Erica is the number one diva in Pine Valley, and has been a prominent character since the show's inception. Femme fatale, she just can't seem to hold on to her man, no matter how hard she tries. Her best friend is Opal Cortlandt; and Brooke English, her favorite sparring partner. While Erica is very self-centered, the only person she loves just as much as herself is her daughter Bianca.
In 1970, high school senior Erica engineered her first successful breakup, of classmates Phillip Brent and Tara Martin. But when Erica didn't win Phillip as she planned; she set her sights on Tara's older brother, medical intern Jeff Martin, with whom she eloped a year later. But Erica soon was bored with her life as the wife of a struggling young M.D. and embarked on a career as a model - and an affair with her agent, suave Jason Maxwell. In 1973, certain that she was on the verge of fame and fortune, Erica secretly aborted Jeff's baby.
Jeff stood trial for Jason's murder, but finally, it was revealed that Mona had killed the cad. The scandal temporarily ended Erica's days as a cover girl.
In 1974, after granting Jeff a divorce, Erica made another play for Phil, who was on the rebound from Tara. This time, he not only slept with Erica, a year later, he married her. After Erica miscarried their child and suffered a nervous breakdown, she gave Phil a divorce and began an affair with the much-older Nick Davis, her mother's best friend.
At the same time as Erica was carrying on with Nick, she became quite taken with Mark Dalton, the new music teacher at Pine Valley University. When it appeared that Erica and Mark might become more than friends, Mona admitted that the young man was the illegitimate son of Erica's father and his secretary, Maureen Dalton. Initially, Erica refused to accept her half-brother Mark but over time, the half-siblings became very close.
Meanwhile, Erica and Nick broke up after Mona caught them in bed together. But they couldn't stay apart. After Erica came down with pneumonia. She lost the will to live. To insure recovery, Nick popped the question, and she accepted. When he broke their engagement in 1978, she turned around and wed ex-football star Tom Cudahy, for whom she worked as the hostess of his restaurant, The Goalpost. The Cudahy's stormy union suffered as Tom discovered that Erica was telling him one lie after another. Among her deceptions was Erica telling Tom she wanted children, while secretly taking birth control pills. Behind Tom's back, she opened a trendy Disco named after herself. The marriage finally came to an end after Tom discovered Erica's dalliance with cosmetics tycoon Brandon Kingsley.
After Erica's closed up shop in 1980, Erica herself became the prize in a battle between rival cosmetics tycoons Brandon Kingsley and Kent Bogard. Erica and Sensuelle Cosmetics boss Brandon's affair soured when she learned that he had a wife, Sara, and kids that he had no intention of leaving. Kent offered to steal away Erica - both romantically and professionally. He would give her her own line of beauty products, he promised.
In 1982, Kent and Erica's relationship hit a snag in the form of her mousy half-sister, Silver Kane, who had begun working as her assistant. Silver transformed herself into a glamorous vamp and seduced Kent, who was accidentally shot by Erica after learning of their fling. Silver was revealed to be an imposter named Connie Wilkes and sent to prison.
In 1983, Erica hired Mike Roy, the man who would be the love of her life, to ghost write her biography, Raising Kane. Despite her feelings for the author, she wed millionaire Adam Chandler in 1984 in order to win the part of herself in the movie version of the book. Eventually, she extricated herself from their volatile marriage, but it was too late: Mike was shot and killed.
In 1985, Erica found a new reason to love in Jeremy Hunter, an artist who once saved Mike's life. But their romance was thwarted at every turn by a formidable rival, Jeremy's youthful stepmother, Natalie Hunter, who wanted him for herself. In 1987, Noelle Keaton was revealed to be the real Silver Kane, Erica's half-sister. She became obsessed with Jeremy and was killed in self-defense by Natalie.
That same year, Erica helped Mark beat his addiction to drugs. She also took her next husband, politician Travis Montgomery, when she became pregnant with his child. Finally, in 1988, after a bout with toxemia, Erica gave birth to Bianca. That same year, after Travis had himself kidnapped in a desperate bid to save his empire, Erica divorced him.
Erica's father, Eric, left her for a second time in 1989, after she discovered that he wasn't dead as he had led everyone to believe but traveling with a circus as Barney The Clown. In 1990, trying to be a better parent than he ever was, Erica broke her engagement to Travis's brother, lawyer Jackson Montgomery, and remarried Travis to cheer Bianca, who had contracted Reye's syndrome. The reunion was short-lived; Erica and Jackson resumed their relationship.
Much to Erica's chagrin, her competition for Jack's affection was Brooke English. The women's longstanding rivalry dated back to their days vying for Tom's attention. First, Erica married him, then Brooke did. After Erica's marriage to Adam ended, Brooke married him, too. Brooke even was engaged to Mark at one time!
Erica and Jack eventually parted company, and she took as her next husband Dimitri Marick. Although initially Dimitri was out to take over Erica's company, once they fell in love, he was as devoted to her as Kendall Hart was resentful of her. In 1992, the waif showed up on Erica's doorstep and soon was revealed to be the product of Erica's rape at age 14 by Richard Fields, a friend of her father's.
Making matters worse, in 1994, Erica lost her mother, Mona. The following year, following a fall off of a scaffold during a fashion show, Erica became addicted to painkillers - and the object of unscrupulous Dr. Jonathan Kinder's obsession. After overcoming both obstacles, Erica learned that she was pregnant with Dimitri's child. Still in love with him, she asked Dimitri to remarry her, blissfully unaware that he had slept with their sister-in-law, Maria Grey, after catching Erica in what appeared to be a compromising position with Jonathan.
After suffering a miscarriage in early 1997, Erica soon found herself as a new mother. This requires a little setting up. Dimitri and Maria slept together. It was a one-night stand, but when Maria later discovered that she was pregnant, the baby could very well have been Dimitri's. It wasn't, but Skye Chandler doctored a paternity test to make it look like Dimitri was the father, not Edmund. Erica learned of the affair and cornered Maria in a cabin at Willow Lake. The stress of the confrontation sent Maria into early labor. Erica would have been content to let Maria suffer, but she felt obligated to help deliver the one month premature baby and take it to the hospital. The weather was treacherous and Erica hit a patch of ice while en route to the hospital. Erica, the car, and the baby skidded off the road and into Willow Lake. The baby ended up missing... but after being released from the hospital, Erica retraced her steps and learned that a woman had found the baby and taken it into her home. Erica then faked going to Russia to adopt a baby and used Maria's baby, now named Sonya, as the baby she supposedly adopted. But holes in her plan began to show themselves. Dimitri made calls to the adoption agency and learned that Erica had not adopted the baby from Russia.
Erica then claimed that Esther, the woman who had rescued Sonya from the icy waters of Willow Lake, was the baby's biological mother and had allowed her to adopt the baby. The guilt built and Erica decided that she had to take the baby back to Edmund and Maria. The infant was reunited with Maria, but simply returning the baby did not serve justice in Edmund and Maria's eyes. Erica was charged with kidnapping and two other felonies.
From jail, Erica learned of Maddie's true paternity. She helped reunite Edmund with his daughter. Little did Erica know that her daughter, Bianca, was suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. Erica did almost everything to get out of jail. At her parole hearing Edmund felt that it was his duty to turn the tables and say a few words on Erica's behalf. Erica was released from prison to help Bianca recover. She is currently home, nursing Bianca back to health and has become the former owner of Enchantment. As a surprise, Erica made Bianca second in command. Bianca seemed very pleased. Erica hoped that this might be what Bianca needed to help her regain her self-confidence.
With Bianca now on the road to recovery, Erica was focusing her attentions back on her career. That was until a car accident during a snowstorm badly scarred her face and did damage to her heart. Dr. David Hayward was the driver and he was in a hurry to attend Liza and Adam's second wedding when they hit a truck on the side of the road. The damage to Erica's face was so severe, she wore a mask on the entire left side of her face until a renowned plastic surgeon was able to restore her original beauty.
Seeking revenge on Dr. Hayward for the damage her had done to her personally and professionally, Erica tied up David in her basement and damaged his hand in a vice. What started out so ugly for Erica and David, turned into a budding romance, with each forgiving the other for their crimes. David and Erica definitely shared passion. That there was no denying. However, their relationship ran into trouble because both felt that the other was putting something before their relationship. For Erica, David's devotion to his job and his irregular work schedule made her feel like a second fiddle. David, on the other hand, was irritated by Erica's persistent references and interest in her former husband, Dimitri. In a tear-filled face off, Erica told David that they were unable to love each other the way that they deserved to be loved. Passion, she said, was not enough. With that, the two parted ways.
Erica kept David in her life, especially when Bianca returned to town. Bianca's arrival back in Pine Valley provided troublesome for Erica because she'd lost touch with her daughter and the fact that her daughter wasn't a little girl any more. The two clashed at almost every turn, but through it all Erica remained her daughter's biggest fan. When Travis died, Bianca was forced to remain in Pine Valley full-time. Erica continued to press her wishes and desires on her daughter and it backfired. Bianca moved out of the house and in with her Uncle Jack, though the relocation lasted barely a night. Bianca moved back into her mother's house, but took with her a secret that was tearing at her heart.
On Christmas Eve 2000, Bianca shared with her mother the very secret that was causing her so much pain. As Erica prepared for a press conference to announce that she and her daughter would be the featured models in an ad campaign for Enchantment, Bianca remained at her mother's house. Erica returned to find the reason for her daughter's delay. Bianca revealed to her mother that she's gay. Erica turned, unwilling to listen to what her daughter was saying. She asked Bianca to continue getting dressed because the media was waiting for them. Bianca tried to get her mother to listen to her, but nothing she said seemed to get through to her mother. Erica left the house and did not return home until the next morning. Erica and Bianca took several months to restore their relationship. Things did not become "normal" overnight. Erica bribed Bianca's friend, Rain, a homeless teen, to leave town, claiming that she was a bad influence on Bianca.
In Spring 2001, an Ecstasy overdose aggravated a pre-existing heart condition in Brooke's daughter, Laura. A cardiologist on staff at Pine Valley Hospital determined that Laura's condition was quite grave - and potentially deadly. Erica and Brooke put aside their differences to become an unlikely pair, determined to free Dr. David Hayward from jail so that he could do risky surgery to attempt to save or prolong Laura's life. The two women put aside their differences, brought together by a common bond: motherhood.
Erica strongly disapproved of her daughter Bianca's friendship with tomboy Mary Frances "Frankie" Stone. Erica vowed to kill Frankie after Bianca walked in on Frankie and a boy (Adam Chandler, Jr.) in bed together. Sure enough, Frankie turned up dead several hours later. Thinking that Bianca killed Frankie, Erica decided to take the fall for Frankie's death. The trial quickly degraded into a three-ring circus, with Erica ditching counsel in order to represent herself. Erica was ultimately found not guilty, but her relationships with Bianca and lawyer-and-lover Chris Stamp were severely strained.
