Ashley Abbott
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| Ashley Abbott | |||||||||||||||
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 Eileen Davidson as Ashley Abbott (2007) |
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| The Young and the Restless The Bold and the Beautiful |
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| Portrayed by | Brenda Epperson (1989-1995) Shari Shattuck (1996-1999) Eileen Davidson (on Y&R 1982 - 1989, 1999 - 2007, 2007, 2008) (on B&B 2007- ) |
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| First appearance | 1982 (on Y&R) March 9, 2007 (on B&B) |
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| Last appearance | March 26, 2008 (on Y&R) | ||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Ash | ||||||||||||||
| Gender | Female | ||||||||||||||
| Age | 46 | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Fragrance Chemist for Forrester Creations | ||||||||||||||
| Residence | Los Angeles, California | ||||||||||||||
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Ashley Suzanne Abbott (previously Lassiter, Newman, Bladeson, Howard, and Carlton) is a fictional character originally from the American soap opera The Young and the Restless. Actress Eileen Davidson originated the role in 1982, departed in 1989 and returned from 1999 to 2007. During the ten years that Davidson was away, the part of Ashley was played by Brenda Epperson Doumani (1989-1996), then Shari Shattuck (1996-1999). The character began appearing on The Bold and the Beautiful on March 9, 2007, once again played by Davidson, and both the actress and the character have continued to make guest appearances on Y&R.
[edit] Character biography
[edit] The Young and the Restless (1982-2007)
Ashley was first seen in 1982, when she and her sister Traci (Beth Maitland) returned home from college to find Jill Foster (then played by Deborah Adair; later Brenda Dickson; now Jess Walton) making advances on their father John (Jerry Douglas). Both their father and their brother Jack (then Terry Lester; now Peter Bergman) seemed to favor Ashley, the beautiful and intelligent sister over the shy and overweight Traci. Their mother Dina (Marla Adams) had abandoned them for Europe when they were children, leaving them to be raised by John and housekeeper, Mamie Johnson (Marguerite Ray; later Veronica Redd).
Ashley began working as a chemist at the family business Jabot Cosmetics under the alias "Susan Ashley" to keep from being labeled as the boss's daughter, and romance developed with fellow-chemist Brian. Later that year, Ashley found Jack in bed with his lover Diane Jenkins (then Alex Donnelley; later Susan Walters), and hauled him to the church late for his wedding to Patty Williams. During Jack's absence from Jabot after Patty shot him for his philandering, Ashley was named President of the company, though she always maintained her presence in the Jabot lab creating new fragrances.
Ashley's next romance was with Eric Garrison (Brian Matthews). Eric proposed, and when his belongings arrived from Paris, Ashley found among them a painting of her estranged mother Dina signed, "All My Love, Eric." With proof of Eric's past affair with her mother, Ashley broke off the engagement, and soon fell in love with Marc Mergeron, who turned out to be her mother Dina's step son! Then former Country Club tennis pro Brent Davis returned to town and began an affair with Dina's friend Katherine 'Kay' Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper). When he found out he was dying he wanted to reveal to Ashley that he had been Dina's lover and was Ashley's real father. Dina and Kay tried to talk him out of it, but Ashley was traumatized by the news when he told her, and ended up with no memory at a roadside diner where she took the name "Annie" and worked as a waitress. When Brent and Kay returned from a vacation together, Dina confronted Brent about what he had done. Dina shot Brent but missed and Kay was shot instead. Jack figured out what had happened, and he and his then lover Jill confronted Dina. Dina and John began a search for Ashley. A truck driver saw one of their flyers, figured out who "Annie" really was and offered her whereabouts to John for ransom. Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) ended up finding her at the diner, and took her home to recuperate with him and his wife Nikki (Melody Thomas Scott) at the ranch. Ashley forgave her real father just before his death, and vowed that John Abbott would never find out. Only Dina, Jack, Jill, Katherine and Victor know the secret of Ashley's real parentage to this day.
Ashley moved from the ranch when she found herself being drawn to Victor. Nikki discovered it and retaliated by having an affair with Jack Abbott. Then deciding to fight for Victor instead, she tried to pair Ashley with Victor's brother Matt Miller. But it was too late. Nikki and Victor had separated, and Ashley and Victor were in love. Then Victor learned that Nikki had an incurable disease, and returned to Nikki to try to make her remaining days happy. Ashley discovered she was pregnant, then found out about the reconciliation. Although Matt volunteered to marry her, Ashley decided the only solution was abortion. Meanwhile Victor found out Nikki was in remission yet still faking her disease so filed for divorce, intending to return to Ashley. Finding out about the abortion, he berated Ashley and caused another nervous breakdown. Ashley found herself without her memory again in a New York City mental institution. John eventually found her there and returned her to a posh private institution near Genoa City. Her New York doctor, Stephen Lassiter, had fallen in love with her, followed, and became a resident physician there.
Ashley recovered thanks to Stephen's devotion, and they were married. During their honeymoon in Hawaii they were stalked by Leanna Randolph (also known as "Leanna Love"), a former mental patient of Stephen's who fantasized that they were lovers. After Leanna made several attempts to murder Ashley with a poisoned Lei, Ashley spent most of her honeymoon sick. Ashley never found out about Leanna's connection to Stephen nor that she tried to murder her. Leanna followed them back to Genoa City and became the infamous author of Ruthless, the expose on Victor which included a chapter on his affair with Ashley and the resulting abortion. Stephen and Ashley's marriage was short lived when he was murdered by yet another deranged former patient who pushed him to his death through a fourth story window.
It wasn't long before Ashley was actively pursued by her sister Traci's ex-husband, Brad Carlton (Don Diamont). Before Ashley could give an answer to his proposal, Traci returned to Genoa City, determined to win back Brad. Torn between her feelings for her sister and Brad, Ashley returned to her cottage in the woods for solace. Hurting over Nikki's recent marriage to Jack, Victor also turned up at the cottage pining for his lost love with Ashley. Victor and Ashley convinced themselves that they were still in love and impulsively married. Victor's daughter Victoria (then Heather Tom; later Sarah Aldrich; now Amelia Heinle) returned as a teenager from her Swiss boarding school, determined to break up her father's new marriage. As Victor discovered Nikki was drinking and suffering from chronic pain, he slowly fell back in love with her. Victoria felt sorry for Ashley and told her everything. Ashley moved out. Next, the unlucky-in-love Ashley became interested in Jabot's mysterious new photographer Alexander "Blade" Bladeson (Michael Tylo). They fell in love and married. Bent on causing trouble, Blade's former lover Mari Jo Mason (Diana Barton), accused Blade of fighting with his twin brother Rick (also Michael Tylo) and leaving him to drown in a lake. Both were quite surprised when Rick arrived in town, quite alive, but bent on revenge against Blade. Rick ended up holding Blade hostage and taking his place as husband to Ashley. Even after Blade escaped and resumed his role as her husband, he never told Ashley of the deception. Blade was killed by a train as he rushed home to rescue her from a returned-for-revenge Rick. It wasn't until Blade's funeral that Mari Jo told Ashley via Jill that she was living as wife to Rick for months. Devastated, Ashley then ran off to live in Paris.
Ashley soon returned, and she was attacked and nearly killed by two thugs while walking through the woods, but was rescued by the mysterious Kurt Costner whom they shot and left for dead. Ashley and Kurt were rushed to the hospital. They became attracted to each other, and Kurt's haunting past turned out to be a wife and daughter who were killed in a car accident. Ashley found the evidence that proved Kurt was not at fault. Saving Hope's (Signy Coleman) life convinced Kurt to return to his career as a doctor. He became close with Hope and Ashley forced him to choose. Kurt chose to escort Hope and Victor Jr. back to Kansas.
The following year, Ashley agreed to let Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck) write his new novel based on her. Cole's wife Victoria, who was Ashley's former step daughter, had abandoned him for Europe for months with no word. Victoria came home unexpectedly and found them together kissing on the bed. Victoria and Ashley competed for Cole. A divorce occurred and Ashley and Cole married. Then Ashley disappeared to Madrid, where she became involved in rescuing her step brother Rafael. She sold some stock to buy back forged paintings he had done and sold. Since Cole was following her around Europe, always a step behind, he assumed she was having an affair with this unknown man, Rafael. Victoria, bent on breaking up their marriage, joined them in Europe and hooked up with Rafael. When all finally returned to Genoa City, Victoria left Rafael with a ticket to follow them. In a last ditch attempt to save her jeopardized marriage, Ashley decided to have a baby. Cole instead took a teaching position at Oxford, and divorced Ashley.
Jack gave Ashley a cruise for Christmas to help her get over Cole, from which she returned pregnant. Ashley was determined to raise the baby herself, feeling guilty about the one she aborted of Victor's. She refused to name the baby's father, and after badgering by Jack named her friend Christian to shut him up. Ashley briefly fell in love with Victor Newman again, until he decided to end it due to too much bad history between them and the continual animosity between his and her families. Then old flame Brad Carlton came to her rescue, wooed her and talked her into marrying him, and raising the child as his own. Ashley went in to labor, leaving Brad and the wedding guests waiting. Victor rushed her to the hospital, Ashley gave birth to a baby girl, and Brad and Ashley were married in her hospital room. Brad's troubled teenage daughter Colleen (then Lyndsy Fonseca; later Adrianne Leon; now Tammin Sursok) soon returned to Genoa City, and moved into the Abbott Mansion.
With Brad by her side, Ashley faced the biggest crisis of her life: the discovery that she had rapidly spreading breast cancer. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments and lost her hair. The stress involved affected their relationship, especially when Ashley's former husband Victor Newman was constantly supporting her. Ashley and Brad seemed to have gotten things "back on track", but only after Brad had a brief affair with Ashley's best friend and doctor, Olivia Winters (Tonya Lee Williams).
Ashley fell pregnant again. While nesting at a private resort, just days away from delivery, Ashley decided to drive back to Genoa City to convince Victor to stop his unethical business dealings. Ashley's car was broad-sided just outside Genoa City, and Jack and Brad arrived on the scene as she was cut out of the car and rushed to hospital, battered and bruised. As Brad held the hand of an unconscious Ashley, the fetal heart monitor stopped. Ashley was rushed into surgery, but the baby, named Robert after John's father, died. Nearly everyone blamed Victor. The usually mild-mannered John even went out to the ranch and punched Victor in the face. When Ashley was told, she blamed herself - especially after Olivia delivered the news that Ashley is unable to have more children. When Victor visited Ashley, she told him to go away, and Brad went gunning for Victor to even the score. Meanwhile Ashley had another mental breakdown, as she happily showed people her newborn son which was nothing but a baby blanket, and refused to allow Brad to have a memorial service. Ashley got the help and medication she needed, and returned home.
Ashley spent a few months almost catatonic until it was discovered that she snapped out of it whenever Victor's name was mentioned. Ashley's family convinced Victor to speak to her, and she eventually came out of it completely. Convinced it was caused by her untold secret, Ashley was determined to tell Victor the truth, that her daughter Abby is his child by stolen sperm sample. Nikki begged her to be the one to tell, but it was in fact six-year-old Abby (Darcy Rose Byrnes) who beat everyone to it, telling Victor, "Momma says you are my daddy." Victor confronted Brad, Brad told him it was true, and Victor was livid with all involved. Victor wanted unsupervised visitation with Abby, Ashley wanted it too, but Brad was adamantly against it.
In 2004, John fell in love with the much younger Gloria Fisher (then Joan Van Ark, now Judith Chapman), unaware that she was the mother of unscrupulous attorney Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) and Kevin Fisher (Greg Rikaart), who had tried to murder Colleen. Ashley, under the delusion that Victor wanted a relationship with her, suddenly announced to Brad that their marriage was over, because she wanted to be with Victor. When Victor heard what she did, he confronted Ashley and informed her that he was happily married to Nikki with no romantic interest in Ashley. Ashley and Brad separated, Ashley moved home to the Abbotts', leaving Abby staying in the house with Brad. Victor enjoyed regular visitation with Abby until she fell from a horse on the ranch, and became rather afraid of him. Ashley and Jack were both shocked when John and Gloria returned from a cruise and announced they were married. Convinced that the lower-class Gloria was a gold-digger, Ashley disapproved of their relationship and vowed to end it, while Jack was content provided Gloria made John happy. However, when John found out that Gloria was mother to Michael and Kevin, he was ready to end the marriage. But a fall down the stairs caused John to break his hip, and Gloria managed to weasel her way back into his good graces while he recuperated.
In December 2005, John killed Gloria's abusive ex-husband (and Kevin's father) Tom Fisher (Roscoe Born) in self-defense, but suffered an accident soon after, resulting in amnesia. Not wanting her father to go to jail, Ashley lied that she was the one who killed Tom. However, John eventually remembered that he was the one who had committed the crime, and confessed, resulting in a seven-year jail sentence.
With John in prison and not at the mansion to protect her, Gloria grew tired of the way Jack and Ashley treated her and vowed to get even. She managed to get hold of the new product Ashley was developing in the lab and contaminated it with cleaning solution to make trouble for them. Gloria even asked for a sample, then used it on herself, contracting major facial burns, in order to show everyone that Ashley's cream was a hazard. Unfortunately, samples had already been distributed to select people, and a woman ended up dying after using the cream. The cause of death was suspicious, but the woman's husband was paid off by Jabot to avoid a lawsuit. Jabot's reputation was further ruined, and Jack was fired by Katherine as a result. Gloria then invited Kevin to live at the Abbott estate, ingratiated herself to Kay and Jill and landed a job at Jabot as Fashion Consultant, before getting Kevin hired as Director of Internet Affairs, replacing Jack's ex-wife, Phyllis (Michelle Stafford). She let both Kevin and Michael in on her schemes and they reluctantly helped to keep her secrets.
John suffered a fatal stroke while in prison. Outraged to learn that under the terms of John's will, Gloria was entitled to 50% of the Abbott estate, Jack and Ashley contested the will, ultimately resulting in Gloria being left with nothing. Jack evicted Gloria and Kevin from the Abbott estate, and they moved into Michael and Lauren's (Tracey Bregman) apartment.
Jack was legally unable to own Jabot, so he made an offer through a company called House of Kim, which Katherine accepted. To make matters worse, Jack financed it using a loan from Victor. Ji Min Kim (Eric Steinberg) became the figurehead owner of Jabot. However, Victor soon figured out that Jack now owned Jabot, and became bent on Jack's destruction once again. Ashley was so upset by the collusion that she accepted a position with House of Kim in Hong Kong, taking Abby with her.
[edit] The Bold and the Beautiful (2007-present)
Ashley ended up in France, on business, where she soon met up with Rick Forrester (Kyle Lowder), who was looking to launch a line of fragrances for Forrester Creations. A short time later, she ended up in Los Angeles, where she accepted a position working for Forrester Originals to design a fragrance to go with their new line of boutiques. She and Rick Forrester agreed to keep the romance they had in Paris in the past, as he was moving on with a new love interest, the much younger Phoebe (MacKenzie Mauzy).
Ashley began a relationship with Ridge Forrester (Ronn Moss) and they soon became engaged. However, Ridge's attentiveness to his true love Brooke in the aftermath of her rape created tensions in Ashley's relationship with Ridge. While Ashley was in Paris on business, Ridge and Brooke reconnected, and Ridge broke off his engagement to Ashley upon her return to LA and planned his life with Brooke.
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