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They Wouldn’t… They Couldn’t… Actually, They Did — Now Some of Your Favorite Characters Want You to Forget the Worst Things They’ve Ever Done (As If!)
They aren’t getting off that easy.
Everyone deserves a second chance, right? And maybe a third… or fourth. OK, maybe not that many. Eventually, you have to cut your losses and admit that some folks are beyond redemption.
But that’s not how it works in the soap world, where characters turn over so many new leaves, you’d swear they lived in a world of eternal autumn. There’s almost no deed too horrifying to come back from — and soap-opera folks would know, because they’ve done ’em all!
Sometimes, though, our beloved characters commit acts so horrible that no amount of apologizing could ever make up for them. That’s when it’s best to just turn off the lights, shut the door and hope everyone forgets they ever happened.
The Bold and the Beautiful‘s Sheila and Deacon know exactly what we’re talking about. There’s a reason those two get along so great! We’re pretty sure they’ve worn out several brooms sweeping their misdeeds under the proverbial rug.
More: Soaps’ all-time greatest villains, ranked [PHOTOS]
But even good guys can do bad things — just ask The Bold and the Beautiful‘s Taylor or General Hospital‘s Kevin. As psychologists with their own questionable pasts, they certainly understand how right Norman Bates had it when he said, “We all go a little crazy sometimes.”
Then there are the folks who aren’t evil, per se, but who have done some truly heinous things. The Newman men over on The Young and the Restless can tell you all about that. Their list of crimes could fill a book. (And thanks to Leanna Love, in Victor’s case, they have!)
The point is, we get it. It’s best for everyone’s sanity to just forgive, forget and move on. But where’s the fun in that?
So instead of just letting these misdeeds slide, we thought we’d flip the lights on, yank the rug back and take a good, long look at a few (dozen) of daytime’s most horrific acts. Just click the gallery below to check them out. After all, the best way to keep history from repeating itself is by studying it — closely, and with a healthy dose of judgment.
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
1/44
<p>Formal events will always be an issue for Ciara’s husband, given that they inevitably remind him — and everyone within choking distance — that he was once the homicidal maniac who terrorized Salem as the Necktie Killer.</p>
Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
2/44
<p>Nowadays, when we think of the straight and narrow, we think of it as the only path that the former WSB operative would ever take. But it ain’t necessarily so. Back in the day, Anna was a double agent working with the nefarious DVX.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
3/44
<p>Far be it for us to question self-branding, but trying to kill a man not once but twice seems like a poor way to advertise your skills as a psychologist. But we guess there are worse slogans than “If I can fix my own murderous urges, I can fix yours, too!”</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
4/44
<p>Back in the day, Victor was a full-on, mustache twirling villain. How could he <em>not</em> be, right? Just look at that glorious thing. Victor’s got a long list of “greatest hits,” but one of his most dastardly has to be when he locked first wife Julia’s lover Michael Scott up in a cage and fed him rats. Pest control is never pretty, folks.</p>
Image: Dick Zimmerman/NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
5/44
<p>Alive. She buried Carly <em>alive</em>. Fearful that she’d lose a custody battle with adopted son Nicholas’ biological mother (who’d previously thought the moppet was long dead), Viv, whacked out on medication, attempted to do away with the competition by putting her in an extremely early, extremely cruel grave.</p>
Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
6/44
<p>Before we get any deeper into this list, we’d better get daytime’s original sin out of the way: Luke forced himself on Laura. Period. But because the pairing of Anthony Geary and Genie Francis proved to be so popular, the show forged forward with their characters as a couple, anyway, and set them off on decades of adventures as if what had transpired between them had been a rite of courtship, not the sexual assault that it was. And though we’d like to say that this was an isolated daytime incident… Well, as this list goes on, you’ll see firsthand that it was anything but.</p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
7/44
<p>What did we tell you? Yeah, there’s a reason no one’s smiling in this photo. Back when Ridge was played by Ronn Moss, he had sex with brother Thorne’s then-wife Caroline while she was medicated to the point that she thought she was sleeping with her spouse. In other words, [see headline].</p>
Image: NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
8/44
<p>You would think that as someone who herself was a survivor of sexual assault, Sami would be a little bit more empathetic to others. You would think wrong. In her quest to have crush Austin, she slipped him the date-rape drug and proceeded to do exactly what its name implies.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
9/44
<p>There was a time we wouldn’t have thought Sheila would have a problem with her history. But now that she’s been trying to be well-behaved — for <em>her</em>, anyway — we’re pretty sure she’d prefer everyone forget about the fact that we could make an entire scrapbook out of her pointing a gun at different people.</p>
Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
10/44
<p>Good twin, bad twin, it’s all relative. (Get it? Relative?) After Ryan died the first time, Kevin picked up the evil slack and went a little berserk. He was blacking out, hallucinating and acting erractically — then he kidnapped Felicia! Once they got his childhood trauma sorted out, the shrink’s villainous days were over. But we’ve still got our eye on you, Kevin. </p>
Image: CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
11/44
<p>Sexual harassment, attempted murder, kidnapping, attempted rape — back in his earliest days in Genoa City, Michael was a true horror to Christine. And yet he went on to become Genoa City’s D.A. We’d love to be able to say, “Only on a soap,” but…</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
12/44
<p>We have a feeling Belle and Shawn would like to forget about most of Claire’s childhood. The poor tot was kidnapped three times, once by her own parents! To make things worse, someone stole the shirt right off of Shawn’s back! Actually, that made things a little better.</p>
Image: Jesse Grant/JPI
13/44
<p>Stephanie may have gone to… er, <em>whichever</em> place she went to, but if she were alive, we’re pretty sure she’d still be feeling bad about killing Morgan’s unborn baby. Twice. Actually, who are we kidding? Feel bad? Stephanie would have made sure Morgan <em>never</em> carried Ridge’s kids no matter how many times it took. </p>
Image: Jesse Grant/JPI
14/44
<p>Does Kate regret drugging and trying to kill Sami? We’re going to guess no. The blonde’s blackmailed her, sexually assualted one son and driven the other to drink. But then Kate and Sami worked together to cover up Nick’s non-death, and if nothing else, that’s a real bonding experience.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
15/44
<p>It’s treated as so many bygones now, but nope, we can’t forget the fact that when first we met Kevin, he was an internet predator who, as if that wasn’t bad enough, gave an underage Lily an STD. What’s more, he locked her pal Colleen in a freezer at Gina’s and set the place on fire!</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
16/44
<p>Ridge apparently has no concept of what consent means. Years after Caroline, the Forrester heir slept with a drugged-up Brooke, who was too out of it to know what was happening. An accident? Maybe, but that at very least, very seriously calls his judgment into question.</p>
Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
17/44
<p>Everyone loves to say that Sonny’s a “good” mobster. But his halo wasn’t exactly spotless when he convinced Jagger’s high-school sweetheart Karen to strip at his nightclub, got her hooked on drugs and had sex with her. Those crimes alone should’ve gotten the future “coffee importer” sent down the river for life.</p>
Image: Jesse Grant/JPI
18/44
<p>Sami is a true hero who will right <em>any </em>wrong. Like when her mom cheated on Roman with John and gave birth to Belle? That was so horrendous in Sami’s eyes that she stole the baby and tried selling her on the black market to spare Roman’s feelings. OK, wow, way to bring a gun to a knife fight, Sami.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
19/44
<p>These days, Billy Boy takes the brunt of Victor’s wrath. But for decades, it was Jack against whom he plotted — and <em>at</em> whom he often launched unstable women like onetime girlfriend Kelly, who tied him to a bed, and ex-wife Patty, who secretly switched places with his lookalike fiancée.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
20/44
<p>Years ago, before he began his “good guy” schtick, Deacon was so ticked that Amber was with Rick instead of him that he wooed a teenage Bridget, married her and made her family listen to him sleeping with her on the phone. We guess that showed Rick? Thank God this was before smart phones, at least. </p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
21/44
<p>Does Kate regret — ah, forget it. The question’s not even worth asking. Kate’s been sleeping like a baby ever since trying to murder Chloe and framing Daniel. And we’re pretty sure she slept even better after — yikes — forcing Chloe into prostitution. But that doesn’t mean Kate wants people to keep bringing it up. “I’ve moved on,” she might say. “Why can’t <em>you</em>?”</p>
Image: Brian Lowe/JPI
22/44
<p>Maybe therapy isn’t the best vocation for Taylor (then Hunter Tylo). She’s been battling years of guilt ever since she went “A Little Bit Alexis” on Darla and mowed her down while drunkenly rushing to Phoebe’s aid. “Vroom, vroom,” indeed.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
23/44
<p>Carly’s never pretended to be an angel, nor an Elizabeth fan, but even she can’t help but feel bad about causing the car accident that led to one of Liz’s miscarriages. Especially after Josslyn needed an emergency kidney and Elizabeth was all, “Fine, you can have my dying son’s, I guess.” But then it turned out that Jake didn’t die and Joss got Nelle’s kidney, so… karma?</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
24/44
<p>Bill’s a jerk who’s not above trying to have someone taken out, but he’s not a monster who’d kill his own son in pursuit of his goals… is something we can no longer say. Accident or not, if we were Liam, we’d be milking Bill’s guilt over dropping the Spectra building on us until the day we died.</p>
Image: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
25/44
<p>In the Mob world, we guess shooting the mother of your son is just an occupational hazard. But shooting the mother of your son <em>in the head a</em><em>s she gave birth</em> is on a level all its own. Not only did Sonny fail to kill Lorenzo, he put Carly (Tamara Braun at the time) into a coma! With a birth like that, no wonder Morgan’s life was so traumatic.</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
26/44
<p>OK, now this is something Kate <em>does </em>feel bad about. All she wanted to do was beat Victor to death with a poker and burn his house down around him. She had no idea Lucas was passed out drunk in the mansion! Actually, his drinking was Sami’s fault, anyway, so maybe we can blame it all on her the way Kate would want us to.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
27/44
<p>Bad decisions don’t get a whole lot worse than Quinn’s to kidnap an amnesiatic Liam and convince him that they were a married couple with sex privileges. After finding his mom, in essence, raping his brother, we’re guessing that Wyatt had to take out a second mortgage to pay for those therapy bills. </p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
28/44
<p>A peanut-butter Patty may sound like a delicious treat, but it was more of a trick when Victor’s pawn went rogue. Paul’s unhinged sis gave Summer a peanut-butter-laced kiss, sending the then-tot into an allergic coma and nearly killing The Mustache’s granddaughter. It was even more horrific than putting a mop on Summer’s head and calling her “My little moppet.” Barely.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
29/44
<p>What is it that Forrester men don’t comprehend about consent? Much like dad Ridge with Caroline <em>and</em> Brooke, Thomas (then Pierson Fodé) had sex with Caroline while she was too doped up to think straight. In retrospect, maybe the mannequin <em>was</em> the safest bet for hi</p>
Image: JPI
30/44
<p>Brook Lynn has never been great at making good choices. The girl once went on the run to Mexico with Diego, Georgie and Dillon — and one of them was a serial killer! But drugging Dante back when she was played by Adrianne Leon and trying to seduce him to make a quick buck from Carly was definitely a low point. </p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
31/44
<p>When Lucas got trapped under a beam, Sami ran off in search of help. Instead, she found EJ (then James Scott). His price for saving a man’s life? Sex. And that is the very definition of <em>not</em> OK. Yet, as with Luke and Laura on <em>General Hospital</em> years earlier, the pairing of Scott and Alison Sweeney was so popular, EJ wasn’t sent to prison but delivered straight to the frontburner.</p>
Image: Aaron Montgomery/JPI
32/44
<p>In his never-ending quest for revenge against Victor, Adam (then Chris Engen) once dressed up as a drag ghost to gaslight Ashley. But then his scheme went too far and Ashley took a tumble down the stairs, miscarrying her and Victor’s kid. Honestly, Ashley, we were just about knocked off our feet, too, when we saw how good Adam looked in Sabrina’s dress. But we digress… and so did the story.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
33/44
<p>Ruining one woman’s life wasn’t enough for Adam (Michael Muhney here), so he figured he might as well go for a two-fer. After Ashley’s miscarriage, he blackmailed her doc into convincing her she was fine so she’d go into hysterical labor. Adam then stole Sharon’s newborn, told her the kid had died and handed it off to Ashley. It was all part of his scheme to… er, something, something Victor revenge.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
34/44
<p>Ava wasn’t bad at the whole mobster thing, but she did tend to take it too far — like when she killed Connie. The only thing that saved her from Sonny’s wrath was some steamy tomb sex and a quickie baby with the don. We still half-expect Sonny to finish what he started the next time he remembers that Connie’s dead. Even if he did get to fingerpaint with her one last time…</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
35/44
<p>Sending Kelly after his nemesis wasn’t enough for Victor, so he also hired a lookalike hood named Marco to take Jack’s place while the blonde held him captive. And when we say “take Jack’s place,” we mean everywhere — including in the bed of his wife, Phyllis (at the time Gina Tognoni). Which means that, during that whole period, she was being unknowingly raped by a stranger.</p>
Image: Sean Smith/JPI
36/44
<p>What’s better than sleeping with one of your daughter’s boyfriends? Sleeping with two of them, of course! Intentionally hopping into bed with Bridget’s husband, Deacon, was vintage Brooke, but getting vertical with Oliver was an “accident.” Is it a 20-something guy in a mask or the man you’ve loved for decades? Who can tell? Clearly not Brooke! </p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
37/44
<p>A few years back, Tripp tried framing Kayla for medical malpractice because he blamed her for his mom’s death. That didn’t work, so instead he tried killing the doc with the world’s smallest scalpel. Clearly, she wasn’t impressed. The funny part? Ava wasn’t dead, and Kayla hadn’t been the one to fake-kill her. We bet they still laugh and laugh over <em>that</em> whole mix-up.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
38/44
<p>Anyone else notice how half the acts on this list come from either Victor or Adam (Mark Grossman now)? Like father, like son. Actually, Adam’s never really liked Victor. He certainly didn’t when he tried blowing his dad up! No wonder the junior Newman soon after went on his best behavior. “Bomb? What bomb? Here, let me straighten that picture for you, Dad. Do you want some coffee?”</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
39/44
<p>And the 2019 Father of the Year Award goes to… absolutely anyone but Thomas. <em>Anyone</em>. Emotional manipulation, abuse — if there was a dirty trick to use on Douglas to lure in “new mommy” Hope, Thomas played it. That projector he used to make Douglas think he saw a ghost would be a cute Halloween addition, though.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
40/44
<p>Yes, it goes along with Thomas’ Hope obsession, but this was just so bizarre, it deserves its own slide. The man was in love with a mannequin. And she was giving him orders! Brain bleed or not, no one wants to remember that. We sure don’t. </p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
41/44
<p>Getting hitched to your teenage sweetheart? Delightfully romantic. Marrying your former teenage sweetheart’s <em>dad</em>/former father-in-law? Deliriously horrifying. When Sharon went scorched earth and burned down the Newman ranch, we wanted to do the same thing to this ill-advised union.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
42/44
<p>Back in the day, Nina (then Michelle Stafford) was so literally baby crazy that she induced labor in Ava and swiped Sonny’s kid to replace the one she’d lost decades ago. But judging by the snogging that went on between the mobster and Nina years later, Sonny’s forgiven her. That, and he probably figured that finding out Nelle was Nina’s real kid was punishment enough.</p>
Image: Howard Wise/JPI
43/44
<p>J.T. was always a good guy. A troublemaker at times, sure, but who isn’t? But then he turned into an abusive, controlling creep. After Victoria and her gal pals put an end to his reign of terror, he claimed the old “The brain tumor made me do it!” defense, so we’re pretty sure if he ever gets out of jail, he’ll also be pleading the “I lost my memories when they cut out the brain tumor!” defense.</p>
Image: Jill Johnson/JPI
44/44
