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.Erica was soon reconciled with Bianca and Chris due to mutual hatred of Erica's long-estranged daughter, Kendall, who had arrived back in town to play a part in Erica's murder trial. Kendall did her best to ruin Erica's bonds with her daughter and boyfriend, while Erica plotted various ways to drive her out of Pine Valley, none of which worked. When Erica's home was set on fire and Bianca nearly died, Erica immediately blamed Kendall and refused to believe anyone who doubted her guilt. However, ultimately Erica learned of evidence that Kendall was not responsible and cleared her. Still, she had no intention of having a real relationship, since at one point she had even told Kendall she saw her rapist every time she looked in Kendall's eyes.Memories of Richard Fields continued to haunt Erica as one night she thought she heard his voice at the construction site for her new office. She hit the man on the head with a pipe, only to realize he was Trey Kenyon, Kendall's roommate and former attorney. Soon she also learned that he was Richard's son by Vanessa Cortlandt, and that he had burned down her home earlier that year. Erica decided to make both him and Kendall pay for their nasty ways, but ultimately landed a brief stay in jail after breaking into Kendall's hotel room. Her friends and family rallied around her for the Thanksgiving holiday.By February 2003 Erica's newest concern was FUSION, an upstart cosmetics company run by, among others, Kendall and Erica's former star employee Greenlee. Her personal life should have been perfect, as she was engaged to Chris. But her old feelings for Jack were resurfacing once again, leaving Erica guilt-ridden after she and Jack shared a passionate kiss in her apartment one day. Erica and Jack had a one-night stand. Erica was guilt-ridden and tried to stay loyal to her fiancé, Chris, but they had many communication problems, especially regarding her desire to make him come work at Enchantment, and her meetings with corporate shark Michael Cambias. After a few months, Chris found out about Erica and Jack's tryst, and dumped her. He went off the deep end and was a prime suspect when Jack was shot, but he was soon cleared. Chris and Erica made peace as Chris announced his plans to leave town. Meanwhile, Erica rallied to Jack's side as he recovered from his shooting. They got engaged, only to have Erica push him away when she found out Chris had been shot and killed. She saw this as a curse which she brought on men. Jack quickly wore down her defenses and they reconciled.Michael tried his best to take over Enchantment, using Bianca's girlfriend Lena and Kendall as pawns in his twisted mind games. Lena was arrested for her corporate espionage, and Kendall played double agent for Erica. Erica saved her from Michael's attempt at rape. A few weeks later, after Erica reaffirmed her hold on Enchantment and forced her way into a major role at Cambias Industries (squeezing Michael out in the process), Michael tried to rape Erica, and Kendall was the savior this time. Erica disliked Lena but grew to accept her in Bianca's life. Michael was not so easy to deal with and continued to menace Erica and her daughters. His threats spurred more flashbacks to the night she was raped by Richard Fields, and Kendall was a great comfort to her. For the first time, mother and daughter had worked out their issues and were actually close. With this fence temporarily mended, Erica worried about what was troubling Bianca (she didn't know Michael had raped Bianca). On the romantic front, after Jack nearly died of complications from his gunshot wound, only a rare blood type saved his life. Erica discovered that Greenlee was that rare blood type, and was Jack's daughter via a long-ago affair with Mary Smythe, who now wanted Jack back! Erica blackmailed Mary with proof of her past misdeeds while she tried her best to push ahead with wedding plans and keep the truth from Jackson and Greenlee. On their wedding day, Greenlee walked into the ceremony and announced that she was Jack's daughter. Hurt that Erica had kept the truth from him, the wedding was called off.During the summer of 2003, Bianca was raped by Michael Cambias, who also tried to rape Erica and Kendall, but was not successful. Bianca didn't tell anyone about the rape, although everyone noticed the drastic and unhealthy change in her behavior. In order to cover up her rape, she told everyone that she had broken up with Lena and that is why she was so upset. She broke things off with Lena, not giving her much of an explanation or reason. Weeks later, Bianca finally admitted to Maggie Stone that she'd been raped. Bianca continued to hide her rape from her family, including her Erica, who knew better than anyone else how she felt. Erica was led to believe that it was actually Kendall who was pregnant. Kendall had devised a strategy to shield Bianca from anyone finding out that she had decided not to terminate her pregnancy. Kendall went on trial for Michael Cambias' murder and things went terribly out of control. Ryan figured out that Bianca wasn't pregnant and agreed to help the two women carry out their plan of deception. Ryan hired a top-notch doctor who agreed to conduct a non-invasive paternity test on Bianca and say that she had conducted the test on Kendall. The test results satisfied the court, but there were still those who doubted that Kendall was really pregnant. In the middle of court, Greenlee duPres yanked Kendall's dress off, revealing a pregnancy pooch. The incident turned everything upside down. Everyone put two and two together and realized that Bianca was carrying Michael's child. Erica was outraged and blasted her daughters for having lied to her. Kendall and Bianca both claimed that they had been doing what they thought was best for Erica, but Erica didn't believe them. Slowly but surely, Bianca started to recall that she might have more information about Cambias' murder. The pieces finally fell together and she realized that she had been the one who'd shot and killed Michael. She had visited Michael's condo toting Reggie's gun. When Michael again tried to harm her, she sot and killed him. Following Bianca's confession, the judge presiding over the case leaned hard on the prosecution not to press any charges against Bianca.The resulting stress of the situation started Erica drinking, something she hadn't done since she'd gotten hooked on pain killers. Though her loved ones begged her to stop, Erica saw no need for their concern.As Bianca's due date approached, she found herself trapped in the middle of nowhere with Babe following a storm, Babe called Paul and asked that he fly his medical helicopter to take her and Bianca to the hospital. Paul initially agreed, but later agreed. When he arrived, he helped Babe deliver her baby. He then administered an unknown medicine to Babe leaving her groggy. During this time, Paul staged a chopper crash. When Babe awakened, Paul told her that he baby had died during the crash. However, when help arrived and Babe's family threatened harm to Paul if anything had happened to babe's child, Paul changed his story and said that Bianca's baby had been thrown from the chopper. He had hid Babe's baby in a nearby cabin and planned to give the baby boy to Kelly so that she could pass the baby off as her own. Bianca's babe was then given to Babe, leaving Bianca and her family to believe that her child had been killed.Erica was overjoyed later when she, and the rest of the family, learned that Bianca's daughter Miranda was alive and well. She managed to put aside her reservations concerning Miranda's conception to accept her daughter, and also cemented her relationship with Jack by marrying him in a beautiful ceremony in Florida. Shortly after she begun hosting her own show, New Beginnings, and had planned to use Greg Madden as her first guest. Before long Erica realized that Greg, who had shown an alarming interest with her, was the doctor who had performed her abortion during her marriage to Jeff. She also discovered that his son, Josh, was actually her own son -- rather than abort her baby, Greg had implanted the fetus in his own wife!