Nelle Benson’s certainly were when she hit Port Charles in 2016. Everyone thought that Josslyn Jacks’ kidney donor was the embodiment of love and light. But the newcomer was less interested in making friends than she was in making trouble.
After insisting that Nelle prove she really was the kidney donor, Josslyn’s mother, Carly Corinthos, hired her, first as a nanny for baby Avery, then as her assistant at the Metro Court. All the while, Nelle was growing ever closer to the boss’ son, Michael.
By the time Nelle had set in motion a plot to make Carly believe that she’d schtupped her husband, Sonny — and thought better of it — it was too late. She was exposed not only as a conniver but as the adopted daughter of Carly’s late father.
Fired by Carly and dumped by Michael, Nelle was about to get the hell out of Dodge when she was thrown a lifeline by Nina Reeves (then Michelle Stafford, The Young and the Restless’ Phyllis). The new Mrs. Valentin Cassadine first hired Nelle to look after her stepdaughter, Charlotte, then to be her assistant at Crimson.
Michael thought that he was well and truly rid of Nelle when he gave her the heave-ho. Silly Michael. His former girlfriend not only had a trick up her sleeve, she had a bun in the oven — one that would tie them together forevermore.
After being canned by Nina, Nelle managed to get hired to work at Ava Jerome’s art gallery. (Does no one in Port Charles check references?) In Nelle’s free time, she tried to drive Carly crazy by making crank calls from her late son, Morgan.
Nelle was elated to think that she’d suckered Michael into making an honest woman of her. Until, that is, she learned that he’d been plotting to bust her with Harrison Chase, the police detective who vividly remembered what happened to her last rich fiancé.
Owing to several bizarre twists of fate, Nelle wound up with newborn Wiley on the same road as Brad Cooper, who was loath to go home and tell husband Lucas Jones that their newly adopted baby had died. Solving two problems at once, Nelle traded her and Michael’s son for Brad and Lucas’ ill-fated one.
Eventually sent up the river — all the way to Pentonville — Nelle conspired with shifty lawyer Martin Grey and fellow inmate Ryan Chamberlain to acquire for herself a Get Out of Jail Free card. Before she was sprung, however, she made another key acquaintance…
What with being absolutely despised all over Port Charles, Nelle and cult leader Shiloh Archer had… OK, maybe not loads in common but at least that in common. And following his demise and her release from prison, she revealed in dramatic fashion that they’d gotten hitched. (That hat!) She still thought that she needed a husband with a pulse to help her win custody of Wiley, though. Hmm…
Beats us why Nelle thought that being married to a former mobster like Julian Jerome would help convince a judge that she was stable and responsible enough to parent her little boy, but believe it, she did… right up until the moment that Michael was awarded custody of Wiley.
Actually, Nelle, ya were. Trying to flee from Port Charles with her son in tow, the scheme queen landed in the most precarious of predicaments. In the wrong place at the right time, Carly tried to save Nelle — mm-hmm, sure she did — but to no avail. Down the hellion went, presumably to her death.
Only after Nelle “took the plunge” did Nina (now Cynthia Watros) learn that her former employee had been her long-lost daughter and the owner of the half-heart necklace that fit perfectly with her own. To say that Nina was displeased that Carly had both withheld this information and let Nelle slip through her fingers would be an understatement of epic proportions.
Grandma tried to carve for herself a place in Wiley’s life. But after she took up with an amnesiac Sonny, Michael cut her right back out, with the blessing of his significant other, Willow Tait, who unbeknownst to everyone but Carly is Nina’s surprise second daughter and Nelle’s twin sister!
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