Around the same time that Genoa City newcomer Hilary Curtis began working as Cane Ashby’s assistant at Chancellor Industries, a mysterious blogger started taking aim at the Winters family. But there was no way that the two things were connected… was there?
In her gossip column, Lady Whistledown Hilary went so far as to insinuate that she was sleeping with Lily’s then-husband. (Photos like this helped a bunch.) Why did she do it? Because the vengeful schemer blamed the Winters family’s patriarch Neil for the death of her mother.
After the truth about Hilary was revealed, Neil didn’t just forgive her, he helped her score a job at Jabot Cosmetics. At the same time, circumstances were conspiring to explode the Winters family. In other words, Neil’s adopted son Devon Hamilton isn’t in this picture only because every picture is better with him in it.
Would this qualify as a “business move”? Whether it would or it wouldn’t, Hilary paid lip service to boss man Jack Abbott.
Hilary also turned up the heat with Jack’s son, Kyle — a harbinger of things to come, albeit in an altogether different family.
When Neil told Hilary, “We’re cool,” he meant it — to the point that he took her to bed and then to be his lawfully wedded wife. There was just one teensy huge problem: By then, she had fallen head over stiletto heels for Devon and vice versa.
Neither Hilary nor Devon wanted to hurt Neil. Unfortunately, the heart wants what the heart wants, and what their hearts wanted was for the twosome to rip off each other’s clothes and, when the need arose, carry on behind Neil’s back.
As you’d expect, when Neil learned that Hilary had been cheating with Devon, all hell broke loose. The illicit lovers finally managed to tie the knot in 2015, only for her ex-husband’s vindictiveness to lead to… um… A whole mess. Let’s leave it at that.
When Hilary wasn’t busy breaking up and making up with Devon, her singleminded focus was on making chatfest GC Buzz the talk of the town. That, and doing everything she could to knock co-host Mariah Copeland out of the spotlight.
We should have. Because if Hilary had to make Mariah physically fall on her face to make her metaphorically fall on her face, you bet your ass that she was going to do it. (See illustration.)
Hilary and Devon had at last reconciled — for keeps this time, they were sure — and were eagerly anticipating the birth of their first child when Lily drove her sometime sister-in-law into a car accident that cost her not only her baby but her life.
Devon had finally begun to pick up the pieces of his shattered life with the help of new love Elena Dawson when into Genoa City walked Amanda Sinclair, an attorney who looked exactly like Hilary. Well, except for the bangs.
Understandably, Elena worried that her boyfriend wouldn’t be able to help but be drawn to Amanda, who would’ve won a Hilary lookalike contest without even trying. As for Devon… as you can see, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to get in the middle of all that!
In hopes of connecting with her new boo — Devon’s hot-doc cousin, Nate Hastings — Amanda started dressing in only black and white like he did. But where could that relationship really go with Elena acting as unofficial chaperone? What was her motivation?
Devon’s girlfriend ultimately let her insecurity lead her into a hookup with Nate. Once the fallout was done falling, the billionaire did exactly what she’d feared that he would and explored his feelings for Amanda, who it turned out so closely resembled Hilary for a reason: They were twins separated at birth!
Partly, that was due to COVID protocols in 2021. But it was also symbolic of the chasm that opened between Amanda and her biofamily when she met mother Naya Benedict, half sister Imani and, most troubling of all, Sutton Ames, the murderous grandpa who’d killed her dad.
Imani was, as the kids would say, a lot. But Amanda gradually formed such a bond with her that they opened their own law firm together and became colleagues at Chancellor Industries. Amanda didn’t even have to worry that her sibling would become a rival: Imani became all about stealing Nate from Elena.
Amanda had supported Devon as he’d donated sperm so that Abby Newman and Chance Chancellor could have a child. But both Amanda and Chance drew the line at their significant others engaging in old-fashioned baby-making techniques well after Dominic was born.
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