Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations

Victoria Rowell: 'The Women Who Raised Me'

Victoria Rowell spent her early life going from home to home in the foster care system.

Some remember her her as Dr. Amanda Bentley on the 1990s primetime series Diagnosis: Murder. But, arguably, for most she will always be remembered for her popular role as Drucilla Barber-Winters, the runaway kid-turned-fashion model on the long-running daytime drama The Young and The Restless.

In her new book, The Women Who Raised Me, Rowell talks about spending an entire childhood as a Ward of the State, never formally adopted into a family. This childhood reality is the driving force behind her nearly 20 years of advocacy work on behalf of children in foster care.

The actress talks to NPR about the women who cared for her when her birth mother could not, and her own rise to Hollywood fame. To satisfy the curiousity of her soap opera fans, Rowell also discusses her departure from The Young and The Restless.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.