters
(dating)
children =
grandchildren =
grandparents =
aunts/uncles =
cousins =
relatives =
color = #C3B091
color text =

Karen Taylor is a fictional character in the U.S. soap opera "The Young and the Restless", portrayed by actress Nia Peeples from April 18 2007 to May 13 2008. The actress was mysteriously asked to come back as of June 13 2008.

Character's background

Karen Taylor arrived in Genoa City as Nikki Newman's (Melody Thomas Scott) campaign manager for state senator election of Wisconsin, after being hired by Nikki's daughter, Victoria (Amelia Heinle). Nikki lost the election, and Karen began dating recently-widowed Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John), after taking a job as Director of Beauty of Nature at Newman Enterprises, which was left vacant after the death of Neil's wife, Drucilla (Victoria Rowell). Neil's adult children, Lily (Christel Khalil) and Devon (Bryton), didn't seem to approve of Neil and Karen's relationship, and were somewhat hostile towards Karen. At Neil's urging, Lily and Devon decided to give her another chance and even invited her to Thanksgiving dinner.

In search for a new singer at Indigo, Neil's club, Neil discovered that Karen has a beautiful voice. he urged her to audition for the singing act at Indigo, but she declined, and another singer was hired. The singer was sick on their opening night at indigo, so Neil turned to karen, begging her to fill in. Karen was very opposed to singing, but eventually, she unwillingly accepted. Right before the show, when Neil was introducing her, she ran away because of her stage fright, therefore the pianist filled in for her.

Karen however managed to get over her stage fright when Neil hired Pat Benatar and her husband Neil Giraldo to come and encourage her to forget about her stage fright. Neil then told Karen that he's ready to live with her, and they moved in together, but when Lily ended up pregnant by Cane Ashby (Daniel Goddard), Neil intervened. He proposed raising the child with Karen, but Karen was extremely against it, and that's when the problems started. Karen realized that it was too soon for them to live together, and she moved out of Neil's place. Karen gave Neil a choice to choose between her and the memory of Dru, and Neil finally realized he was still in love with Dru. Karen then moved away to New York.

A month later, following Devon's and Lily's advice, Neil surprised Karen in New York by asking her to marry him, but she rejected him. Shortly afterwards, Karen decided to give Neil a chance by returning to Genoa City and agreeing to take things slow.