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"I didn't mean to cause trouble. Honest."
- Kendall Hart
Kendall Hart is a fictional character on the American soap opera, All My Children. Kendall is the daughter of the series' central character and originating villain, Erica Kane. Emerging as one of daytime television’s most layered and popular characters, Kendall Hart was initially written as a complicated antagonist between 1993-1995 before her reformation into a heroine. She was described as a "complicated bad girl," (Hart, Marla. ‘Erica Kane's Daughter Fashioned From Same Mold’. Chicago Tribune. 1994), “hell on wheels daughter,” and called "the scheming daughter of the biggest schemer of them all, Erica Kane," ('Like Mother, Like Daughter.' Daytime TV. 1994), sharing similar multifaceted qualities that had launched Erica’s character into pop culture prominence. (Hart 1994) As "Pine Valley's teenaged troublemaker,” the character received popular viewer response ('Reader’s Notes: Who’s Getting the Most Letters.' Soap Opera Update. November 1, 1994)(Hart 1994) and actress Sarah Michelle Gellar won a Daytime Emmy in the category of "Outstanding Younger Actress" for her portrayal of Kendall Hart in 1995.
Kendall Hart is later reformed by the series into a heroine and reconciled for good with her families, developing close relationships with her mother and half-sister. Kendall was a fan favorite under both Sarah Michelle Gellar (1993–95) and Alicia Minshew (2002-2011, 2013). She was initially portrayed by then 15-year old Sarah Michelle Gellar during the character's first run from March 11, 1993 to July 3, 1995 and then by Alicia Minshew from January 7, 2002 to September 23, 2011. Minshew appeared as Kendall Hart on the Prospect Park's revival of All My Children in the second July 8, 2013 episode. "I seduced my stepfather, and when he wouldn't sleep with me, I slept with the stable boy, cried rape, and my mother stabbed him with a letter opener. Then I went to jail for perjury, burned my parents' divorce papers, and locked up my little sister. I think that was all in the first week."
- Gellar on playing Kendall Hart, New York Times, April 1997
Character age, origins, and development[]
The idea for the character of Kendall Hart as the long-lost daughter for the well known character of notorious Erica Kane (Susan Lucci), who is one of All My Children's original villainesses, existed for years prior to the Kendall's debut but producers had to wait until the right time in Erica's storyline to introduce her (Tracy, Kathleen. The Girl's Got Bite: The Original Unauthorized Guide to Buffy's World. St. Martin's Press. 2003). Described as the "saucy daughter" of "she-devil Erica Kane," (Pearlman, Cindy. ‘Waiting for Buffy.’ Chicago Sun Times. 1997) Kendall was designed to be like a younger version of Erica, explained as a “schemer who does the wrong things for the right reasons” and retaining sympathetic qualities alongside shared devious traits in their drives for approval. (Hart 1994) (Tracy 64) In 1993, 15-year old Gellar was called to audition for the teen character of Kendall based on her work as Sydney Rutledge in Swan's Crossing, a role similar to Erica Kane and Kendall Hart (Rush, Michael. 'Learning Life's Lessons.' Daytime TV. 1993; Pure Soap, Entertainment Television, 1994). Gellar, bearing a physical resemblance to Lucci and the acting skill needed for the character, won the role over many teenaged actresses (Tracy 64). Though viewed by some as "the second coming of Erica" and winning a Daytime Emmy for the role in 1995, Gellar departed in 1995 to pursue other projects. (Tracy 65) In 2002, Kendall returns played by actress Alicia Minshew, who also resembles Lucci and posesses the ability to portray Kendall's multi-faceted traits alongside the character's dramatic Erica-esque personality. Minshew portrayed Kendall until the series finale in 2011 and in the 2013 revival.
Before Kendall's 1995 departure, the character is reformed and she is written is a heroine when she returns.
In an effort to ensure Kendall's storyline was unspoiled before the character's debut, details of the character's true identity as Erica Kane's daughter were initially kept secret by the show during the development phase. Gellar learned she'd be playing Erica Kane's long-lost child when she screen-tested with Lucci and was cast in the role (Tracy 64; 'AMC's New Runaway Teen.' Soap Opera Digest. 1993). In 2001, Minshew experienced a similar situation in which she wasn't told she was auditioning for the role of Kendall until after her screen test with Josh Duhamel. ('Alicia Minshew: Queen of Hearts.' Soap Opera Town. 2002)
On March 11, 1993, Kendall was introduced to the audience as a waifish, starry-eyed 16-year old runaway wanting to meet her celebrity idol, Erica Kane. Initially, her true identity as Erica's daughter was kept secret by the character and writers for the first month of the character's storyline until mid-April 1993, when her real identity was disclosed. A month later, in May 1993, Kendall reveals the truth to Erica that she is her daughter. Kendall's initial motivation to see her mother was to fulfill the idealized mother daughter relationship her character had been dreaming about and fill in the missing pieces of her identity. Kendall's character was written to feel displaced in her life with her adoptive parents and fears being alone/unnoticed, with dreams of doing more with her life than what her parents allow. As a child, she inadvertently learns the truth of her adoption, which her parents had kept hidden. Kendall unseals her adoption papers, discovering her birth mother is her lifelong idol, Erica Kane. Certain this is the reason why she has always felt misplaced, Kendall dreams of a mother-daughter reunion with Erica and longs for her approval, feeling she'll finally belong once she has found her mother. Simultaneously, Kendall experiences feelings of perceived abandonment due to her hurt and anger over Erica having given her up for adoption. Consequently, Kendall is driven by a need for payback but also longs for her mother's love and acts out for attention from Erica, boyfriends/love interests, etc., resulting in her schemes, plots and ploys. During this time in the series, Erica and Kendall's mother-daughter relationship is portrayed as emotionally tumultuous and multifaceted with a push-and-pull dynamic. In the first month of Kendall's storyline, clues hinted at Kendall's true identity including noted similarities between Erica and Kendall, story references to a familial connection, Kendall's mysterious documents, Mona's recognition of Kendall's birthmark, and finally, it being revealed Erica had been pregnant at 14 with her first born daughter. Erica and her mother, Mona, placed Erica's baby girl for adoption with the Harts, a loving couple from Florida.
Alicia Minshew as Kendall Hart (2002- 2011, 2013)
In April 1993, 16-year old Kendall was confirmed to the audience as Erica's long lost daughter. Shortly after, in a retroactive continuity of the show, it was revealed Erica was raped on her 14th birthday by movie star Richard Fields and this is when Erica became pregnant with her first child (Kendall). Due to timeline discrepancies involving the current audience remembering Erica had not been a pregnant teenager 17-years before and later, 16-year old Kendall being said to have been conceived in a then-written 23-24 year old rape, Kendall's character was later rapidly aged from 16 to 22–23 years old (birth date revised to September 25, 1970). Upon the character's return in 2002 (played by Minshew), Kendall's birthdate was revised back to September 25, 1976, reverting her age back to her original age of being 16 in 1993, when she first appeared as a teenaged girl in the spring of 1993.
Heroic nature[]
Gellar as Kendall Hart (1993-1995)
Near the end of Gellar's run, Kendall is reformed by the series into a heroine. When Kendall returns in 2002 under Minshew, her storylines as a heroine are expanded.
While Kendall has always had a complicated and multi-faceted relationship with her mother Erica, Kendall reconciles with her mother before Gellar departs the role and later develops very close relationships with her mother and sister Bianca.
Since the character's inception, even during her time as a scheming brat, Kendall is quite protective of those who she feels are her true friends and will do her best to help people who she sees are in iminent physical danger - such as when she saved her little sister from Richard Fields; stood up for Del Henry, who was in desperate need of a kidney transplant; and put her own life on the line to prevent Janet from going on killing-sprees. Upon Kendall's return in 2002, these traits are expanded. From 2003 onward, Kendall is willing to sacrifice her own life to protect her sister Bianca, protect her mother at all costs, and is likewise very protective of friends and family. Currently, this article details Kendall's storylines from 1993-1994 with a brief summary covering 2002-onward, the latter being when most of her actions as a heroine occur.
Backstory[]
When Erica was 14-years old, she was raped by Richard Fields, a movie star who was Erica's favorite film actor, idol, and a friend of her father's, director Eric Kane. It was later revealed Eric Kane had set this up in exchange for Fields to act in a movie he was directing. Erica became pregnant and she and her mother, Mona Tyler, placed Erica's baby daughter, Kendall, for adoption to a loving couple, the Harts, in hopes of giving Kendall a good life and keeping her free from the knowledge of the rape. The Harts raise Kendall in Florida but keep her adoption a secret from her. Kendall experiences feelings of displacement and of not fitting in. She dreams of doing more with her life than what her practical, but loving, parents allow, who admit they don't understand Kendall and try to reign in her dreams to prepare her for a small-town life. As a young child, Kendall overhears her parents talking about her adoption late one night and inadvertently learns she was adopted. She unseals her adoption papers and discovers her birth mother is her lifelong idol, Erica Kane, a famous celebrity, model, author, and business woman who Kendall has looked up to her entire life. Certain her true identity as Erica Kane's daughter explains why she always felt so different in her life in Florida, Kendall saves up her money to go to Pine Valley. Longing for Erica's approval, Kendall initially dreams she'll meet her mother, develop the ideal mother/daughter relationship with her and believes she'll finally figure out where she belongs once she has found Erica.
1993-1995[]
1993
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Kendall Hart (1993-1995)
Kendall Hart was born in Phoenix, Arizona to a teenaged Erica Kane, who, with her mother, Mona Tyler, gave Erica's baby girl up for adoption to Bill and Alice Hart. The Harts raise her in Florida and keep her adoption a secret. As a child, Kendall learns of her adoption when she overhears her parents discuss it late one night. Though growing up in a loving home and ultimately caring about her adoptive parents, Kendall feels misunderstood and displaced in her life with the Harts and that she hasn't belonged. She unseals her adoption papers and discovers her birth mother is her lifelong idol, celebrity Erica Kane. In March 1993, she comes to Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, as a teenage waif to meet her mother with dreams of a fairy tale-esque Hollywood reunion of mother and long-lost child. She waits for Erica in the offices at Enchantment, Erica's cosmetics company, as a runaway kid but does not reveal her real identity as Erica's daughter at this time. Upon meeting Erica and her fiancé, Count Dimitri Marick, Kendall begs for a job and faints. Erica hires her as her personal assistant and puts her up at the Pine Valley Inn until Kendall moves to Myrtle Fargate's boarding house in April 1994. Kendall helps plan Erica's wedding to Dimitri from March to May 1993. She stores her adoption papers identifying her birth mother with her doll she keeps with her in her bedroom.
Kendall is in for a shock while working for the demanding, self-centered and often egotistical Erica. Initially excited to work for her famous idol and having looked up to Erica all her life, Kendall devotes herself to her job and impresses Erica and Dimitri by successfully putting together their engagement party. At the party, Erica's mother, Mona, recognizes a familiar birthmark on the back of Kendall's neck while fixing her hair and begins discreetly seeking information about her in April 1993, getting to know Kendall. Meanwhile, Kendall is given the task of planning Erica's wedding but her resentment over being treated as an employee begins upon witnessing the attention Erica lavishes on her eight-year old daughter, Bianca, visiting from Seattle (Kendall, again lost in Hollywood lore, somehow thought Erica would sense their connection and perceives Bianca to have, in Kendall's view, the life she was meant to have as well). When Erica remains oblivious to the truth and starts becoming irritated and confused by Kendall's seemingly random accusations/dramatic moods around her, ranging from longing to anger (Erica: "I feel like I'm in the final act of an opera"), Kendall keeps avoiding telling her who she is and Erica softens when Kendall explains about feeling displaced all her life. However, a bitter Kendall is still hurt over this and begins to sabotage Erica's wedding plans. She orders the wrong supplies, cancels the orchestra, orders the wrong wine, and burns Dimitri's divorce papers from his ex-wife, Angelique.
Gellar as Kendall Hart (1993-1995)
Recognizing Kendall's birthmark, Mona believes Kendall is Erica's baby girl she had Erica give up for adoption at age 14. She confides in her friend and investigator, Nick Davis, explaining she thinks Erica's new assistant, Kendall, is Erica's daughter. Distressed, Mona reveals Erica's rape on her 14th birthday by a friend of Erica's father's when Erica was visiting her father in California. She recalls Erica's pregnancy and Erica giving birth to Kendall in Phoenix. Mona remembers she discovered Erica's pregnancy in her fifth month when Erica had started showing and it was too late to consider an abortion. She explains her shock to realize Erica was pregnant when she saw her step out of the shower and learned about the rape when Erica told her mother what had happened. Knowing an obstetrician in Arizona, Mona decided to take Erica to Phoenix for the final months of her pregnancy, where she had her baby. Mona describes the difficulty of this time, that she felt it was best to have Erica give her baby up for adoption to a loving family and, after Erica's baby was born, how she held Kendall as an infant, "She (Kendall) was a beauty, strong and healthy, screaming like a banshee. She was quite like her mother." Mona remembers that her granddaughter had a "little birthmark" and continues to recall holding Erica's baby, "I held (Kendall) until she calmed down and I looked very deep into her eyes and I told her that I loved her." After Kendall's birth and adoption, Mona remembers urging Erica that it was best to keep this experience a secret and bury it inside herself so she could be spared the pain and ache of these memories. Mona explains she was also left with feelings of sadness over giving up Erica's child for adoption and tells Nick she is certain she’s seen this birthmark again and looked into her granddaughter's eyes recently, “I think the little girl that Erica gave birth to is in Pine Valley,” and believes Kendall is Erica’s daughter. Mona wants to keep this from Erica until they can confirm Kendall is her child in case she is wrong.
To determine if Kendall is Erica's daughter, Nick goes out on his own investigation. He plants a teenaged private detective, Hayley Vaughan, as a resident to investigate Kendall. Being near Kendall's age, Hayley tries to befriend her to get information but Kendall blows her off. Erica almost discovers the mission when Kendall tells Erica about Nick searching her room after she finds him there but Nick lies about the real reason for breaking into Kendall's room while Mona denies anything is going on. Mona is upset Nick broke into Kendall's room. Hayley and Charlie visit the Harts, who lie Kendall isn't adopted and Mona ends the search. Meanwhile, Kendall reveals to Myrtle that Erica is her mother after Myrtle almost kicks Kendall out for back talking. Kendall, feeling unwanted, explains she was given up for adoption and doesn't understand why. Myrtle counters that perhaps her mother had no choice but Kendall is upset her birth mother had another daughter and kept her, wondering why she wasn't kept as well. Myrtle counsels Kendall not to do anything rash and have “a little care and thought for the woman who brought (her) into the world,” to which Kendall angrily blurts out that Erica is her mother. She shows her adoption papers hidden in her doll. Kendall reveals she never felt like she belonged in her life with the Harts, that they didn't understand her or her dreams, and felt something was missing from her life. Kendall explains she found a reason for her feelings when she was old enough to access her adoption papers and discovered the woman she idolized all her life was actually her mother, feeling she always belonged with Erica. She explains she always looked up to Erica and wanted to be just like her. Kendall reveals she wanted to get to know Erica and then tell Erica she was her daughter but is upset that Erica didn't somehow sense their connection. Myrtle tells Kendall she is acting like a "spoiled child," reminds her she didn't tell Erica who she was, and urges Kendall to just tell Erica the truth that she is her daughter. Kendall agrees but swears Myrtle to secrecy.
Kendall lets Erica know the truth and runs away (May 1993)
Encouraged by Myrtle several times, Kendall tries to tell Erica she is her daughter but is halted when Erica announces Bianca is coming to Wildwind. Kendall nervously tries again to tell Erica the truth later that month but before she can reveal her identity, Erica lectures Kendall she is an employee after she learns Kendall accepted Dimitri's offer to teach her horse back riding, fearing this takes away from his time with Bianca, and sets boundaries, offering to fund lessons at a public stable instead. Kendall feels left out, yet she tries again to reveal she is her daughter but Erica discovers Kendall's incorrect orchestra/wine orders for her wedding and angrily scolds her, flabbergasted when Kendall angrily talks back to her, and scolds her for that as well. Crushed, Kendall flees, where she tearfully lashes out at a bewildered Bianca. When Dimitri tries to gently set things straight with Kendall after hearing about her tantrum from Erica, Kendall hides Dimitri's divorce papers and burns them. In May 1993, Dimitri learns Kendall is trying to ruin the wedding and, forcing her to confess, pressures her to explain why but Kendall freaks out, still refuses to say who she is and runs away. Erica is angry to hear about Kendall and Bianca's altercation as well as more of Kendall's various sabotage attempts of her wedding and irate, goes to confront her but finds Myrtle instead. Myrtle defends Kendall and urges Erica not to blow up at her until she listens to Kendall, saying she's young and lonely. Erica, though saying she knows this and believing she "understands everything about Kendall," explaining she gave Kendall a chance because she knows she's struggling and has been where Kendall is, contends she won't tolerate Kendall's behavior anymore and demands Myrtle send Kendall to her right away. After she leaves, a nervous Kendall is revealed to have overheard all this and Myrtle reminds Kendall that Erica is "not a mind-reader" so she needs to tell Erica the truth about who she is now. Defeated, Kendall explains she wanted to tell Erica everything but Erica cut her off with lectures instead and complains about Bianca. She decides to run away and as she quickly begins to pack, daydreams about a fantasy mother/daughter reunion between her and Erica. Her runaway attempt is halted when Erica finds her. Hopeful that Erica has realized the truth, she is disappointed when Erica remains oblivious to who she really is but confronts Kendall over her continued sabotage of her wedding, which Kendall freely admits, firing her (Kendall: "You got here pretty quickly. Your broomstick must be turbo-charged.") As Kendall angrily confirms her schemes but speaks at cross purposes in reference to her true identity, Erica says Kendall is an "angry young girl" and demands to know why Kendall is so hostile towards her after she has taken her in by giving her a job and a roof over her head, realizing this isn't actually about a job but Kendall is keeping something from her. Kendall is about to say she is her daughter too but their confrontation is interrupted when Erica is notified of Bianca being hurt in a horse-back riding accident and rushes off to the hospital. Kendall is shaken and, jealous of the attention Bianca receives over her injury, blurts out the truth to Erica. Shocked, Erica initially doesn't believe her but stops when Kendall asks her about Phoenix, realizing this is about her first daughter she gave birth to. Erica realizes Kendall is her daughter she placed for adoption, taking Kendall's adoption papers identifying herself as Kendall's birth mother. Crushed, Kendall feels unwanted and runs away from the hospital to hide at the Pine Cone motel as Erica feels horrible for treating Kendall like an employee, wishing she believed her and somehow recognized Kendall was her daughter right away. Erica reveals to Dimitri that she was raped when she was 14 years old and became pregnant, having nearly blocked the night of her rape from her mind. She starts to remember it again.
While a disappointed Kendall tears up her journaled hopes and dreams, Erica frantically searches for her daughter with Dimitri. Upset with everyone who kept Kendall's identity a secret from her, Erica is angry at her mother, Mona, when she discovers Mona suspected Kendall was her daughter but didn't tell Erica first, despite herself and Mona being the two who knew about her first daughter and kept the secret together. She is furious with her mother for having Kendall investigated instead of coming directly to her so she could know Kendall is her daughter and is likewise angry with Myrtle for keeping the truth from her. Erica blames both for Kendall’s hurt and disappearance, yelling at everyone over this situation and feels they botched everything by not coming to her with the truth of Kendall's identity. Feeling guilty over not realizing the truth herself, Erica wants to call Kendall's parents to find her, believing they also didn't tell Erica that Kendall knew she was her mother. Myrtle reveals the Harts kept Kendall's adoption hidden from her. She explains Kendall accidentally overheard her parents talking about her adoption and she kept this information to herself, finding out Erica was her mother from her birth certificate when she was old enough to search on her own. Myrtle explains Kendall is stubborn, determined to make her own decisions, and that Kendall wanted to tell Erica the truth in her own way. Worried, Erica wants to find Kendall herself and make it up to her but Dimitri convinces Erica to hire back private detectives to find her daughter, locating an angry but hurt Kendall shortly after. Kendall relents and agrees to talk. Erica wants to get to know her daughter but though Kendall agrees with Erica that she came to Pine Valley because she wanted to know her mother and wants to be just like her, she claims she's not interested anymore. Kendall asks what was wrong with her as a baby for Erica to give her away. Erica insists it had nothing to with Kendall but says she wasn't ready to be a mother at that point because she was a teenager. Kendall is angry Erica didn't publicly reveal that she had another daughter, Erica replying that she "doesn't owe the public the details of (her) private life," and Kendall agrees, accusing her of abandoning her, "No, not even the kid you tossed away." However, Erica argues she didn't abandon her daughter and did the best thing for both of them when Kendall was born by giving her up for adoption, saying she believed it was best for Kendall to be raised by a "loving, devoted couple" rather than a "traumatized teenager." Kendall becomes confused by this and by Erica’s vague explanations. Puzzled and unaware of the truth, she asks about her father. Despite Erica's efforts to protect Kendall from the truth and attempts to lead Kendall away from the subject by offering a softened version in its place, insisting they don't need to discuss him as he is not important in her or Kendall's life, Kendall pleads for the knowledge. Kendall is stunned when Erica reluctantly reveals that she became pregnant with her by rape but, explaining she doesn’t want to hurt Kendall, avoids details and only tells Kendall that he was a friend of her father's when a distressed Kendall asks. Troubled, Kendall struggles with this news and asks if the police caught him but Erica reveals she never told anybody about what happened until she told her mother months later. After trying to have Kendall imagine being "even younger than (she) is now" and pregnant, Erica reveals she realized she was pregnant during her 5th month and gently tries to have Kendall understand why she had to give her up because she was too young to raise her, telling Kendall she "couldn't take care of (her) own baby" at that age, asking Kendall if she could raise a baby at her own age. Kendall admits she can't answer what she'd do if she were pregnant. Erica changes topics and asks why Kendall tried to ruin her wedding instead of just immediately telling her she was her daughter. Kendall says that though she looked up to Erica all her life, she wanted to hurt Erica as much as she felt Erica hurt her by giving her up. Erica becomes concerned that the Harts neglected her but Kendall admits the Harts treated her lovingly, relieving Erica. Erica explains to Kendall she wants to be a mother to her. A conflicted Kendall becomes insecure she won't measure up to her mother's standards but agrees to work at a mother-daughter relationship with Erica. Erica welcomes the young woman into her life as her daughter and has Kendall live with her.
Kendall explains further about her parents keeping her adoption a secret and how she found out when Mona apologizes to Kendall for not revealing her suspicions and understands she must be as angry as Erica is. She explains she realized who Kendall was after seeing her birthmark at Erica's engagement party, "In a flash, I saw myself holding Erica's baby the day she was born and seeing that birthmark." Kendall is upset with her grandmother for not saying anything. Mona admits she should have come to Kendall or Erica with her suspicions first but explains she had to be certain Kendall was Erica’s daughter first, deciding not to say anything after the Harts swore Kendall wasn't adopted. Kendall explains the Harts never told her she was adopted and she overheard them talking one night about her adoption as a small child, overhearing them discuss her adoption as being the same time they got their dog. When Mona tells her, "Oh, sweetheart, such a traumatic way for you to find out," Kendall relents and defends them, "They weren't being mean or anything. It wasn't like that. I didn't ask any questions, I just filed it away until I was old enough to find out the truth, the whole truth. They still don't know that I know." She is upset with Mona for giving her up but Mona explains Erica was too young to raise her. Mona sympathizes with Kendall's pain but Kendall says she can't possibly know what she's going through. Mona explains Erica can understand, as some of Kendall's feelings can be shared by Erica because Erica idolized her father and he left her as a child. Mona tells her that it was her choice to place Kendall for adoption, having told Erica that adoption was the only right thing to do by giving her baby to a loving family, "You're angry and bitter and I understand that but don't blame your mother. If you have to hate someone, Kendall, hate me. Not Erica." Erica overhears this, reconciles with Mona, and says to Kendall, "I'm sure you think that your mother will never win any prizes but your grandmother is the best in the world," telling her they can move on, that they have so much to look forward to and they can be a real family, urging Kendall to give it a chance. Kendall starts to agree but when Bianca interrupts at this point, she becomes insecure and closes up again. However, she softens when Mona offers to do something with her. After Kendall hurries to her room, Erica says she has so much to make up for with Kendall and Mona assures a worried Erica that she will win Kendall's trust in her.
Kendall, Erica, Mona, & Bianca at Erica's 8th wedding. They believe their future looks "so promising." (June 1993)
That month, Kendall is touched when Erica makes her a bridesmaid to stand alongside her and Bianca. Bianca is confused why Erica is making such an effort with Kendall and is angry over the resulting attention Kendall receives. Having not gotten along with Kendall, Bianca is furious to learn she is her sister when Erica finally tells her that Kendall is also her daughter, and becomes jealous of Kendall, insecure over not being Erica's only child. Over the next months, Erica tries to help bond her daughters and mediate their arguments but, though they try somewhat and occasionally have a moment, Kendall and Bianca frequently bicker. In June 1993, Erica publicly announces Kendall as her daughter to the world in her wedding announcement. Kendall is genuinely moved, promising she'll never forget this or doubt Erica again and hugs her mother but, to Kendall's horror, Erica invites the Harts to Pine Valley when she realizes Kendall is dragging out telling her adoptive parents the truth. Kendall maintains that the Harts lied to her and resists telling her parents anything, unhappy she was kept in the dark her whole life. Erica gives Kendall a motherly lecture about maturity, saying Kendall doesn’t always know what’s best and though she understands why Kendall did what she did, they were mistakes Kendall made in not being honest with her or the Harts about who she was. Kendall says, “I don’t know why I have to be the only one who’s honest,” and complains she should get to run her own life. Erica disagrees Kendall is mature enough to make these decisions, explaining that Charlie told her how much the Harts adore Kendall (in contrast to what Kendall initially claimed) and says she needs to stop testing people before giving them a chance. She lays down the law that there will be no more secrets and either she or Kendall will tell her parents everything. With no choice, Kendall reluctantly accepts this but freaks out and runs away from Erica’s house. After Erica and Dimitri welcome the Harts when they arrive, Erica goes to get Kendall but panics when she finds Kendall missing from her room, frantically revealing to a stunned Bill and Alice that she is Kendall’s mother. Erica sends Dimitri to find Kendall and bring her back. Erica then lashes out at the Harts. She is furious with them for keeping Kendall's adoption a secret and for the way Kendall found out about it, saying she wanted the best for her baby and for her to be raised by "parents who would do the absolute best for her," and that her mother, Mona, promised her this. Erica lambastes them, "You could have made (Kendall) understand that adoption was an act of love on all our parts. I was too young to raise her but we all wanted the best for her," and says they hurt Kendall by keeping her adoption hidden like a "dirty little secret." When she angrily blames them for Kendall's disappearance and issues, Alice is devastated by this while Bill explains they love Kendall, mortified by how Kendall found out. Alice say that they planned to tell Kendall on her birthday, "But she was so happy. After the presents and the blowing out the candles, we couldn't bear to ruin the day. We were afraid that she'd feel as if she wasn't ours or believe how much we loved her." Erica is sympathetic upon realizing how much the Harts love Kendall and softens towards them but is still unhappy over how everything was handled with Kendall. She reveals Kendall is not handling any of this well. Meanwhile, an unhappy Kendall is found by Dimitri at a bus station. When Dimitri explains her mother is worried, Kendall snaps, "Would that be Erica or Alice Hart?" He answers "Erica," and Kendall retorts, "I think she'll get over it." He tries to drag a stubborn Kendall back home but Kendall refuses, saying she doesn't have "any real mothers," as Dimitri lectures her she has two homes with two mothers who are worried about her while she is acting like a "spoiled brat," insisting Bianca is being more mature than she is. Kendall eases up a bit but snarks, "Then introduce her to my parents. Maybe they'll take her instead." She tries to get on the bus, telling Dimitri how certain she is that she's doing everyone a favor by leaving, but Dimitri grabs Kendall's arm to drag her back to Erica's. A security guard interrupts them, asking Kendall if everything is okay. Kendall softens when Dimitri introduces himself as her father and explains she's trying to run away. Kendall relents when he tells the guard that her mother is worried about her and wants her back home. Kendall confirms Dimitri's explanation to the guard. Dimitri tries to assure Kendall their new family will work. At Erica's house, while everyone worries over Kendall running away, Alice explains how Kendall grew up idolizing Erica as her role model. She admits she thought Kendall's looking up to Erica was typical childhood celebrity admiration but now wonders if Kendall somehow knew Erica was her mother, asking Erica if she knew. Erica admits she didn't realize who Kendall was at first and believed she was a young girl looking for a job, unhappy over hurting Kendall in the inadvertent way the Harts did by not immediately realizing who Kendall was. As the Harts talk to Erica about Kendall as a young child, explaining how much they love Kendall but admit they never understood her. They reveal to Erica that "(Kendall)'s always been so full of big ideas and plans while we tried to prepare her for the real world but she just wouldn't listen. She was so sure she could get everything she wanted and so headstrong,” Erica realizes, "That's like me." She asks to see Kendall's childhood photos, gazing at one of Kendall's baby pictures just before Dimitri returns with Kendall then. Erica and the Harts are relieved to see Kendall, who is surprised by their concern. However, she becomes sullen when Erica tells Kendall she told the Harts everything. Kendall accepts this and her parents' apology but, still unhappy over being lied to about her identity, resists when Erica pushes Kendall to apologize to her parents for keeping secrets herself. Erica invites the Harts to attend her wedding in support of Kendall who, nonetheless, thanks her mother for inviting them. The morning of Erica’s wedding, Mona, Erica, Bianca and Kendall share a family scene as "three generations of Kane women" and call themselves a legacy (this scene becomes iconic in the context of the series and is repeated/referred to frequently as the “Kane family legacy” of Mona, Erica, Kendall and Bianca). They all come together as a family and the wedding goes well.
Kendall's okay with Bianca being in a crypt for a while (August 1993).
Dimitri, Erica, Kendall and Bianca all work to grow as a family and the arrangement manages to works a period, though an insecure Kendall continues to be jealous of Bianca and the two begin a sibling rivalry. The sisters bicker and compete for their mother's attention. Only able to visit her mother intermittently, Bianca is likewise insecure and jealous about sharing Erica with her sister and is upset when Erica and Kendall start spending time together (including stating that Kendall is "faking" her anxiety to get Erica's attention when Erica gives Kendall a mother/daughter pep talk before the wedding and publicly introduces her as her daughter). In June 1993, Bianca acts out and tries to sabotage her sister out of the wedding by destroying Kendall's matching bridesmaid dress with ink. Bianca is angry when their mother changes both Kendall and Bianca's gowns in order to ensure her two daughters are in the wedding. As Erica has Bianca wear another dress and Kendall wear one of Erica's dresses as new bridesmaids gowns, Bianca also blames her sister when Erica (trying to mediate the siblings' arguments) sometimes "takes (Kendall's) side" but she does makes a limited effort with her older sister. Overwhelmed, Erica experiences handfuls with both daughters. She works to ensure Bianca doesn't feel supplanted and that she has room for both daughters while working on her relationship with Kendall. Kendall likewise makes a limited effort with Bianca but feels jealous and hurt by the attentive relationship between Erica and Bianca and of the attention her younger sister receives. As the siblings continue to bicker and accuse each other of misdeeds, Kendall messes up Erica's strategy to win full custody of Bianca for fear of having to compete with Bianca for their mother's attention full time and impulsively suggests to Bianca she could run away from Seattle to Pine Valley to see Erica in August 1993. However, when Kendall realizes she went too far once Bianca actually does run away, she feels guilty and admits enough of what she did to help find Bianca. Nonetheless, Kendall and Bianca get into it again a few days later; Kendall manipulates her sister and Bianca locks herself in the Wildwind mausoleum. Kendall hears her sister's calls but ignores them. However, she reveals Bianca's location shortly after and Bianca is found. Meanwhile, Erica and Kendall continue working to develop a close mother-daughter relationship; doing style sessions, giving designer clothes/gifts to Kendall, an internship at Enchantment and going on off-screen outings throughout the next months. Though they have times where they start to bond, Bianca interrupts and walls are back up when Erica's attention is diverted from an increasingly resentful Kendall to Bianca, resulting in Kendall acting out. Kendall, wanting Erica's total love and approval, wants to please her mother and makes an effort to do so but feels insecurity with her self-identity and place in Erica's life and becomes embittered by not instantly receiving everything she is looking for from her mother. Earlier, in May 1993, Kendall once noticed Erica's fear of thunderstorms and worried she also reminds her of the night she was raped but Erica denied this and attempted to reach out to her daughter but an insecure Kendall panicked and hurried off. Erica works to be the mother Kendall wants her to be and give Kendall the kind of love she is looking for from her but struggles with memories brought back with her daughter's appearance back in her life. Both become frustrated when what Erica gives Kendall isn't enough, Kendall wanting her fantasy relationship with Erica immediately, having dreamed of a fairy tale-mother daughter reunion. In August 1993, Kendall's hurt increases when she pushes Erica to admit that while she cares about Kendall, does not love her like she loves Bianca. Erica confesses privately to Dimitri that she wants to love her eldest daughter in this way but the memories of her rape keep interfering. Kendall and Erica's already complicated relationship is also strained due to Erica being angered by Kendall's acting out and immaturity, becoming frustrated when it seems Kendall wants to be "not just included, but the center of attention at all times" to the exclusion of everyone else's needs. Dimitri counsels both Erica and a disheartened Kendall that they just need time to know each other as mother and daughter. Dimitri encourages Kendall, who admits she’s scared and struggling with her identity, to open up to her mother and assures her of how much like Erica she is. Erica and Kendall continue to work on their mother-daughter relationship.
However, Kendall still finds herself dissatisified with what Erica gives her, unable to give up her idealized expectations of her mother. Dimitri, encouraging Kendall to open up to him, becomes his step-daughter's primary confidante and Kendall grows closer to him. She inadvertently starts to develop a crush on her step-father as a result, though Dimitri considers himself as only a father to Kendall. Kendall keeps her crush hidden away. That month, Kendall accidentally stumbles upon the discovery of her biological father's identity. Kendall starts watching a movie on TV and Erica joins her, noting it is a film of her father's but doesn't remember it well. As she talks about the leading actress to Kendall and tries to remember which of her father's films it is, she freezes upon recognizing the leading man (Richard Fields) and runs out. Confused by Erica's reaction to the film, Kendall wonders what upset her, admits to Erica she doesn't know much about Richard Fields because he disappeared from publicity around the time she was born, but is horrified to realize he may have raped Erica, asking if he is her father. Erica denies to her daughter that Fields is her father. However, after Kendall begs for all of the information, insisting she needs to know, Erica reluctantly confirms it with a very brief version of what happened. She explains to a troubled Kendall that she always wanted to keep this painful information from her and thus, protect Kendall from the truth of who her father was as she spent her own life trying to deal with this painful information. When Kendall asks questions, Erica demands that Kendall completely forget about Richard Fields, that the only way for them to deal with this knowledge is to "let it go" and has Kendall promise she will forget him. Kendall promises this but becomes captivated by his Hollywood persona and movie materials, naively daydreaming him to be his movie characters and will give her that instant love she longs for from Erica. Despite her promise, Kendall feels she needs to find out everything about her biological roots and secretly resolves to find Fields, earnestly keeping her search hidden from her mother. Dimitri discovers what she is doing and Kendall begs him not to tell Erica, saying she will "freak out" if she ever discovers her research. Kendall offers to ensure her search takes place elsewhere for its duration, explaining she doesn't want to hurt her mother with it but explains she needs to know all about her biological roots. Dimitri surprises Kendall when he offers to help her search for Fields. Believing he is protecting both Kendall and Erica by controlling the search, Dimitri aids Kendall in finding her birth father on the condition that Erica never discover they are searching for him. When he is confronted over this by Hayley’s boyfriend, Charlie, who understands Hayley and Kendall being naive enough to be compelled by their shared father complexes to uncover Fields but contends Dimitri should know better, Dimitri explains he wants Kendall to settle her issues about this so it can be over for everyone and they can grow as a family without Fields haunting them. He hires Hayley as a private investigator. Erica gets briefly suspicious when she finds Hayley and Kendall looking over a Fields playbill together in the house and admonishes Kendall to get rid of it. When Erica is also angry with Dimitri, blaming him for letting Kendall have the playbill at all, Kendall defends Dimitri by claiming he told her to get rid of it. Dimitri assures Erica that Kendall isn’t looking for him. Though Erica tells Kendall that she understands the need to learn about a biological father, she says she can't allow it and has Kendall promise to stop. Kendall tells her mother she's not looking and won't collect anything else of his. Despite Erica forbidding her daughter to locate or learn anything about Fields, Kendall resolves to find him and hides anything she finds from her mother. As Dimitri and Hayley help her search, her crush on her step-father grows.
Kendall and Erica have a mother-daughter chat: Kendall complains that Anton sucks, Erica tries to solve this by setting her up with him (October 1993).
In August, Kendall is startled by an unknown boy sleeping in the stables and frightened, points a pitchfork at him. The boy is revealed to be Anton Lang, a medical student who is being hosted by Dimitri. As they get to know each other, Anton takes an immediate liking to Kendall but, while everyone else likes Anton, Kendall finds him annoying and they bicker. Dimitri and Erica push to form a friendship between them, trying to get Kendall to have fun and make friends her own age with Anton and Hayley. Noticing Kendall's listlessness due to her father issues, Erica tries to get Kendall interested in Anton in October 1993 as a first romance to help alleviate Kendall's issues, but Kendall argues she and Anton only annoy each other, “So I don’t need any advice!” Erica believes Anton and Kendall have a crush on each other and tries to convince her of this, giving her boy advice (Erica: “Lucky for you, I am an expert, I could write a book on how to meet the man of your dreams and live happily ever after." Kendall: “I guess you could.”) Paralleling their father complexes, dramatic love/hate reactions to guys, and need for love, Erica explains she understands what Kendall is going through and Kendall promises she’ll try with Anton. However, Kendall still thinks Anton is the worst and Anton, though curious about Kendall, is fed up. However, Erica asks him to keep being her daughter’s friend so Anton finds Kendall in the stables but discovers her with her secret collection of research material on Fields. Kendall freaks out at him ("Get a hint, Lurch!") and Anton explains he only wants to be friends. However, he notices the Fields material and asks her about it. Kendall breaks down, reveals he is her biological father and is devastated when she explains she was conceived when he raped her mother. Anton explains he had no idea about any of this and sympathizes with Kendall. Kendall laments how she has so many questions without answers and Anton assures her answers will come with time. They come to an understanding and Anton admits he has wanted to know Kendall ever since they met, even after she screamed at him during their first encounter when he startled her. Kendall is touched and she and Anton become closer. He promises to keep her search a secret. Remembering Erica explaining to her that she and Dimitri are both trying to protect Kendall by disallowing her from locating Fields, citing her own pain at finding her father and saying she is grateful she's not looking for Fields, Kendall is uncomfortable and rethinks her search. However, things go downhill for everyone when Erica discovers Kendall's hidden research on her biological father shortly after in the Wildwind stables. Erica freaks out. She explains how Fields is not the movie star Kendall thinks he is but a monster she needs to destroy the fantasy of, that his publicity materials are nothing but lies which deceive girls the way she was once deceived herself. In a fit of hysteria, Erica falls into recounting her rape. Kendall is distraught to hear all this. Erica sets the collection on fire and holds a crying Kendall away from the flames, saying she is burning Fields and his lies. She is elated when she momentarily believes she has "killed" Fields after Dimitri and Anton put the fire out. Afterward, Anton comforts a distraught Kendall. She explains she never wanted to hurt her mother but since Erica hasn't left her anything of her birth father, she needs to find him now, "I never wanted Erica to find out. I knew it would all be ruined if she did." Meanwhile, realizing what happened, Erica laments Kendall ended up hearing the truth about her rape and that she lost it but is upset Kendall broke her promise, explaining she thought Kendall stopped looking like she said she would. She is upset to realize Dimitri supported her daughter's search. Dimitri explains Kendall's need to find her biological roots but Erica responds, "So she did, she found me. And she found you. I have opened my life to her, you are a wonderful step-father to her, you are willing to do anything for her, anytime, any place. What is wrong with her? Why must she continue to do research on this deviant?" Dimitri defends Kendall's urge to find out about her biological father but Erica refuses this and furiously asks, "To what? To romanticize a monster? To hurt me?" She forbids Kendall finding anything else about Fields as this can "only cause more pain. This can destroy (them) all," blaming Dimitri for not making Kendall understand this. When Kendall walks in, Erica gives her an ultimatum to give up her search, forbidding her daughter to find, research, or talk about Fields and suggests getting therapy for Kendall to talk about him but has Kendall never discuss it at home. Kendall agrees and everyone in the house comes to a tense truce. However, Kendall, traumatized by her conception and Erica's reaction to her collection, is determined to confront her biological father. Dimitri wants to stop but Kendall, who is conflicted over finding Fields but still needs to find out everything about where she came from, reveals she needs to confront Fields after learning what he did to Erica. Dimitri tells Kendall that Fields raped her mother and a distraught Kendall screams, "I know that! I know that, and he has to pay for that." She explains she needs to meet Fields to condemn him, "He should spend his last few days terrified of burning in hell." Dimitri agrees to let her meet him but only once, after which she must sever all ties to him. Kendall promises. After finding the collection of material on Fields in the stable, Erica begins experiencing flashbacks to her rape.
Kendall's friendship with Anton continues to grow as they begin to confide in each other. However, Anton, developing a crush on Kendall, figures out that Kendall has a crush on her step-father but she repeatedly denies this and fed up with his assertions, kisses Anton just to prove him “wrong” in October 1993. Anton facetiously asks her if she has a crush on him and Kendall shuts him down. When Anton notes her inexperience and wants to try the kiss again, Kendall accepts but freaks out, pulls away, saying she can't. She admits her inexperience, explaining she can’t stand to be touched like that, remembering when she found out her mother was 14 when she had her,
"I didn't know that she was raped. I had all these visions of my mother, like me, just fooling around in the back seat of some guy's car and the next thing you knew there was this baby. I wasn't about to let that happen to me, I didn't want to know about sex, or anything even connected with it. To me, sex was like the enemy. It was something waiting to grab me and to destroy my entire life, only I wasn't going to let it. I wasn't even going to get close."
- Kendall to Anton, October 1993
Kendall on her crush on Dimitri: "That’s crazy! He’s my step-father!" (October 1993)
Anton tries to gradually open Kendall up to having a relationship with him but Kendall, though at times giving in, pulls away. Nonetheless, their friendship progresses. In November 1993, Kendall, Dimitri, and Hayley find Fields in a Los Angeles nursing home. Hayley and Dimitri want to be present when Kendall meets him but they reluctantly let her see him alone. A distressed Kendall confronts Fields about what he did to her mother on her 14th birthday and Fields lies with a warped account of that night. Dimitri and Hayley object to Kendall revealing who she is, worried about the emotional damage Fields could do to her, but Kendall decides to tell Fields the truth. She returns to his room and further interrogates Fields further about what happened on Erica's 14th birthday. Fields lies Erica wasn't upset and the sex was consensual. Kendall is skeptical, telling him Erica became pregnant with her from that night and he is her father. After Fields lies that if Erica had told him about Kendall, he would have raised her, Kendall is unsettled and considers this.
Dimitri, looking for Kendall, arrives to see Fields hugging her and immediately attacks Fields. After being pulled off by Hayley, Dimitri warns Fields to stay away from Kendall, furiously telling him that he knows what he did Erica, and threatens his life as Hayley continues to caution Kendall about how dangerous Fields is. After they reluctantly let Kendall see him alone for a final time, an upset Kendall finally confronts him about raping her mother. Fields lies that he never raped Erica and the sex was "consensual" but when Kendall notes Erica was only 14, Fields claims that Erica said she was 18 and he could never force himself on anybody. A dubious Kendall continues to interrogate him about what he did to her mother, that his story doesn't match Erica's traumatic account, and uneasily questions why Erica would lie about being raped. Fields deceives Kendall with a completely false account, saying Erica needed a cover story after she became pregnant. Playing into Kendall's vulnerability, Fields says he would have raised Kendall as his own had Erica told him about her and claims he and Erica were in love, despite the extreme age difference, using Kendall's own crush on Dimitri by saying that Erica had a crush on him. Kendall becomes confused and is initially doubtful, but is desperate to believe she was not conceived in rape and starts to believe Fields' lies, warming to his apparently instant approval of her as his daughter. Fields works to turn Kendall against her mother and is satisfied when Kendall, deceived by his stories to her, now starts believing him, thinking Erica said otherwise just to hurt her by justifying giving her up for adoption.
Fields softens a hurt Kendall when he convinces her how he wished he could have watched her grow up. As Fields advises her to beware of her mother, a concerned Hayley and Dimitri arrive. Dimitri reminds Kendall of what her mother has done for her, that Erica gave her a home, brought her into her life as her daughter, and did for her "what any mother would do for her daughter," and advises Kendall to never see Fields again. Kendall becomes torn. Dimitri warns her that if she wants to bring "the man who caused (her) mother a life time of pain into (Kendall's) life," this could destroy her relationship with Erica and urges her to keep building the relationship she and her mother have worked to establish together. Dimitri has a conflicted Kendall make a choice between Fields and Erica. Kendall chooses her mother. He has Kendall promise she will sever contact with her biological father. Kendall agrees but, wanting contact with both her birth parents, discreetly keeps in contact. Erica's flashbacks to the night of her rape worsen after the October incident in the stables. Unhappy, Kendall asks if she has anything to do with prompting her mother's pain but Erica denies it, saying not everything is about Kendall, and explains again how she cannot tolerate the prospect of unearthing Fields. However, she later starts seeing Fields in her nightmares at times and unwittingly begins to freak out at her daughter, who is confused and tries to help Erica. Kendall is increasingly hurt and unhappy by this. Upset and buying Fields' lies to her, unable to face the thought that her father raped her mother, Kendall tells Anton she is angry with her mother because she now thinks Erica "trundled (her) off to nowhere" to be raised by other people just to cover-up an illegitimate pregnancy. Anton doubts Kendall's beliefs and what Fields told her but covers for her when Dimitri nearly discovers Kendall is still in contact with Fields. Things worsen for everyone after Fields calls Wildwind and Erica happens to answer the phone, having a panick attack upon hearing his voice while having a nightmare about him. Due to increasing nightmares and flashbacks to her rape, Erica realizes that despite trying to be the kind of mother Kendall needs her to be, she is failing in her efforts to give her daughter everything she needs from her. She feels guilty about giving Kendall up for adoption, for not being the ideal mother, and over associations she makes between her daughter and her rape as it's not Kendall's fault but, due to unresolved memories, says she can't help it and needs her daughter to move out of Wildwind. She tells Dimitri she never dealt with the rape and can't handle memories of that night anymore. Instead, Erica explains she'll pay for Kendall's apartment and education. Dimitri protests and they argue, Erica wondering why he always defends Kendall. Dimitri, though saying how Erica sending her daughter away won't solve anything, agrees to have Kendall move out to her own apartment but wants to be the one to ask Kendall to soften the blow and Erica agrees. Though Erica, Dimitri, and Anton assure Kendall this isn't a rejection, a hurt Kendall is crushed by the request and secretly vows she won't be the one leaving Wildwind.
Anton and Kendall's friendship continues to grow and they become closer. Anton tries to comfort Kendall and thinks that her moving out of her parents' house will allow them to develop their relationship in a new way. Kendall starts to relent but gets flustered and remains upset over the issue. A spiteful Kendall blames her mother and "slips" to her about the L.A. trip she didn't know about. After telling Erica how "excited" she is to be on her own for the first time, Erica gives her daughter a sermon on the wonders of independence regarding Kendall's apartment plans and Kendall accidentally-on-purpose tells her mother that she and Hayley went to L.A. Erica immediately questions Kendall why she went to L.A. without her knowledge and Kendall quickly covers, saying she and Hayley are just planning a trip there next year ("Like, you know, total independence!"), but Erica is suspicious. When she finds out Kendall visited her biological father in L.A. and that Dimitri allowed it and helped Kendall find him, she is furious with her husband and daughter. Erica rages at her husband, slaps her daughter, calls her a sneaky little brat, and after tirading at them both, Erica leaves Dimitri. She blames him for Kendall finding Fields against her wishes and not making Kendall understand why. After being yelled at, a distraught Kendall has a breakdown. Dimitri asks Kendall to stay at Wildwind. In December 1993, Kendall walks in on Dimitri and her mother during a reconciliation attempt, despite Edmund having lectured a pouting Kendall about complex adult relationships and telling her to let Erica and Dimitri work things out. Erica questions Dimitri's reasons for having her daughter stay in her absence, saying that Kendall was planning to move out on her own. She says that Kendall isn't his blood relative and becomes suspicious her husband feels more than paternally for her daughter. Dimitri tries to explain to Erica that he only cares for Kendall because she is her child and is a part of her. Erica thinks it's more than that and walks out on him. Kendall tries overhearing this but is pulled away by Edmund. Edmund tells Dimitri, who maintains that Kendall is just a thoughtless child, immature, and naive, that Kendall deliberately interrupted them, "She wants to get back at her mom. Why not make waves with you and Erica?" Dimitri denies this is the case but mentally considers Kendall's apparent slips.
Meanwhile, Kendall's adoptive mother, Alice, calls and tells her to return to Florida but Kendall wants another chance with Erica. Kendall sincerely pleads with Erica, saying she has needed her all her life as a mother, never fit in with the Harts who couldn't understand her, and she only wants to find the "missing pieces of (her) life". Erica tells Kendall that they know each other now, answered most of her questions, but she can't fill in the years they missed together and is grateful to Alice for doing this in her place for Kendall. Saying that she hopes Kendall can understand why she is hurt and angered by Kendall's betrayal of finding Fields when Kendall apologizes for making her angry, Erica explains she has always tried to do the best for Kendall; from the time Kendall was a baby and she was too young to raise her, ensuring she "gave (her) baby to a decent home with loving parents,” to later on when she took her in, that everybody did the best they could for her, but nothing is enough for Kendall. Kendall explains her dream was for their relationship to work but Erica says that Kendall wanted her "perfect fantasy" of it to work and lectures her daughter that perfection doesn't start with lying about her true identity (when she arrived), dishonesty, or schemes. Kendall apologizes, revealing she only wanted for her mother to want her, and asks her to remember they had good times as well. Erica responds she remembers these times too and reminds Kendall of what she did to include Kendall in her life as her daughter publicly and privately, that this should have been enough, but is unhappy she still met Fields in spite of this. Kendall explains that though her mother gave her answers to most of her questions, she didn't answer her questions about Fields, trying to explain why she needed to meet him and how she'd do it differently if she could. Erica insists what she did tell Kendall should have been enough. She clarifies Kendall's trip to Los Angeles isn't the issue; the problem is she can’t fulfill Kendall’s idealized expectations of a dream mother-daughter relationship. She explains that, though she tried, she can no longer try to be the fantasy mother Kendall dreamed her to be and what she can give to Kendall isn't enough. When Kendall pleads she'll be anything Erica wants, she just wants to be loved, Erica implores a heartbroken Kendall to stop hurting herself and return to the Harts, who provide her with the type of love she needs. She gently tells her daughter, "the loving thing (she) can do for (Kendall) is to ask (her to) please, stop hurting (her)self this way," asking her daughter to say good-bye. Crushed, Kendall quietly leaves Erica's office. Though Erica explains to Edmund she is pained over letting Kendall go, she voices her concern that Dimitri feels more than paternal friendship for her daughter.
Kendall is devastated by her talk with Erica and finds Dimitri at Wildwind. Believing Erica turned her back on them both, Kendall confesses her crush on her step-father. He becomes impatient with her as Kendall claims she’s “grown up a lot from the pathetic little waif that landed on his doorstep” thanks to him but Dimitri tells her to credit Erica. Mistaking Dimitri's paternal affection for her as a romantic love, Kendall declares she loves him and believing he loves her back, tries to throw herself at him. Stunned, Dimitri clarifies to Kendall he only feels paternally for her. Kendall remembers when Dimitri said he loved her but Dimitri explains when he said he loved Kendall, he meant he loves her as a daughter and could only ever love her this way. Kendall explains she thought he loved her because he treats her as somebody special, doesn’t pretend to love her and never loses patience with her like she insists everyone else does. She admits she didn’t mean to fall in love with him but Dimitri explains she misinterpreted things and says she's confused, apologizing for Kendall misunderstanding his paternal affection for her. Kendall is devastated when Dimitri rejects her and explains he doesn't love her but loves her mother and cares for Kendall because Erica is her mother, saying he cherishes everything "precious" to her. Upset, Kendall denies the latter and maintains she only wanted Erica's love but tells Dimitri she's only "a burden" to her mother and believes her mother despises her. Dimitri denies this, saying Erica's difficulties aren't with Kendall but with being raped/Fields. Confessing she is angry at her mother for giving her up for adoption, Kendall believes Fields' false accounts that Erica wasn't raped and didn't give her up in an act of love as she said. Furious, Dimitri roughly grabs Kendall and shakes her hard, telling her she shouldn't ever say that as Kendall tries to escape his grasp. This is unknowingly witnessed by Erica through the window when she is prompted to see Dimitri after having a nightmare wherein Fields danced with a 14-year old Kendall in Erica's place at her birthday party with Kendall looking the same as Erica did, but after Erica told Fields to get away from her daughter, Dimitri rescued Kendall and danced with her in Fields' place, Erica's cries for them to stop going unheard due to her being trapped in a plastic cylinder. She is worried by the scene but flees when she hallucinates her daughter as herself and her husband as Fields. Having earlier told Mona that she felt it was best for Kendall, herself, and everyone to send Kendall to her home with the Harts, explaining how doing so was difficult but the right thing to do, she reveals to Mona what she saw happen between Kendall and Dimitri. Erica is troubled and wonders if she's projecting her trauma onto another, seeing herself in Kendall. Remembering how she saw Dimitri arguing with her daughter at Wildwind, she says she felt scared for Kendall. Erica explains she felt a maternal urge to protect Kendall but started hallucinating.
Dimitri and Kendall continue to argue and he demands Kendall believe the truth, blaming Fields for deceiving her with his warped version, and is furious with Kendall upon realizing she is still in contact with him. During their tirade, he nearly hits her and Kendall admits she's still talking to Fields, angry Erica never told him about her, but laments she'd rather have her mother and her approval. She reveals she "begged her (mother) for another chance," and wants, more than anything, for Erica to love her. She exclaims she would have done anything to start over again with her mother but she sent her back to the Harts instead. When Dimitri responds that Erica "was only thinking of what's best" for Kendall, Kendall gets increasingly upset and cries, "Stop defending her! Erica Kane only does what's best for Erica Kane. She lies and says it's for my own good. Well, the greatest lie she ever told was the one about my father. She's the monster, not him! You want to turn your back on me, fine! Well, you and Erica are both monsters! You two deserve each other!" She refuses to give up her father, insisting he loves her, furious at her mother for giving her up. Dimitri angrily accuses Kendall of acting out against her mother, tells her he can't excuse her behavior, calls her "selfish," "vindictive," and says "(she) is so spiteful, (she) is drowning in it." He says to her:
"You don't love anyone but yourself. You only wanted me as the final nail to be hammered into Erica's coffin and why? Because she gave you up the day you were born, but not for the reasons you think. Not out of selfishness or inconvenience or shame, but out of love. (...) Erica was a child when she gave birth to you. How was she supposed to raise you, look after you, provide for you? The greatest gift she could give you was to give you to a family that could give you the things that she couldn't. Stability, hope, love, a future, Kendall. You owe Erica your life. And as lives go, it hasn't been so bad. Bill and Alice Hart are good honest people but it wasn't enough for you. Nothing ever is. You won't be happy until you've trashed the lives of everyone who ever dared care about you. (...) The one day Erica gave you away, that's the day you are hellbent on making everyone pay for."
- Dimitri to Kendall, December 1993
Kendall protests this and goes into hysterics but Dimitri angrily tells her to leave. Devastated, Kendall goes to Anton and tells him her life is "ruined," confiding her perception of events that happened with Dimitri and her mother. Anton comforts her and says that she and Erica just had another fight and they'll make up but Kendall doesn't think so. She is distraught to reveal that Erica sent her back home to the Harts and is stunned when Anton suggests Erica was right to do so because Kendall hasn't seemed very happy at Wildwind, asking if it's that bad in Florida. Kendall replies, "Not according to Erica. She's so certain that the Harts love me," and says Erica "has to believe that" because she "dumped (her) with them." She thinks Bill and Alice don't care. She admits her crush on Dimitri when Anton brings him up and says she told him she loved him that night, "I didn't mean to, it just kind of came out," but explains how he rejected her. Kendall confides to Anton,
"Why is it nobody loves me as much as I love them? It's how it's always been. I'm on the outside looking in. It's like I watch everyone else live their lives and mine never even starts. No matter how sweet Bill and Alice were to me, no matter how many presents they gave me on my birthday, or how many friends I had, I knew that something was missing. I didn't know what it was but I just knew there was more. I tried to pretend like I was fine, that I was perfectly satisfied but I couldn't keep it up. I needed to find it. Whatever, whoever it was."
- Kendall to Anton, December 1993
Kendall makes up a tiny little huge lie about Dimitri, causing to Erica to stab him (December 1993).
Anton insists he's on her side as Kendall genuinely wonders what's wrong with her, "Why do I feel so terrible? What am I doing wrong? No one ever told me life was supposed to hurt like this." After he sympathetically hears her out and says nothing is wrong with her, he admits he likes her. Kendall doesn't believe him but Anton tells her she won him over from the moment she came at him with a pitchfork, "You were so intense and so lovely." Kendall is emotional and starts to give in, allowing him to seduce her, and loses her virginity that night. The next morning, Anton believes they had a nice time, "You look so pretty," but Kendall seems troubled by the experience and frantically runs to her mother. Worried by her hysteria, Erica is concerned about Kendall, asking Kendall if there was an accident and if she's hurt. In tears, Kendall denies this and Erica grows increasingly worried when Kendall mentions a "he," how angry Dimitri was but didn't know how to stop it. Erica remembers witnessing Dimitri shake her daughter. When she pushes to get information out of Kendall and Kendall struggles to answer, Erica, aware of Kendall's virginity, asks her if she had sex with someone, "Was it Anton? Did Anton seduce you?" In tears, Kendall tells her mother, "No. It wasn't Anton. It was Dimitri," and implies Dimitri raped her. Erica is angered by Kendall's claim, calling it a lie and can't believe Dimitri would do this to Kendall. However, when Kendall says it happened last night, Erica flashes back to calling Wildwind about Kendall that night, asking where she was but was told her daughter went out. When she asked to speak with Dimitri, Erica remembers being told he was at the Hunting Lodge, but it is uncertain he was alone. Erica wavers in her disbelief but angrily accuses Kendall of lying to "get back at (her)" as payback and, referencing her daughter's history of lying, says she's "lying more to punish (her)." Kendall asks why she would lie about something so awful and Erica says it's because their relationship didn't go the way Kendall wanted and Kendall didn't get her way, "And now you're making up something else to hurt me." Kendall swears she's not lying but Erica refuses to believe Dimitri seduced her. However, Erica wavers further in her disbelief when Kendall vocalizes her fear of being pregnant, guilt-tripping her mother when she cries she is unable to take care of a baby but can't give her own child up either and begs to be taken to a doctor. Erica still wants to uncover any duplicity and insists on taking Kendall to the hospital where Dr. Joe Martin examines her. He confirms to a perturbed Erica that Kendall did have sex for the first time within the past 12 hours. She is further distressed when Dr. Martin, noting the bruises on Kendall's arms looking like "the result of perhaps someone grabbing her and holding her too tightly," speculates Kendall might have been raped. Erica remembers Dimitri roughly shaking Kendall. She has Kendall tell her what happened that night with Dimitri. Having her mother's attention, Kendall makes up a convincing account of Dimitri attacking her. Erica recalls Dimitri shaking Kendall, is reminded of her rape, and envisions her rapist's face morphing into Dimitri's. Believing Dimitri raped her daughter, a furious Erica leaves to confront Dimitri at Wildwind. During their confrontation, Erica becomes increasingly upset and pushes Dimitri for details of what happened the previous night with Kendall. He unsuccessfully tries to tell her of Kendall's duplicity but Erica believes his change of attitude toward Kendall is evidence he attacked her daughter and accuses him of hurting Kendall, furiously revealing she saw him with her daughter the previous night. As Erica yells that he hurt Kendall and shook her, Dimitri explains he never hurt Kendall in any way and reveals he was trying to shake some sense into Kendall for Kendall's own good as Erica would do in his position. However, Erica, recalling Dr. Martin's examination of Kendall being bruised and having recently lost her virginity, believes he is lying. She becomes more furious at Dimitri when he says Kendall threw herself at him, believing Dimitri is blaming her daughter for his apparent attack on her. As Dimitri says he never a laid hand on Kendall to attack her, Erica further correlates him to her own rapist when Dimitri rages, "Whatever happens to Kendall, she asked for it!" An enraged Erica screams at Dimitri, "You did it, didn't you? You raped my daughter!" Stunned by the accusation, Dimitri vehemently explains he never raped Kendall but Erica believes otherwise and is increasingly upset. When Dimitri's words morph into Fields' words and flashbacks, Erica hallucinates him as Richard Fields and stabs Dimitri with a letter opener.
Meanwhile, Dr. Martin brings in a police officer for Kendall, panicking Kendall, who refuses to go through with any post-rape procedures but Dr. Martin explains to the officer that Erica and Kendall were "very upset" when they arrived and tells Kendall she was "traumatized." Kendall cries, "I never said anything to Erica about rape, I never used that word!" and refuses to press charges, begging for something to prevent pregnancy. She becomes more agitated as a police officer urges her to come forward but Kendall refuses, pleading for a morning-after pill, which Dr. Martin gives her. Learning Erica has left, Dr. Martin asks for her to be paged and calls Mona in for Kendall. In the lobby, Anton arrives to see Kendall having just arrived from Erica's house looking for Kendall and was told Erica took her to the hospital. Anton says he is a friend of Kendall's and Dr. Martin learns Anton was Kendall's sexual partner after Anton reveals he and Kendall were together the previous night. He assures him that the sex was consensual but Dr. Martin tells him, "This morning, according to her mother, she was hysterical. She was sobbing." Anton speculates why Kendall was upset and Dr. Martin demands to know why they didn't use protection. Anton admits that was a mistake, pleads to see Kendall, but Dr. Martin refuses, suggesting he wait for Kendall to contact him. When Mona arrives, Kendall is surprised and panics over the unraveling situation, learning Dr. Martin called her grandmother. Mona is concerned Kendall is in the hospital but when Kendall assures her grandmother she's fine, Mona explains that if that were true, Erica wouldn't have "dragged (her) to the emergency room." Kendall says Erica is at Wildwind but refuses to answer Mona's worried questions as to why her mother brought her in and would race to Dimitri's while Kendall was still in hospital, Kendall only saying, "She had to go. She knows what he did to me." Mona asks, "You mean, Erica is confronting Dimitri about you?" When Kendall doesn't say more, Mona begs Kendall, "Don't shut me out, I'm not someone off the street, I'm your grandmother." Kendall doesn't want to talk about it and wonders if her mother believed her, "Maybe she's telling him off." They are interrupted when, elated, Erica returns to the hospital, claiming to have killed Richard Fields. She is horrified to learn she stabbed Dimitri before she is taken away to a hospital room. Kendall is also horrified to learn her mother stabbed Dimitri and stunned, she faints from the shock of this just as Anton arrives to catch her. He carries an unconcious Kendall to a hospital room.
Erica tells her lawyer/friend, Jackson Montgomery, that she had appreciated Dimitri being a father to Kendall but found out he was helping Kendall sneak behind her back and says Dimitri sought to hurt her most by attacking her daughter in the same way she was attacked by Fields. Erica finally reveals she stabbed Dimitri because she believes he raped Kendall. Jackson explains that Erica came to the hospital saying she had killed Fields. Kendall is briefly detained in the hospital and, upon regaining consciousness, wakes to see a confused Anton, who asks why she's there. Agitated, Kendall explains she needed a morning-after pill after their unprotected sex. Anton vows his loyalty to her and explains that he is finished with Dimitri, angry with Dimitri because he has turned against Kendall due to her antics. However, a frightened Kendall panicks and tells him to get out of her life, confusing Anton even more. Still holding hope for the mother/daughter relationship she dreamed of with Erica, Kendall visits her mother, asking if she attacked Dimitri to defend her because of what she told her. While Erica explains what Kendall told her was part of it, she says she was also hallucinating Richard Fields when she stabbed Dimitri. Disappointed, Kendall tries to see Dimitri but a livid Dimitri wakes up and throws her out. A resentful Kendall vows revenge on both her mother and step-father for their rejection. After being briefly detained in the hospital, Erica is arrested for the attempted murder of Dimitri. At Wildwind, Anton is concerned when Kendall tells him about Dimitri being stabbed but she does assure him that Dimitri will pull through. Anton questions what happened and Kendall tells him her mother is imagining things, explaining how Erica hallucinated stabbing Fields. However, Anton is skeptical and realizes, "Tell me, Kendall, did your mother stab Dimitri because of you?" Kendall nervously tries denying her part in it, petulantly insisting Erica never listens to her anyway, when Jackson comes to see Kendall. Anton is asked to leave and Jackson explains to Kendall that her mother stabbed Dimitri after Kendall told her that Dimitri had raped her. He questions Kendall about her accusation but she claims she didn't tell Erica anything like that, saying Dimitri is her step-father, "only thinks of him as a dad," and states, "He never laid a hand on me!" Jackson presses Kendall and says he's trying to help her mother. Kendall wonders if Erica might be having a breakdown because she was hallucinating Richard Fields, "And now she's claiming that her husband, the most perfect man on this planet, raped her daughter? And you think that's normal?" Jackson reminds Kendall she went to her mother that morning, wanting Erica to take her to the hospital because she was afraid she was pregnant. Uncomfortable, Kendall confirms this, only admitting that she was afraid she was pregnant. Jackson realizes Kendall must have had sex and pushes Kendall for the identity of her partner that night. Kendall refuses until an angry Anton, who stuck around to overhear everything, reveals he and Kendall slept together that night. Anton confronts Kendall over what she's done.
Meanwhile, Erica is saying she had to confront and stab Dimitri because of her belief that he raped her daughter and so she had "just cause" to attack him. Jackson wonders if Erica somehow misheard Kendall saying that Dimitri had raped her but Erica is adamant she did not, referencing Kendall needing her to take her to the hospital where she was examined by a doctor who found Kendall had intercourse for the first time that night. Jackson reveals to her that Kendall is denying she ever told Erica that she accused Dimitri of raping her, explaining Anton was her sexual partner that night. Erica refuses this and is sure Jackson misunderstood Kendall, stating that she had asked Kendall if Anton seduced her but Kendall said no. Erica insists her daughter had been raped by Dimitri because, in addition to what Kendall told her and Dr. Martin's examination of her, Erica saw Dimitri shake Kendall the night before so what Kendall told her made sense the next morning. Wanting to talk to Kendall about this, Erica finds her daughter at Wildwind. She tries to coax Kendall into admitting what Dimitri did to her, assuring her she will support her "100%" but Kendall begins panicking and clams up. Erica reassures Kendall of her support and that she knows what she's going through. As an uncomfortable Kendall avoids admitting what she said, Erica assures her and pushes her daughter to admit she was attacked. Kendall pushes back by trying to convince her mother that she never said Dimitri hurt her and says she just went to Erica that morning for motherly advice about her first sexual experience and being with Anton. Erica denies this, explaining she would have remembered giving the sex-talk to Kendall that morning and is certain Dimitri raped her daughter. Revealing she saw Dimitri manhandle Kendall that night, Erica demands to know why she is lying about being attacked. Kendall nervously denies it. Erica becomes unsettled but knows she saw Dimitri shaking Kendall and what Kendall told her. She presses Kendall. Kendall cracks, admitting that she lied about Dimitri attacking her. Horrified, Erica asks Kendall if she has any idea what she's done, realizing Dimitri was right when he said he never laid a hand on her daughter to hurt her. Kendall reveals she is angry over being given up for adoption, accusing her mother of "thr(owing her) away." Erica denies she threw Kendall away and Kendall cries that she would have done anything for Erica's love. Erica tries again to explain she can't be Kendall's "fantasy mother" anymore. A hurt Kendall furiously admits she lied about being raped by Dimitri because she has been convinced her mother lied about being raped by Fields. Stunned, Erica calls this a "sick and filthy lie." When Kendall cries that Erica kept away her from a father she believes could have loved/raised her, Erica is outraged to realize Fields told Kendall all this and he lied to Kendall that he didn't rape anyone. Erica emphatically tries to warn her daughter against Fields but Kendall desperately refuses to accept the truth and lashes out with a tirade that her mother hurt her. Somewhat dazed by the extent of Kendall's resentment, Erica realizes how angry Kendall is with her and accuses her daughter of knowing what her accusation against Dimitri would do to their marriage. Equally upset, Kendall says she did exactly what Erica did to Fields, "Accuse an innocent man," but reveals she never thought her accusation would prompt Erica to stab Dimitri. Erica declares she thought she was protecting Kendall, "I believed you. I was defending you." Kendall and Erica argue some more and when Kendall yells about her revenge, Erica is infuriated, calls her a "lying, scheming witch" and goes to slap her daughter but Kendall dares her mother to stab her with scissors instead. An appalled Erica refuses to do so and disowns her.
1994[]
Kendall and Anton have a confrontation about the night they had sex. Anton reminds Kendall that she said he should get out of her life. Kendall defends she acted badly because she was afraid she was pregnant and gets upset, exclaiming how nobody understands her. She reminds him that he's been her first everything. Still bitter, Anton seduces Kendall and rejects her himself. Kendall feels alone and, still fooled by Fields, asks her biological father to come to Pine Valley in January 1994, thinking he can give her the type of love she seeks from her mother. At Myrtle's boarding house, Kendall pouts to Myrtle about her mother when Myrtle notices Kendall's sulking and tries calm her down, explaining Erica is not the person Kendall thinks she is, but an upset Kendall protests and runs upstairs. Kendall, fooled by Fields' story that he didn't rape anyone, deceived into believing he is in ailing health, and unable to accept the truth, continues to defend him. Kendall arrives at her mother's press conference and uses it to introduce Fields. Erica physically attacks Fields, screaming that she'll kill him, and is taken away from the room. Fields continues to lie that he didn't rape Erica. Jackson, after failing to wake Kendall up to the truth about Fields, attempts to explain the real story, that Erica was raped by Fields. He says that Kendall is angry with her mother so Kendall is using the press conference to try and sabotage her mother while Kendall protests otherwise. Kendall mistakenly believes her mother needed an excuse to "get rid of (her)" and give her to "strangers to raise". Afterward, at Myrtle's boarding house, Anton berates Kendall for her stunt at her mother's press conference. While Anton relents Erica is "no saint" and reminds Kendall that she isn't a saint either, he reminds her that Erica gave her life and opened her home/life to Kendall. Kendall argues, "So she gave me free run of the house. Big deal. My mother's heart was completely off-limits," and she was to be "seen, but not heard." They continue arguing, Anton insisting Kendall is hurting herself, and Myrtle comes in. She learns from Anton that Fields is Kendall's biological father, not her ailing uncle. Myrtle realizes who Fields is and kicks him out of her house. She makes Kendall leave for lying to her. Later, Kendall's upset increases when she sees Dimitri's televised statement supporting Erica's version of events. He defends that Erica made an enormous effort to bond with her daughter, Kendall, but Kendall screwed it all up. Kendall offers herself as a witness for the prosecution, who has charged Erica with attempted murder. At the DA’s office, Kendall introduces herself as Erica Kane’s daughter and wants to testify for the prosecution, surprising the DA who demands why. Kendall insists Erica's defense is fabricated, explaining she lived with Erica, knows her and believes her mother is always aware of exactly what she does, including when she stabbed Dimitri. Kendall claims her mother was jealous of Dimitri's relationship with her own daughter so Erica “decided Dimitri was after (Kendall) or something” and went to confront him. The DA is suspicious, "I can understand how some mother-daughter relationships get complicated, especially in your case, but when a daughter marches into my office, foaming at the mouth to put the screws to her mom in a court of law-" Kendall angrily claims Erica is dangerous, denying Erica’s statement by saying she never accused Dimitri of rape. When the DA asks her if her step-father attacked her, Kendall says Dimitri always treated her like a daughter and he was a "father to (her) in every way", claims she isn't trying to get back at her mother and says, "What kind of mother uses her own daughter to escape an attempted murder charge? In my opinion, Erica Kane is the one with an axe to grind. With me." Dimitri arrives and confronts Kendall over her lies and Kendall responds he should testify for the prosecution. Throughout this period, Kendall is continually cautioned by Erica, Anton, Hayley, Charlie, Dimitri, etc. against her father and is warned Fields will turn on her the same way he turned on Erica, but she desperately resists believing Fields is dangerous or capable of rape, assures herself he loves her, and believes he is ailing and weak. Everyone tries to get Kendall to realize Fields is only using her but they are unsuccessful. Fields persuades her to take him to Erica's trial each day. However, when Kendall witnesses him using her and the trial for a movie deal, going so far as to suggest she play her own mother at 14 opposite him in a televised "love story" of their encounter, she grows doubtful of her father but, still deceived by Fields and his warped accounts, remains unable to accept the truth.
At Erica's attempted murder trial, Kendall lies a lot before being afraid of perjury for telling the truth (March 1994)
At Erica's trial during February 1994, Kendall testifies for the prosecution against her mother. Anton tries convincing Kendall, who is still desperate to believe her father loves her, to stand against Fields and desert him, urging her to accept the truth about Fields. He promises to stand by Kendall if she severs her ties with Fields and cautions Kendall against lying to spite her mother, pointing out Kendall will also hurt herself by doing so. As Anton vows he'll love her and be with her, Kendall starts to give in but doubts his feelings for her, certain he is only there because Erica and her defense team sent him to change her testimony. Still longing for her mother's love, a bitter Kendall defends she needs payback because her mother hurt her and takes the stand. She twists the truth and lies about her history with her mother, including not explaining to the jury that she hid her identity as Erica's daughter upon her arrival and did not tell Erica who she really was until two months later, claiming her mother knowingly treated her daughter as an employee in an effort to portray Erica as heartless. She falsely states Erica knowingly stabbed Dimitri because she was jealous that Dimitri wanted her romantically as well. Kendall testifies that she only told her mother she had unprotected sex with Anton and was scared that she was pregnant, needing Erica to take her to the hospital, saying, "I wanted my mom." Kendall denies she told her mother that Dimitri raped her, provoking a heated tirade from a hysterical Erica in court, who demands her daughter stop lying and tell the truth. Erica is upset at Kendall's entire testimony ("She made me sound like Cinderella's wicked step mother!"); she explains Kendall didn't tell her she was her daughter when she first arrived and that Kendall told her Dimitri had raped her, leading to her confrontation with Dimitri to defend Kendall and the subsequent stabbing. Though the DA paints Kendall as a hurt little girl who only wanted to please her mother but was coldly neglected by her, Kendall revealing she had idolized Erica since she was eight years old but says she felt her mother mistreated her even after realizing she was her daughter, her lies begin to unravel under cross-examination by the defense. Kendall is pushed to admit that she did not tell Erica she was her daughter upon arriving in Pine Valley and that she unsuccessfully threw herself at her step-father before he rejected her. The DA angrily threatens Kendall with perjury ("Well, thanks a lot, Lolita. With that last testimony, your mother just may get away with attempted murder.") Upset, Kendall decides to fly to Seattle after happening to learn Erica is keeping Bianca unaware of the trial and stabbing. Hoping to unnerve her mother by bringing her sister to the courtroom to thwart these efforts, Kendall tells her sister about the stabbing and Erica's trial. Bianca agrees to fly back to Pine Valley with Kendall. They return to Pine Valley and resume bickering with one another, arguing over when to see Erica. They reach an agreement and Kendall goes out to get take-out for herself and Bianca. However, while she is away, Fields unexpectedly arrives at Kendall's room and finds the door is locked. He demands Kendall open the door. Not knowing what he did to Erica, Bianca lets him in after he says he is Kendall's father, excited when she recognizes him from TV and asks for his autograph. They talk but Bianca is quickly found by Dimitri, Jackson, and Trevor Dillon before anything happens and is taken away from the room and Fields. Kendall returns and is surprised to learn Fields was alone with Bianca. She is read the riot act by an angry Dimitri, Jackson, and Trevor. Kendall is troubled to learn Fields was alone with Bianca. Kendall, not wanting Bianca to be hurt, uneasily asks him if he touched Bianca. Fields denies this. In court later that day, Erica is angered by Kendall's actions of bringing Bianca to make her aware of trial, certain she knew how bringing Bianca back would upset her. Her defense team reminds her how publicly getting pissed at and yelling at Kendall again will only support Kendall's volatile-mother version of her to the jury, furthering that Bianca is Kendall's sister and Bianca willingly returned to Pine Valley with her. However, when Kendall impulsively blurts out to Erica that Fields did nothing to Bianca, Erica then learns of Bianca being alone with Fields and becomes furious with Kendall for leaving Bianca by herself as Kendall earnestly argues nothing bad happened. When Kendall notices the jury filing in, she fuels her mother’s rant at her for the watching jury while Erica yells at her daughter in front of the disapproving jury.
Slapped by reality, Kendall is forced to see what her father is (March 1994).
In March 1994, a devastated Kendall becomes increasingly troubled that Fields isn't innocent like he claimed when she learns of other rape accusations and charges made against him that are revealed during the continuing trial. Fields supposedly suffers a heart attack when he is grilled with these accusations made against him, Erica hoping for Fields' death while she watches him collapse. At the hospital, Kendall is upset to learn that he only feigned the heart attack to get out of answering the rape charges and she angrily interrogates him about the rape charges, asking if they are true. Fields threatens a distraught Kendall to never question him about those charges again or he'll abandon her. Fields leaves and Anton pushes Kendall to turn against him, starting to get through to her. Kendall's doubts about Fields persist but she still desperately resists accepting Fields as a rapist who attacked her own mother, thinking he is all she has left. In court, Erica is put on the stand. She explains she wanted to be close to Kendall when Kendall revealed she was her daughter, worked to do so, and explains she was willing to invest the time it would take to develop a close relationship. It was then made difficult when Erica experienced memories of her rape she initially believed were a "just a phase" and explains she later experienced flashbacks after finding the Fields memorabilia in the stables. She explains she never wanted her daughter to know she was conceived in rape and tried to protect her from this knowledge but Kendall kept asking for the identity of her biological father. Erica thought she had Kendall agree to never look for more about him but is upset Kendall broke her promise to stay away from him and that Dimitri allowed and enabled Kendall's search. Her flashbacks worsened after she was devastated by her husband and daughter's betrayal upon learning they found Fields. Erica testifies that she didn't think of Dimitri as a rapist until Kendall's accusation against him or she would never have left Kendall alone with him that night she saw Dimitri shake her. Explaining she knew Kendall was a virgin, Erica says she believed Dimitri raped her daughter when it was proven Kendall lost her virginity within the past 12 hours and because of what Kendall told her. Erica explains she had to believe Kendall "because (she) knows what it's like not to be believed by a parent," and "couldn't do that to any daughter of (hers)," referencing her father, whose love she sought herself, dismissing her when she told him Fields had raped her; she had to confront Dimitri for committing this same crime on her daughter. After falling into a hallucinatory state, Erica explains she believed she was defending herself and Kendall by killing Fields and returned right to the hospital to tell Kendall they didn't need to fear Fields anymore but was horrified to realize she stabbed Dimitri instead. Meanwhile, while Kendall and Anton are still at the hospital, Bianca decides to go to the Pine Cone to see her sister about the trouble she is causing but finds Kendall isn't there. Instead, Fields arrives and finds Bianca looking for her sister in her room. Bianca, now aware of how dangerous Fields is, becomes frightened and tries to escape Fields as he advances on her. In court, Erica testifies about her rape for her defense. She recounts her pregnancy and Kendall's adoption, having explained she cared deeply about her baby but had to give Kendall up because it was best for everyone, she was too young to raise her, remembers how she had to bury these experiences for years due to her trauma, “mourn(ed) the loss of (her) first-born daughter (Kendall)" when her daughter, Bianca, was born but realized she made the right choice for her daughter, Kendall, when she was born. When Erica remembers right after giving birth to and placing Kendall for adoption, she prayed her newborn daughter would never experience the pain she did, Kendall is devastated to witness the truth about Fields. Having walked in on Fields before he was about to molest her sister, a stunned Kendall is horrified and quickly rescues a distraught Bianca from Fields before he can rape her, getting Bianca out of the room and sending her home with Mona. Witnessing her biological father for what he truly is, Kendall vomits. She furiously confronts him about what he tried to do to Bianca, livid when he tells her that Bianca "came to (him)" asking for it. She is sickened to suddenly realize the truth, "Oh my God, Erica- You raped my mother. She didn't seduce you. It was rape," devastated to accept that her father is a rapist who raped her mother and that she believed his lies. Kendall is disgusted that she defended Fields despite Erica and everyone having warned her against him and screams at him that he's cost her everything. Her devastation continues as Fields tries to snow her again but Kendall responds, "You raped my mother. You tried to rape Bianca. I can't stand the sight of you another minute." She tells Fields she hates him and turns to leave while Fields insults her and threatens he'll abandon her. Kendall resolutely responds, "I hope you burn in hell," and leaves, completely disassociating from Fields before collapsing into tears outside.
Kendall is distraught and runs to Anton, explaining what she saw with Fields trying to attack Bianca. Anton pressures her into telling the truth in court. Kendall wavers but freaks out and runs away. Mona confronts Fields and attempts to stab him but leaves him to die in the motel room from a heart attack. A regretful Kendall runs to her mother's house the next morning and talks with her mother, apologizing for her lies, and says her mother was right about Fields; he is everything Erica warned her he was and saw what he tried to do to Bianca. Erica responds, "Now you know, now you believe, because you've seen with your own eyes that filthy old man with Bianca. Why did it take that? Why wasn't my word enough?" Remorseful over what happened with Bianca and horrified by what nearly happened to her sister, an apologetic Kendall admits she should have accepted her mother's word but confesses that she couldn't come to terms with the truth, "I just couldn't (face it). How could my father be that sick? How could I be the result- " Kendall apologizes to Erica again and says she would have died if anything happened to Bianca, offering to testify in court for Bianca against Fields. Telling her that won't be necessary now, Erica reveals that Fields is dead from a heart attack. Kendall believes Fields deserved to die for what he did to everyone, attributes her actions to Fields' persuasions of her and false promises of love but berates herself for not believing her mother's warnings about him. Kendall explains she regrets everything she's done and Erica is guilted when Kendall admits she was hurt because she didn't get the kind of love she's always wanted from Erica. However, Erica rebukes her daughter, "Do you have any idea the trouble you've caused? Not just my life but so many others just for hurt? Bianca, Dimitri, he could have died." Asking for her forgiveness, Kendall earnestly vows, "I'll apologize to everyone, I will beg their forgiveness. But you're the one I hurt the most. You're my mother. I'd give anything to make it up to you. There isn't anything I can do to pay you back but if I could, if I could, I would. Just to show you how much I mean it." Erica asks her if she'd be willing to tell the truth in court and has Kendall confirm she lied about their conversation the morning she came to Erica for help, guilt tripping Kendall when she points out she could go to prison without Kendall's exoneration. Kendall wants to make amends, tell the truth in court, but reveals she is frightened of being charged with perjury. She promises to exonerate her mother when Erica, still doubting Kendall's sincerity in believing Kendall is sorry for herself and not properly taking responsibility, plays her daughter by deceiving her into admitting her lies on the stand. She falsely promises her help in order to secure Kendall's testimony in her defense, mirroring some of the shared similarities between herself and Kendall.
In court, Erica is cross examined by the prosecution in which she explains she left Wildwind not because she was jealous of her daughter's relationship with her husband but because of their betrayals (ie. finding Fields), confirming she did not like the situation of her husband having her daughter stay at Wildwind in her absence, and states she stabbed Dimitri after hallucinating him as Fields because she thought he raped Kendall due to this being what Kendall told her. After this, Kendall earnestly confesses her lies in court for her mother's defense. She takes back her former testimony, fully corroborating her mother's version of events by admitting she lied to Erica that Dimitri had raped her, causing her mother to confront and stab him. Kendall explains she lied about Dimitri so that Erica would only leave him but never expected that her mother would stab him. Confessing she couldn't accept she was given up for adoption in an act of "love and necessity," Kendall explains she was hurt so she acted out through schemes and supports her mother's defense. She is distraught to accept the truth of her conception. After cross-examination, Kendall is arrested by the DA for perjury. Erica still refuses to help her daughter out of her perjury charge but goes to see her. She and Kendall have an emotional confrontation over Kendall's various schemes. Erica reveals her deception to Kendall and says she won't help her, that she is on her own, "You're a smart girl. I'm sure you will mastermind a brilliant strategy to get yourself out of this." Stunned her mother lied about forgiving her, Kendall is distressed and asks Erica if she lied just to hurt her. Erica replies, "Of course not," and explains she needed to convince Kendall to exonerate her and mirrors her own deceptions with Kendall's. Dazed, Kendall is in disbelief over how her mother could do this to her and upset, Erica asks her daughter why she did what she did, "Because I'm your role model? Because I'm your standard of excellence? Because I'm your beloved mother? Is that why you hacked my life to pieces?" When a stunned Kendall tearfully explains, "I was wrong, I said I was wrong, I got on the stand, I tried to make it better," Erica reveals she would have helped Kendall despite what she did if she didn't hurt Bianca by bringing her into the situation. Kendall implores she didn't mean for Bianca to get hurt and she didn't know what Fields was while Erica angrily reminds her daughter she warned her against Fields but Kendall wouldn't believe it, yelling at her for Bianca being alone with Fields and undermining her efforts to keep Bianca unaware of the trial by bringing her to Pine Valley. Kendall didn't want her sister hurt or for Fields to hurt her and apologizes for everything, accepting her imprisonment, but begs for another chance. Kendall earnestly explains she didn't come to Pine Valley to hurt her mother but only came to be Erica's daughter and wanted to know her this way more than anything. Troubled, Erica is conflicted by her daughter's cries but resists giving into her again. She still doubts her sincerity, believing Kendall is feeling sorry for herself again, hasn't given up her attitude problems, and says Kendall expects her to wave this "magic wand" to fix her daughter's problems and make everything better. She lectures her to take responsibility for her actions and says she can't forgive her as she can't even forgive herself for what she's done. Kendall insists she's not asking for anything magical and knows what she did was wrong. However, Erica continues to lecture Kendall that, for her to have a decent future, she needs to give up her fantasy life and immature self-centered views, including her unrealistic expectations for instant bonding instead of allowing time to know each other, having punished Erica when she couldn’t match Kendall’s dream of her, and scolds Kendall to take a hard look at her own actions and realize how their consequences resulted in this situation for herself or her life won't improve. After Erica leaves her in jail, Kendall is upset all over again and vows payback against her mother. Erica returns home and feels terrible about leaving her daughter in jail. She calls Alice Hart to help Kendall. After Kendall pleads guilty to her perjury and receives a lesser sentence of 30 days at Green Briar, a minimum security jail, she has a brief but warm reunion with her adoptive mother, Alice, and runs into her arms.
Kendall and Anton
Having fallen in love with Kendall over the past months, Anton visits a devastated Kendall in jail before she receives her sentence where he vows his loyalty and professes his love to her. Kendall is reluctant to believe he loves her and blames him for being in jail. After Anton lectures her that she is selfish, immature, and unsuccessfully tries to convince her he loves her, he threatens to leave but Kendall pleads for him not to leave her alone and asks if he really loves her. She finally begins to believe Anton and is grateful when he comes back for her the next day. Kendall is confronted by the DA for perjuring herself and ruining his case, “Right away, I thought to myself, warning! This little girl has a personal axe to grind with her mother. But you assured me that I was wrong, there was no vendetta, but that's exactly what it was. You used me and the powers of my office to get back at your mother. You set me up.” Kendall remains quiet but Anton defends her as being confused. Kendall, though frightened by the notion of jail, pleads guilty to perjury. However, she freaks out and tries pleading with the judge, “I may be guilty of lying but it was only one lie and it wasn't even really a big one!” She is given a lesser sentence of 30 days in a minimum security prison due to it being her first offense. Kendall freaks out upon hearing this and panics, pleading with the judge to not send her to jail, “I realize how wrong it was and I swear, I will never do it again!" However, the sentence remains and Anton stands by a frightened Kendall, making Dimitri unhappy. Dimitri learns the extent of Anton's devotion to Kendall after he watches Anton successfully guilt trip Erica for the set-up and her own daughter being in jail, accusing her of this being what she wanted. Erica protests this being what she wanted, saying her daughter is facing the consequences of her perjury, "And unlike my daughter, I do not enjoy other people's suffering," angering Anton, who still doesn't think it's fair to Kendall, blames Erica, and believes Kendall has all but been condemned. Erica disagrees that her daughter's life is ruined, noting the leniency of Kendall's sentence (“She has been sentenced to 30 days in Green Briar, not a life sentence of hard labor”); but, unassuaged, Anton goes after Dimitri, declaring he's worse than Erica for "totally turn(ing) his back on Kendall." Furious, Anton proclaims he is in love with Kendall as he leaves but he softens when he learns Erica called Alice to help Kendall and takes Alice to see her. When he sees Dimitri try to buy Kendall off, Anton becomes angry again. Dimitri exiles him from Wildwind but learns Anton is his son shortly after (Anton's "sister" Corvina had sex with a teenage passed-out Dimitri and Anton was raised by Corvina's parents). Meanwhile, Kendall meets another inmate, Janet Green, whose face is bandaged, having received experimental plastic surgery (Kendall calling her “Gauze Head” and “Cotton Swab”). Unaware of Janet's infamous identity, the two gradually become friends. Kendall reveals that she is Erica Kane's daughter but when Janet starts fondly reminiscing about being cellmates with Erica when she and Erica were in jail together, Kendall stops her with, "Erica Kane is the most heartless, selfish, vindictive witch that has ever been my misfortune to know. Period. End of subject." Janet gets Kendall to open up to her when she talks about the sibling rivalry with her own sister. Janet shows interest in Trevor Dillon, Erica's lawyer, when he comes to convince Kendall on Erica's behalf to testify for her mother again should it be needed. Kendall protests and Trevor counters her arguments by saying she, not Erica, got herself into jail and says Kendall got off pretty easy after the "stunts" she's pulled with her mother. He urges her to give up her vendetta, telling an angry Kendall her situation isn't as bad as she thinks and she doesn't know what it is to experience real hostility (alarming Janet), "Give it up, kid. Your life won't be worth a rat's rear if you don't learn how to forgive." Kendall is still hurt over what happened with her mother after she testified for her defense and bitterly refuses in an effort to avoid more pain. Trevor says that by lashing out at her mother, Kendall will only be hurting herself too but Kendall replies, "That was a really great forgiveness speech," and tells him, "You want me to forgive my mother? Well, not until she forgives me. I wouldn't hold my breath that's going to be in a long, long time." Trevor tries again to convince Kendall to testify for her mother's defense again and Kendall agrees to consider it when he reminds her of Bianca. However, she is upset to learn from Anton that Erica received a verdict of "not guilty." Janet pushes Kendall for information on Trevor and his family who, unbeknownst to Kendall, is raising Janet's daughter. When Kendall mentions to an alarmed Trevor that Janet knows him, Janet warns Kendall off. Kendall becomes confused, noting how Janet overheard every one of her conversations she has had with her visitors, “You just stood there like a giant cotton swab soaking up every single word we said.” Janet refuses to explain herself, “You’re just a kid, what do you know about life?” Undeterred, Kendall demands to know what is going on but Janet refuses to tell her anything. She advises Kendall to give up the grudges and learn from her own experience. Kendall is angry to discover that the true identify of her new friend, "The mild mannered woman disguised as a cotton swab is actually Janet Green, Janet-From-Another-Planet," a notorious criminal about whom Kendall has heard infamous new reports of since her childhood in Florida and then stories of at Wildwind. Janet confirms this but insists she has reformed and Kendall comes to accept Janet. The two gradually become friends, Kendall giving Janet a make-over before she is released.
Anton proposes to Kendall in April 1994. Both in love with each other but having different ideas of their life, Kendall accepts but is upset when Anton pushes elopement and his plans for their lives on her, feeling she needs to figure her own life out first and wants it on her own terms. Anton agrees to wait until they grow up a bit. Writer Del Henry visits Kendall and proposes the idea of writing a tell-all book about her relationship with her famous mother. Anton makes Kendall promise to stop plotting and threatens to leave her if she agrees to help Del write the book so Kendall refuses Del's offer. However, she secretly calls Del later that day and agrees to help him with the book about her mother. Kendall is released in late April 1994 and Dimitri offers Anton and Kendall the Hunting Lodge to appease his newfound son, who devotes himself to Kendall. Dimitri and the other Wildwind residents operate under the guise of making peace with Kendall to keep Anton, currently angry at Dimitri over his attitude toward Kendall, on truce-terms with his father. Kendall is suspicious there is a secret being kept from her. At the Hunting Lodge, Kendall meets Julia Santos when she and Anton find her there. Julia and Kendall become immediate rivals over Anton. They snark at one another over each other’s histories of scheming and lying (and have a minor catfight featuring food "spillage") but Julia advises Kendall to learn from her own bad-girl history and tells her to win people back slowly, saying she herself is paying for her mistakes. Kendall asks Julia if “(she’s) for real” and tells her, "There's your problem right there. I have no intention of paying for anything. I'm not Erica Kane's daughter for nothing,” before flouncing away. Kendall, suspicious of Julia’s friendship with Anton, decides she now wants to marry Anton right away. However, the Wildwind residents, also scheming, successfully talk Kendall and Anton into waiting until they grow up enough to marry.
Dimitri hires Kendall as his personal assistant as long as she stops her schemes against her mother. Kendall agrees but, still hurt by her history with her mother, messes up Dimitri's secret efforts to restart Erica's rocky return to modeling and thwarts her mother's reconciliation attempts with Dimitri. Kendall impulsively walks in on Erica and Dimitri talking, allowing Erica to discover she is living at the Hunting Lodge with Anton. Erica starts to suspect again that Dimitri is romantically interested in her estranged daughter and accuses him of this being the reason he has her living at Wildwind, suggesting he led Kendall on from the beginning. Dimitri explains he never had any romantic feelings for her daughter and is forced to reveal Anton is his son and Anton wants Kendall with him. Erica accepts this and agrees to keep Anton's parentage secret. As Dimitri worries over how to prevent their respectively estranged children from marrying each other, Erica cautions him to be careful in keeping this from her estranged daughter as "(Dimitri) knows (Kendall) almost as well as (she) does," and how difficult things can get if Kendall ever found out this secret while, at Wildwind, Kendall starts suspecting there is a secret about Anton being kept from her. She begins eavesdropping to pick up clues, determined to learn what this secret is. A month later, Kendall starts helping Del write the tell-all book about her relationship with her mother. She explains this book is also an opportunity to make a name for herself and get out of her mother’s shadow. Keeping the book hidden and hurt by her history with Erica, she makes up negative stories about her mother and their relationship for Del's book. The book is nearly discovered several times, including when Dimitri interrupts their writing session and a panicked Kendall is forced to have Del hide in a closet, quickly putting on her "I've changed" act for a disapproving Dimitri and denies being up to anything (Del: "Woah, you can really act." Kendall: "It's a gift!") Anton nearly discovers the book when he nearly walks in on a writing session and Kendall freaks, forced to hide an annoyed Del in the closet again, and anxiously refuses Anton's attempts to make out with her. In June 1994, Kendall meets Anton's sister, Corvina. Certain Corvina has something to do with the secret being kept from her by the other Wildwind residents, Kendall becomes more determined to learn what it is. Although she learns from Corvina that Corvina had a crush on Dimitri, Kendall is unable to find out anything else. Noting Kendall’s intelligence, the other Wildwind residents continue carefully keeping the secret from her. A frustrated Kendall remains unaware that Anton is Dimitri's son.
That month, Kendall realizes "Jane Cox" is actually her prison friend, Janet Green. Kendall confronts Janet over her deception and demands to know why Janet is faking her name. Janet explains she is doing it to be reunited with her daughter, Amanda. When Kendall is injured during a tornado, she swears to Janet she will keep her secret for Amanda's sake so that Amanda will grow up feeling loved. As Janet tries to save Kendall, Kendall is touched by the complete love Janet has for her daughter, wanting her mother, Erica, to love her in this same way, and will help Janet reunite with her daughter. Dimitri comes by and saves Kendall and takes her to the hospital, where she is detained briefly with minor injuries. Anton is relieved Kendall is alright but she becomes insecure as Anton closely tends to Julia after she is injured. Kendall keeps Jane's identity as Janet Green a secret and their friendship grows. In December 1994, Janet's identity is revealed during her failed wedding to Trevor Dillon, despite Kendall's best efforts to cover for her. Their friendship continues afterward and they become close, offering each other genuine support. At Janet's request, Kendall promises to look out for Amanda if anything happens to Janet. Later, Kendall risks her own life to stop Janet from embarking on two massacres in an effort to take Amanda in March 1995 and in May 1995. In May 1995, a horrified Kendall witnesses what she believes to be Janet's death when she is apparently struck by lightning.
Kendall finds out Mona died (August 1994).
Kendall's grandmother, Mona, dies in August 1994. Having experienced a short but loving relationship with her grandmother, Kendall loved Mona and is devastated by the news. Deeply affected, she attempts to pay her respects but is confronted by Erica, who mistakenly believes that Kendall is faking her grief and has just come to make a scene. Despite Kendall's heartfelt confessions, Erica orders her daughter to leave. Janet is sympathetic to Kendall's struggles with her mother, enduring a difficult relationship with her own mother, and promises to say good-bye to Mona on Kendall's behalf. She tells Mona's coffin that her granddaughter, Kendall, loved her. Upset again with her mother over Mona's funeral, Kendall angrily resumes work with Del on the tell-all book, explaining she only wanted to be accepted by her family and Mona loved her but Erica barred her from her own grandmother's funeral. Kendall and Del develop their friendship. Del urges Kendall to let go of her anger and use her talents for good. At the end of August, Dimitri and Edmund discover Kendall and Del's book and, hoping this will convince Anton to break up with Kendall, reveal the book to Anton. They read aloud Kendall's negatively falsified stories about her mother (Corvina: "It sounds like Cinderella's story"). Kendall is forced to confess she contributed the stories and helped Del write the book. However, she convinces Anton she's finished with scheming and promises to go to therapy. That night, Kendall happens upon a thank-you note from Erica to Dimitri, burns it and forges a negative letter in its place. She is furious to learn Del accepted a $250,000 buy out from Dimitri to drop the book about her mother. Kendall is then distraught to learn from Dimitri that Wildwind's latest acceptance of her was a lie and Dimitri confronts Kendall over her schemes. When they argue about Erica, Kendall tirades over her rocky relationship with her mother and demands to know why Dimitri still forgives Erica after she stabbed him. Dimitri furiously reminds Kendall, "She is your mother." Kendall remains upset over their difficult history, insisting what her mother gave her was anger and she blamed Kendall for things that weren't her fault. When Dimitri brings up Kendall's schemes, Kendall cries, "I tried to make her love me!" She explains would have done anything for Erica to love her in the way she loves Bianca. Dimitri tells Kendall she "spit on (Erica's) love." Kendall disputes this, screaming her mother made her life miserable and is upset that Erica wasn’t with Mona when she passed, tirading some more against her mother. Dimitri nearly attacks her. Later, Kendall apologizes for what she said, sincerely devastated by her grandmother's death, but Dimitri angrily rejects the apology. Kendall confronts Del about accepting the buy-out to drop their book, "Every last blood-soaked tear-stained page was ripped from my heart, not yours," and demands 50% but Del refuses.
In therapy, Kendall sources all of her mental issues to Erica but decides she'd rather use the session to play Solitaire (September 1994).
While Kendall is at her one therapy session, Anton realizes Kendall burned Erica's note to Dimitri and leaves her in September 1994. Kendall briefly fakes a pregnancy in an effort to win Anton back but he calls her bluff and the plan fails. Saying Del owes her for the book, an obstinate Kendall goes to Del to get help with another plan to win Anton back but he refuses. He keeps urging her to utilize her goodness over schemes. Kendall is concerned about Del's medical condition (kidney failure) and stands by him, supporting Del throughout his medical struggles and defends him to his detractors. She is genuinely touched to learn Del named a recording of her laugh as one of his most precious assets when his father reads his living will to her in December 1994. In September 1994, Erica is disappointed to learn about Kendall's continued revenge attempts from Anton. Near the end of that month, mother and daughter have an emotional and heated confrontation over Kendall's forged note and book attempt when they run into each other at a boutique and Erica stops Kendall nervously fleeing away from her, telling her, "Not so fast, young lady, you and I have quite a few things to settle." After Erica lambastes her trying to publish her lies in a book & burning/forging her note, she tells Kendall she has burned all of her bridges in Pine Valley and offers her a ticket home, again imploring her daughter to return to her home with the Harts, trying to make Kendall recognize how difficult it will be to get along in Pine Valley but a defensive Kendall refuses. Erica cautions if she wants to chose to fight with her, she'll take no prisoners. Kendall responds by explaining that before everything happened, she wanted Erica to be her mother. Erica is guilted when Kendall is upset at her for not loving her like she needed, saying that Erica said how hard she tried but was unable due to memories of her rape, something that wasn't her fault. Erica says Kendall is twisting words again and accuses her of telling only her version of their history, declaring that Kendall can't see the truth but is guilted when a hurt Kendall calls her a horrible mother and wishes she was born to someone else who'd love her like Janet loves her daughter. Upset, Kendall blames Erica for being alone and the state of her life. Erica denies she did this to Kendall, saying Kendall is blaming others for her behavior, and that Kendall is doing this to herself because she turns against people who care about her. Erica lectures her on only having feelings for herself. Hurt, mother and daughter play on each others' fears of being alone, Erica devastating her daughter when she warns her against keeping up this behavior or else she will be alone and old someday, that this is how her biological father died, and Kendall is thoroughly freaked out by this notion. Anton arrives and restrains a distraught Kendall. As Erica cries over what her daughter has become to her mother's grave, Kendall is unhappy learn of Anton's continued interest in Julia and tearfully goes to him while he tries to find Julia. She threatens to kill herself if they don't get back together but only succeeds in aggravating him. Anton is certain this is another one of Kendall's ploys for attention, calls her bluff by dialing 9-11, and leaves. Kendall gets frustrated when she hears the ambulance approach but thinks suicide is lame so she takes a low dosage of four pills to fake her suicide attempt instead by sleeping. She successfully guilts Anton when Anton is shocked to see her being taken into the hospital. Anton, the paramedics, and Dr. Martin treat her while Dr. Martin notifies Kendall's mother, Erica. When Erica arrives at the hospital and Dimitri tells her about Kendall's "suicide attempt," Erica first confirms that Kendall is fine but then becomes suspicious she's pulling another ploy, realizing Kendall is scheming to get Anton's attention again and knows she's not suicidal like Anton now believes. She tries to convince Anton that he can't give into Kendall's drama again either and, citing Kendall's histrionic tendencies, how this her ploy to get attention and payback; she explains that Kendall wants to make them feel guilty again and they both tried giving Kendall what she needed but nothing they gave her was enough, and to allow the doctors to help Kendall this time and not reward her bad behavior or Kendall won’t ever learn/change. Anton refuses to believe this is another scheme, upset he had earlier accused Kendall of "grandstanding," and goes to beg Kendall's forgiveness. However, Dr. Martin verifies Erica's suspicions with Kendall's test results and updates her on her daughter's latest antic, showing her Kendall's low dosage and that Kendall did fake the suicide. Erica is unsurprised. Dimitri is furious. Dr. Martin gives Erica Kendall's medical chart. Meanwhile, Kendall wakes up with a headache but hopes this scheme helped to get her back together with Anton. Del, sitting by her side, confirms Anton knows and lectures Kendall on what a gift her life is. He is angry when he believes she was willing to throw it away over a guy. As he tells Kendall she needs to stop being an ingrate about everything and how she's smart/pretty/healthy/can have anything she wants and be anything if she were to give up her bitterness, etc. Kendall stops him with, "Give it up, Delbert," and says she was never suicidal. Kendall reveals she only faked her suicide attempt so Anton would get back together with her, "Dead? Please. I only took four or five pills. I would have had a longer nap, that's all." Exasperated, Del berates Kendall for her stunt, selfishness, and being an ingrate when an apologetic Anton comes in and Kendall becomes teary for him. In the midst of Anton's apologies to Kendall, Del unsuccessfully tries to reveal Kendall's suicide attempt was an act but Anton responds by blaming Del, saying he played on Kendall's problems with her mother for the book. As Kendall continues her act, Del keeps trying to reveal Kendall's little act but Anton and Kendall ignore him and reunite (Del: "Before you cue the orchestra, Anton, you should know that Kendall-") when Erica enters Kendall's room with her daughter's chart. After putting on her own act, Erica exposes Kendall's lie to Anton, who is still busy apologizing to Kendall (as Del rolls his eyes), and gives Anton Kendall's four-pill test results. Furious he bought Kendall's act, Anton leaves a protesting Kendall, who seemed initially pleased her mother came until Erica revealed her daughter's scam and had Kendall drop the act. Anton tells Kendall to "get help, little girl, and get a life and stay out of mine," and leaves while Erica stays behind to also let Kendall have it, likewise berating her for her latest stunt. She says to a petulant Kendall that she warned her to quit scheming, telling her "to stay out of Mommy's way" if she doesn't stop the antics and Kendall angrily blames her mother all over again.
Kendall says suicide is for "quitters and losers" so she fakes it instead.
Afterward, Kendall works as Brooke English's assistant at Tempo Magazine from October to November 1994. Though Kendall avoids getting fired after Erica finds out (thinking Kendall is using the magazine job to mess with her reputation again after Kendall's failed book of "lies cover-to-cover") and Erica lets Kendall be at Tempo, told this job will keep her trouble-making daughter too busy for plots against her, Kendall eventually screws that up for herself when she prints a scathing article about her mother's renewed modeling career. An aggravated Erica discovers the article, comes to realize it was Kendall, gives an upset Kendall another lecture, notifies Brooke and Brooke fires her. Kendall tries to win Anton back but is unhappy to see him with Julia. In December 1994, at Janet and Trevor's wedding, Kendall is miserable to learn Erica and Dimitri are back together but she still tries to cover for Janet when her true identity is discovered. Later, Kendall visits Del at the hospital after his surgery to support him. After pouting to him about her mother and Dimitri, Kendall remembers the Wildwind secret about Anton that has eluded her since June. When Janet suggests Kendall lie to Anton that he is Dimitri and Corvina's son, something neither of them knows to be true, Kendall claims this story is "way too gothic" to believe but she dubiously tries this story with Anton anyway. Anton denounces the story as a lie. When he brings it to Dimitri, Dimitri confirms it's true; he is his father and Corvina is his mother. Anton is furious at Dimitri and Corvina because of their deception and leaves in a rage to find Kendall, who can relate to secret parental issues. Meanwhile, Kendall is busy realizing the way her own actions and behavior have messed up her life because she reacted badly to secret parental issues and feels the urge to change. After her close friend, Del, counsels her, Kendall plans to visit her Florida parents for Christmas and reform her ways. Anton comes to see Kendall and reveals her lie was the truth. Kendall is stunned. Anton feels Kendall is the only other person he knows who understands him and Kendall remembers how she felt when she found out Erica is her mother; both pissed their true identities were kept hidden and feeling their lives up until the point they discovered their real parents was a lie. Anton drags Kendall to elope with him as vengeance against their respective (re-married) parents, Dimitri and Erica. Anton and Kendall marry, Kendall believing they are in love and can stick it to their parents at the same time while Anton just wants to stick to his father. They return to upset said parents and the rest of Wildwind when they announce their marriage. Erica and Dimitri, saying how Anton all can see is Kendall’s “sweet face” for the umpteenth time, decide against fighting the marriage as it will only unite Kendall and Anton closer together in anger against them. They choose to step back, both realizing Kendall and Anton are using each other to get back at them and hope Anton and Kendall will push each other away themselves.
1995[]
Kendall and Anton decide that the best way to get back at their married parents is to marry each other.
In January 1995, Anton, angry at Dimitri and Corvina, quits his medical training to become a car mechanic. Dimitri is incensed, disowning Anton. Kendall is also startled by Anton's decision to leave medicine. Anton and Kendall's marriage is problematic. Kendall tries to make their marriage work and thinks they're in love but Anton treats Kendall coldly, including berating her for her squabbling with her little sister when Bianca comes over to speak to Anton and the sisters end up in a bickering match. Kendall confronts Anton over his feelings for Julia but he dismisses her. Erica visits Anton and her daughter to attempt to call a ceasefire. She tries to defend Dimitri to Anton by telling him that Dimitri only recently found out from Corvina he had a son. Anton doesn't want to hear it and a petulant Kendall draws comparisons between their own estranged mother-daughter situation with Anton's parental crisis with Dimitri, explaining they were both hurt by being lied to their entire lives. Erica tells her daughter their situation was different, but an upset Kendall, holding back tears, believes their situations are the same. Erica says Kendall still refuses to see the truth and that both she and Mona did what was best for Kendall by placing her with a loving family after she was born, telling Anton that Corvina did the very same for her son when she gave him up to be raised by her parents instead. Anton is conflicted but refuses to forgive Dimitri. He continues his cold treatment of Kendall as Kendall earnestly continues her efforts to make their relationship a success. She feels threatened by Anton's increasing closeness with Julia. Complaining that Julia is moping around playing "scar baby" for Anton, Kendall pouts about Julia's feelings for Anton to Noah Keefer, who is interested in Julia. Kendall wants Noah to act on his feelings for Julia to draw her interest away from Anton but they argue, Kendall irritably telling Noah that he is "too inept to control Julia." However, Noah brings up Kendall's insecurities with Anton and calls her out on this. Determined to live the life she wants, Kendall makes an offer to Dimitri, who tries to separate the couple despite his vow to ignore them, to help him with Anton if he can give them financial security but Dimitri refuses. Dimitri disowns Anton again over his marriage. Corvina tries to smooth things over between herself and the couple, where she joins forces with a bitter Kendall. Corvina doubts Kendall's trustworthiness due to her history and issues with her own family but Kendall offers to help reconcile her with Anton. Corvina fails to convince Dimitri to financially support his son and wife but Kendall tries to reconcile Corvina and Anton anyway. Both Anton and Kendall are frustrated with the state of their lives and Anton badgers Kendall to get a job for a second income. Del and Kendall's friendship continues growing stronger as Kendall worries over his health and Del wants her to be happy. He notices the distance between her and Anton but an uncomfortable Kendall, certain she loves Anton, denies anything is wrong. While helping Kendall look for jobs, Del convinces her to apply for a waitressing job at McKay's restaurant. With Del's help in mediating her brattiness, Kendall is hired. She is pleased when she manages to briefly make Anton happy with news of her job.
Kendall wins hearts and minds with bratty waitressing (February 1995).
In February 1995, Corvina tells a reluctant Kendall to go to Wildwind and steal a ceramic leopard but Kendall refuses ("This would be my second offense which means no country club prisons this time!") Corvina tells her to stop "over dramatizing" everything but Kendall doesn't want to steal the leopard because she fears she'll get caught. However, she skeptically listens as Corvina says it contains fabled documents that would make Corvina's family heir to Wildwind. When Corvina praises Kendall and uses her issues with her mother, "You know what? It is a shame that Erica doesn't appreciate you. You're so smart, so intelligent, and once you've made up your mind to accomplish something, nothing and no one can stop you," Kendall relents. Corvina convinces Kendall to get the leopard. While everyone is at Edmund's "funeral" after he is apparently "killed" for a few days in a car explosion, Kendall sneaks into Wildwind and gets the leopard. Anton refuses Dimitri's invitation for him to come to the funeral but eventually decides to attend without telling Kendall, who is sympathetic but doesn't think a non-committal Anton should go, saying how their families hurt them and fears Anton will leave her. Erica also asks Anton to support Dimitri at his brother's funeral but when he refuses to come, telling her Dimitri lied to him his entire life and Kendall is the only one who understands him, she lectures him that he and Kendall are together because "(they're) both mad at the world." An ambivalent Anton thinks they want them to break up and argues that Kendall relies on him too much. Erica admits she doesn't deny she wants Kendall and Anton apart but assures she knows that Kendall was doing fine on her own while they weren't together. When Anton responds he and Kendall love each other, she asks Anton to consider that he and Kendall are together out of bitterness at their families. Though Anton insists to a dubious Erica that her daughter has changed, he becomes more suspicious about Kendall.
As Kendall is leaving Wildwind, she is shocked when Edmund appears there alive but she manages to leave. She runs into Anton exiting the funeral but covers with an excuse. On her way back, Del also finds Kendall, tells her to leave Anton and says, "Tell me something, Kendall, is the couple that gets revenge together, stay together?" He tells her there's "more to (her) than just grudges" and, referencing her need to be loved, that she wants to be with somebody who loves her for who she is. Kendall quietly asks who this is and Del urges her to leave Anton. Kendall brings the leopard to Corvina but they discover it empty so they forge the documents instead, hiding this scheme from Anton. Later, Anton briefly returns to medicine to save Noah when Noah is targeted and shot during a drive-by shooting while he and Kendall bickered at the gas station where Anton works. Kendall is shell-shocked by the experience as Anton, though ensuring Kendall is physically uninjured, treats her coldly while he comforts Julia. In March 1995, Kendall and Corvina develop a story claiming Corvina and Dimitri were switched at birth, making Corvina, Anton, and (via marriage) Kendall, the heirs to Wildwind and forge a letter to support this story. Later that month, Kendall prevents Janet from going on a murder rampage to get Amanda back, risking her own life in the process. Del and Kendall continue to grow closer. He continuously attempts to persuade her from her revenge plots, urging Kendall to utilize her own goodness and that she can restart her life by positively using her talents. He tries to get her to see that her life with Anton has been miserable. Kendall is unhappy but denies this, though she admits she'd like turn her life around. Kendall has second thoughts about the plot but Corvina convinces Kendall to go through with their plan, saying they need revenge on the Maricks. She notices the growing closeness between Del and Kendall. Though Del berates Anton, who grows closer to Julia, for his neglectful treatment of Kendall, Del warns the Maricks that Kendall may be up to something. Anton nearly breaks up with Kendall, gently telling her she can't be happy with the life they have together, but Kendall desperately circumvents this when she invites the Harts to come celebrate their marriage.
In April 1995, as Kendall and Corvina plant the leopard containing the forgeries at Wildwind, Erica tells an exasperated Anton about Del's warning that Kendall is up to something and wants to know what she's up to. Anton denies Kendall is plotting anything, irritably asking why Erica would believe "that idiot" (Del). Erica refers to Kendall's choice of friends ("Del Henry, (Kendall's) best friend in the world, in addition to Janet Green"), annoying Anton when she tells him Del knows Kendall well and understands her daughter's scheming tendencies. Anton insists to Erica that Kendall has changed, informing her that Kendall has made up with the Harts and of their visit. Erica is happy to hear this and of the Harts' continued devotion to Kendall and says she has always admired them. However, when she is unhappy over Kendall's unappreciation, Anton reminds Erica they lied to Kendall the same way he was lied to. Erica explains Dimitri wants to reconcile and tells Anton to look out for any plots. Before she leaves, Anton tells Erica that Kendall has turned her life around for the better, and despite her suspicions, Erica hopes this is true and that her daughter has changed her ways. As Corvina and Kendall leave Wildwind, Dimitri catches Corvina but Kendall manages to hide away. Corvina comes up with a cover story that enables her to leave while Kendall is left behind to plant leopard containing the forgeries but manages to get out. Del tries to dissuade Kendall from her plot again, telling her she’s pretty, smart, good, and could have a real life if she gave up her revenge plots. Torn, Kendall starts to give in but discovers he’s working on Erica’s TV show and becomes upset. She accuses Del of setting her up and trying to get her to trust him, saying he is working for the woman who ruined her life. Del earnestly assures Kendall that neither he or her mother have it in for her, “Erica doesn’t hate you, she’s cut you off and that hurts like hell, I know, and I am sorry but you have got to let this go.” A tearful Kendall is torn but stubbornly insists she can’t give it up.
Kendall and Corvina convince Anton to ask Dimitri to set up a dinner to "make peace" at Wildwind, secretly hoping this will further their plot, after Del tries once again to urge Kendall to drop the scheme he knows she's planning, saying she is also hurting herself by continuing to plot. Everyone agrees to the dinner under the guise of reconciliation. Noting the anger Kendall and Anton share at them and Corvina's jealousy, Dimitri and Erica set up the dinner with Kendall, Anton, and Corvina at Wildwind, in hopes it will uncover Kendall and Corvina's plot Del had warned them about. Aware of the closeness between Del and her daughter and still believing Kendall is up to something, Erica solicits Del's help in getting Kendall to reveal her plan. Del agrees. Erica sets up a meeting between him and her daughter that night at Wildwind and leaves them alone on the terrace. Del tries to get Kendall to drop whatever she's up to, urging her to “quit while (she’s) ahead,” and attempts to convince Kendall she can drop her grudges and start over with him. Erica catches them kissing. Kendall is conflicted but refuses, maintaining she has to stay with Anton because she loves him. At dinner in front of Anton, Erica casually asks her daughter why she was kissing Del. Kendall freezes, freaks, and blames Erica. Anton is furious, wants to leave, insists he and Kendall were set up and announces they’re moving out of state as the Maricks try to settle them down but on their way out, a fight over the leopard ensues between Corvina and Erica. It breaks and the forged documents are discovered, which Dimitri and Erica are certain are part of the plot Del warned them about. They question Corvina's apparent instant acceptance that her life, according to the document, is a lie as Erica gets Kendall to protest when she suggests they burn the letter. Despite Kendall's best efforts to cover, she is confronted by Dimitri about this being the plot Del told them about. Kendall becomes increasingly annoyed when she is lectured at by Erica and Dimitri that they know this is her scheme and to drop the act as Edmund tells her "not to write down to her audience." As Kendall demands they stop lecturing her and asks how this could be her plot, Edmund mentions Kendall's use of an archaic phrase earlier that evening, explaining how Kendall and Anton are too young to have heard it otherwise. He says Kendall could only have learned this phrase from him when he used it in a conversation with Maria and Dimitri and suggests Kendall was listening in on them the night she was forced to hide away. Dimitri states this was the night he caught Corvina at Wildwind, Erica realizes how the documents were planted and Corvina denies this. Kendall claims she didn't do anything, telling a confused Anton the Maricks are twisting everything against them. However, Kendall angrily tells Dimitri that he wrecked Anton's life the same way Erica ruined her life as they were both lied to their entire lives, "Can't you for one lousy second consider how Anton- how I felt? How our lives were turned upside down? Those people you thought were your parents were really strangers?" Edmund responds this isn't about Anton but about Kendall's identity crisis, "It's about you. It is always about you. Using Anton is just another axe to grind. Let me clear the air here, Erica didn't ruin your life anymore than Dimitri ruined Anton's. You came here with a secret, you were one up on us, that Erica was your mother. When you finally let us in on the secret, we tried to do everything we could to make you feel part of the family, make you feel welcome, and all anybody got was a lot of grief. Now this stupid message in the leopard is just another installment of that." Kendall pleads with Anton that the Maricks are manipulating them but Anton leaves. Dimitri reveals if Anton believes Kendall’s story, he’ll disown him for good.
The next day, Erica tries to recruit Del, who is surprised to learn of what Kendall was up to with Corvina, because she needs his help with Kendall again to prove the documents are forgeries. Del declines but agrees after learning Kendall accused her mother of paying him to kiss her. Meanwhile, Kendall is trying to urge Anton to believe the baby-switch story but Anton tests Kendall, saying it doesn't matter and wants to move out of state with her and Corvina. Kendall fails his test, urging Anton to accept that the story. However, when Del explains Kendall's plot to Anton, Anton reveals he knows Kendall's part in making up the story but accuses Del of being paid off by the Maricks to break up his marriage, prompting Del to deny this and admit he truly has romantic feelings for Kendall. Corvina and Kendall try to plan the next move but later, Kendall quietly freaks out about what her life is turning into.
In case Del is unable to help out with Kendall and the situation, Erica gets the documents checked out by her lawyer, sharing her suspicions about their authenticity but learns from Jackson that the forged documents are plausible enough to merit a court case. She almost gets Corvina to confess when she berates Corvina for developing a scheme with Kendall so Corvina can punish Dimitri as payback. Corvina defends Kendall, accusing Erica of hating her own daughter but Erica denies this, clarifying that what she hates is what Kendall has become. As they argue over Kendall and Anton's anger/which mother is to blame, Erica denies Corvina’s claims that Kendall is love-starved/all her daughter gets from her is hate. Erica calls this “ridiculous”, saying Corvina knows these claims are ridiculous until she got Kendall's version and was convinced otherwise. Corvina’s defense of Kendall starts to waver when Erica explains the reason Kendall is so angry is because she didn't raise her, paralleling her choice not to raise Kendall with Corvina's choice not to raise Anton but says they gave Kendall and Anton to loving couples, explaining, “You and I, we made that choice not out of hate, not out of selfishness, but out of concern for the good of our children,” further breaking Corvina down when she guilts her for turning on Dimitri out of jealousy that he did not return her love by scheming for revenge. Corvina still refuses to admit the truth but finally confesses the scheme and her part in it to Anton when he demands the truth. Anton has Corvina admit the entire scheme to Dimitri and Erica and he reconciles with Dimitri. The story is disproven when the midwife who delivered Dimitri and Corvina denies the baby switch.
Returning to see Anton, Kendall furiously confronts Del about telling Erica and Dimitri that she was up to a new plot. After Anton plays Kendall into making her believe he’s accepted the story, Kendall tries and fails to get a lawyer. Instead, she is given advice to drop the plot by Noah, referring to her as "Bambi," and his sister, Belinda. An unhappy Kendall ignores them and is caught trying to pass the story to a new reporter at Tempo by Brooke, who already once lectured Kendall about her lies to her mother. Kendall fails to convince Brooke as Brooke calls the story a "flagrant lie". When Kendall says she'll take the story elsewhere if she's not interested, Brooke tells her, "I'm fascinated. I used to think you lied to be creative. Now I realize you lie because you can't help yourself." Brooke continues lecturing Kendall to stop wasting herself on revenge and realize how much she is hurting herself with these plots. She urges Kendall to figure out her life because she won't be a kid forever and explains she knows this story is to get back at Erica. Holding back tears, Kendall insists her mother hurt her and tells Brooke, “I was supposed to be somebody special,” but Erica gave her away and she grew up feeling misplaced, “I had a rich and famous mother who pawned me off because I was inconvenient.” Brooke tells Kendall that Erica wasn’t able to take care of her when she was born but gave Kendall a better life than many by giving her to parents who could properly take care of her. Brooke tells Kendall she was raised with love and had parents “that (she was) the sun and the stars to, that (she was) the most precious gift in the world,” telling Kendall she doesn’t know what pain is until somebody she loves dies. When Kendall tries to dismiss Brooke, Brooke cites Kendall's lack of goals/friends and implores her to turn her life around. Kendall says she has a husband unlike Brooke, but Brooke warns her she won't have him for long due to her actions because Kendall is her “own worst enemy.” Kendall is silent when Brooke explains she is not stupid or boring and tells her to stop her self-destructive behavior, urging her change her life for the better. Kendall listens but miserably dismisses Brooke's words and determinedly continues. Del interrupts her pitch to a tabloid magazine, tells the reporter Kendall's story is a lie, and proceeds to try and save Kendall from herself again but Kendall refuses. Anton comes back to Wildwind and, furious with Kendall, wants payback. Dimitri and Erica dissuade him from this, relieved the plot failed, but when Del calls Dimitri after failing to convince Kendall to drop it and explains Kendall is trying to sell the story to magazines, Dimitri suggests they "teach Kendall a lesson she won't forget." The Wildwind residents, with Jackson's help, trick Kendall, who is stunned this is the second time her lies were accidentally the truth, into signing annulment papers under the guise of signing documents that would make Anton and herself owners of Wildwind. An upset Kendall is told about the trick and she rips up the papers but finds no recourse. Kendall's threats to sue for entrapment are dismissed and she runs from the house in tears when a torn Anton leaves her due to her continual scheming.
Julia, Del, and Kendall.
Kendall is devastated and initially wants payback against her mother, Anton, and the Maricks. Crying, she explains she just wants to be accepted and wanted their approval. Del talks her down and comforts a sobbing Kendall all night, falling asleep in a chair. When The Intruder, a tabloid magazine, calls Kendall for dirt on Dimitri and Erica in exchange for $3000, she is tempted but declines the offer. She grants Anton the annulment. However, Kendall irritably refuses to give up Janet when investigators ask her questions about Janet's whereabouts. After snarking at them for a bit, Del reminds Kendall that Janet may lose it again and kill people so Kendall reveals Janet followed Trevor to Canada. She and Del fall in love in May 1995. He helps Kendall rebuild her life, let go of her anger against Erica and the Harts, and tries convincing Kendall that she can really achieve her aspirations for a big life by applying her talents to something worthwhile. Kendall considers this.
Later, Kendall is upset to learn about Erica's accident after Erica falls from a catwalk. Kendall rushes to the hospital to ensure her mother is alright. She freaks out when Erica isn't in her room and starts to cry, believing this means her mother died, but is relieved to learn from Noah that Erica is fine and has just gone for a MRI after he finds her in tears in Erica's room. He asks about her tears and Kendall defensively explains she just wanted to make sure for herself Erica was alright because Erica "is still (her) mother and, whether (they) like it or not, (they) are connected." They snark at each other (Kendall: "You, an orderly? You, up to your dreads in bed pans, how very perfect." Noah: "Shedding tears over your mama ain't dulled your fork tongue.") but Noah realizes how worried Kendall is about her mother and that she sincerely cares about Erica. Kendall has him promise not to tell Erica how upset she was or tell anyone she was there. She surprises Noah when, after starting to engage in an argument with Julia, lets Julia rail on her a bit before quietly leaving the hospital with Del.
That month, Kendall is distraught to witness the apparent death of Janet after preventing Janet from going on another shooting rampage, this time at Trevor's wedding to his new fiancé, Laurel. Del asks Kendall to come with him to the wedding but an anxious Kendall claims she doesn't have any dresses she wants to wear and fakes having a fever as an excuse to stay home. Del calls her out on this and reminds her she has a closet full of designer dresses, insisting attending the wedding is the first step in rebuilding her life, and Kendall reluctantly agrees to come. At the wedding, she becomes overwhelmed and goes to the basement where she finds Janet. Unable to find Kendall, Del believes she left. Kendall learns Janet is planning go on a shooting rampage to get her daughter, Amanda, back and begs her not to hurt anybody. Janet tries to convince Kendall to leave the church before it’s too late. When Kendall won’t allow Janet to murder everyone, Janet apologetically knocks her unconscious and ties her up. After Kendall wakes up and manages to get free, she searches for Janet to stop her from going on a massacre but is horrified to see Janet struck by lightning and believes she is dead. Shaken, Kendall tries to tell everyone at the wedding what happened but they are doubtful (she is hurt when Del asks if she is lying) until Kendall passes a lie detector test. In June 1995, Del asks Kendall to marry him but she turns him down so she can try living life on her own terms first and they continue their relationship as is. She is forced to wait upon Dimitri and Bianca at McKay's. While Bianca is rude to her, Kendall is cordial and apologizes to her sister. Dimitri is amenable to her efforts and responds to Kendall's worries about Erica's accident, updating her on her mother's condition. Kendall reconnects with her adoptive mother, Alice, after she is devastated to learn that her adoptive father died suddenly from heart complications. She attends the funeral with Alice and Del and as she looks around her childhood home full of her own photos, wonders why she never felt lucky with her parents. Kendall feels guilty for not being appreciative of her parents and failing to show them how much she really loves them. She remembers a story in which Alice gave her a new pink bicycle for her 8th birthday but Kendall wanted a racing bike so she threw an Erica-esque tantrum over it and is sternly lectured by Bill, who is the first in a line-up of people (that would later include Erica, Anton, Del, etc.) to tell Kendall that the world does not revolve around her. Kendall remembers how her parents adored her but she felt embarrassed, feeling misunderstood and that she didn't fit in with them. Saying how reliable Alice has always been for her, Kendall wants to take care of her mother and asks Alice to live with her in Pine Valley but Alice refuses to leave her home.
Still grieving the loss of her father, Bill, Kendall returns with Del to their home in Pine Valley and begins to realize that her parents love her. She remains worried about her mother, Alice, and decides to return to Florida to take care of Alice after learning about her medical problems. Del asks to come with her. Kendall writes Erica a letter, who receives it with skepticism but finds herself unable to dismiss her daughter's letter. As Erica reads it, she flashes back to moments, both good and bad, in her history with Kendall. Kendall apologizes in the letter for her activities and explains she wanted Erica's love and her attention, good or bad, which was why she did "so many despicable things." She tells Erica that she was "blessed from the day (she) was born," admits she didn't appreciate how much the Harts loved her and that it took "two years of hell and a sudden death to wake (her) up." Kendall accepts she was given up for adoption in an "act of love, not cruelty," and thanks Erica for giving her life and for the life she had with the Harts. Erica flashes back to moments in her history with her daughter, some of which included her angry confrontation with the Harts over their keeping Kendall's adoption a secret (from Kendall) but during which she saw how much they love Kendall; her altercation with Kendall at the boutique; happily being with Kendall and Bianca the morning of her wedding and she and Kendall hugging at the time she publicly announced Kendall as her daughter. Kendall wonders if Erica heard the same voice when she was (Kendall's) age driving her own determination in life and finishes with their connection, "Even though we're not together, whatever I am, whatever I will be, I owe to you. Be happy, Erica. I am, finally. Love, Kendall." Erica is affected by the letter but is conflicted. She admits to Dimitri that, despite Kendall's latest scheme, she is moved by Kendall and her letter. Yet, she is also suspicious Kendall wants to make her feel guilty some more. Dimitri counsels her that he believes Kendall is sincere and Myrtle reminds her of Mona's desire for them to be reconciled. Erica decides to see her daughter before she leaves.
Kendall leaves on good terms with Pine Valley, accepted by Del's family, Dixie Coonie and Tad Martin. She shares a warm good-bye with Myrtle and Anton. Myrtle tells Kendall that her grandmother, Mona, loved her and Kendall says she loved her too. Though Kendall and Anton agree their relationship was damaging, they thank each other for being there when they needed it and wish each other well. Erica manages to catch Kendall before she leaves and mother and daughter make peace. Learning Erica read her letter, Kendall said she needed to apologize and asks if she's is angry. Erica considers this and tells her she has many feelings about Kendall and, while anger is also one of them, she wants to talk. Looking around at the barely adequate state of her daughter's motel room, Erica is unhappy to realize this was Kendall's home for months but Kendall, after trying to brush it off, says she deserved it for what she did and admits it wasn't easy. When Erica has Kendall confirm that she wrote her letter herself, Kendall saying Del never saw it, Kendall is disappointed when Erica admits her initial skepticism of her letter and that she tore it in half before reading it but tells her, "Just in half, Kendall, not into tiny little pieces that could never be put together again because something in my heart just told me I should read it." After they talk about her letter, appreciating Alice, etc. Kendall explains she's not asking for Erica to forget what she did but hopes that she can forgive her someday, Erica tells her daughter that "of course (she) can accept (Kendall's) apology and of course, (she) can forgive (her)." Kendall explains that she knows Erica gave her so many chances but she could only think of her pain and didn't consider why Erica did what she did or how it made her feel, "I did you such an injustice." Erica tells Kendall she is sorry about her father, Bill. When Kendall explains how she regrets not being with her father when he died and not letting him know how much she loved him, Erica explains they share that similarity because she felt the same way Kendall does when her mother, Mona, died. Kendall explains she is so grateful she got to know her grandmother and Erica tells her Mona always pushed for Erica and Kendall to come back together. Kendall is sorry for disappointing Mona but Erica, referencing her own tumultuous history with her mother and her own history of schemes and lies, relents, "Oh, I disappointed her all the time. She always had to forgive me." Erica tells a grateful Kendall that Mona would want Kendall to be happy and remembers Mona, herself, Kendall, and Bianca together on the morning of her wedding to Dimitri. Erica gives Kendall a ring that once belonged to Mona, explaining she wants her to have it and tells Kendall a story associated with the ring (having lost something precious that she found again). Kendall says she'll think of both Erica and her grandmother whenever she wears it and when they agree to say good-bye, Erica wants Kendall to take care of herself and "listen to that voice inside (her) that says 'be good.'" Kendall swears she will. Erica hugs Kendall and tells her she wants her to be happy. Kendall promises, swearing she'll never take Alice for granted again and is grateful for what Erica did for her. Erica reveals to Dimitri that she "feels relieved, but (she) also feels very sad" over her daughter's departure. Amazed, Kendall tells Del, "My mother forgives me," and says he made what she shared with her mother possible. She reflects, "I learned a lot in this town. I lost a lot too but what I found more than makes up for it." She bids a tearful,"Good-bye Pine Valley," before returning to Florida with Del.
2002-[]
2002-
Minshew as Kendall Hart (2002-2011, 2013)
In 2002, Kendall's character was finally recast with actress Alicia Minishew and the character's birth date was revised back to September 25, 1976. Erica goes on trial for the murder of Frankie Stone, Bianca’s girlfriend. Needing someone to help incriminate her, Erica calls in Kendall, half-hoping Kendall will not implicate her on the stand and that she has still changed. On January 7, 2002, a newly embittered Kendall, who has since amicably split from Del, returns to Pine Valley with the intention of implicating her mother. While she continued to go back and forth with her difficult mother, Kendall and Erica were reconciled for good approximately 1.5 to 2 years after her return and developed a deeply loving mother-daughter relationship. The character has been reformed and reconciled with her family, including the formation of a very close relationship with her half-sister, Bianca. Kendall is written as a heroine, though her devious characteristics are kept still intact. While still rather self-centered like her mother Erica, Kendall is willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of others, primarily her family and friends, and will go to extremes to protect them, also like her mother who is very protective of Kendall, Bianca and Josh (Kendall and Bianca's half-brother and Erica's son).
Gellar guested in the 2011 series finale opposite a longtime friend from her initial tenure on All My Children, Eva LaRue. She played a delusional mental patient who saw vampires and believed herself to be the daughter of Erica; nods to both of her most famous TV roles, Kendall Hart and Buffy Summers.
Trivia[]
- Because of her work as the self-absorbed Kendall Hart and light complexion with dark hair, Joss Whedon initially considered Gellar for the role of Cordelia Chase when she auditioned for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Sullivan, Michelle. Buffy's Painstaking Audition. 'TV Guide.' 1998)
- In a 1999 interview with the The Chicago Tribune, Roger Kumble, writer and director of the 1999 film, Cruel Intentions, revealed he wanted Gellar in the lead role of Kathryn Merteuil based on her work as Kendall Hart.
- Rudolph Martin, the actor who played Kendall's once-gullible husband, Anton Lang, later starred as Dracula in both a TV-miniseries and in the 2000 fifth season opener of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
- Gellar briefly worked with Lauren E. Roman, who played teenaged runaway Laura Kirk, on All My Children. They would work together again in the 1999 Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, "Earshot", in which Roman played Buffy's neurotically overachieving high school classmate, Nancy Doyle.
- Michelle Trachtenberg portrayed Dawn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and also played Lily Benton Montgomery on All My Children from 1993 to 1996. Though her tenure overlapped with Gellar's time on All My Children, the two characters didn't interact.
- In an effort to keep Kendall’s storyline unspoiled, producers kept details of the role concealed and neither Alicia Minshew (Kendall Hart, 2002-2013) or Gellar were aware of the character’s true identity when they auditioned for the role. After Gellar screen-tested with Lucci in 1993 and Minshew screen-tested with Josh Duhamel (ex-Leo Dupres) in 2001 for the role respectively, each actress was then told they were being cast as Erica’s oldest daughter, Kendall.
- In 2012, Minshew interviewed that she received a basket of flowers, cakes and cookies from Gellar with "a note saying that Kendall was a great role and for me to have fun playing her". The two met on All My Children's set a year after Minshew's time in the role while Gellar was visiting friends. Minshew describes, "We just gave each other a big hug and she said I was doing a great job." (Kirchgassner, Robert. Interview with Alicia Minshew. 'The Celebrity Cafe.' 2012)
- In an 2010 interview with Michael Fairman, Minshew reveals she has "always loved the relationship between Kendall and Erica, even before I played her. I liked the dynamics between Sarah Michelle Gellar (ex-Kendall) and Susan."
- Gellar stated in multiple interviews that she grew up watching All My Children and continued to watch the show after she left the role of Kendall Hart, explaining, "I still watch the soap every day!" in a September 2002 Soap Opera Digest cover feature.
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Adam Chandler | Aidan Devane | AJ Chandler | Alex Devane | Alexander Cambias, Sr. | Amanda Dillon | Angie Hubbard | Anna Devane | Annie Lavery | Arlene Vaughan | Babe Carey | Bianca Montgomery | Bo Buchanan | Brooke English | Cara Castillo | Cassandra Foster | Cliff Warner | Colby Chandler | Damon Miller | David Hayward | Di Henry | Dimitri Marick | Dixie Cooney Martin | Dorian Lord | Erica Kane | Frankie Hubbard | Frankie Stone | Greenlee Smythe | Greg Nelson | Griffin Castillo | Hannah Nichols | Hayley Vaughan | Jake Martin | Jamal Cudahy | Janet Green Dillon | Jeff Martin | Jenny Gardner | Jesse Hubbard | Joe Martin | Josh Madden | JR Chandler | Julia Santos | Kelly Cramer | Kendall Hart | Kevin Buchanan | Langley Wallingford | Larry Wolek | Leo du Pres | Liza Colby | Maggie Stone | Marissa Tasker | Mark Dalton | Mateo Santos | Michael Cambias | Miranda Montgomery | Natalia Fowler | Natalie Marlowe Dillon | Nina Cortlandt | Opal Cortlandt | Palmer Cortlandt | Paul Cramer | Phoebe Tyler Wallingford | Rae Cummings | Reese Williams | Robin Scorpio | Ryan Lavery | Scott Chandler | Simone Torres | Skye Chandler | Stuart Chandler | Tad Martin | Zach Slater | Zoe | | |