Lizzie Spaulding
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Lillian "Lizzie" Lewis (née Spaulding, formerly Randall) was a fictional character
on the CBS
daytime soap opera
Guiding Light
. She was one of the soap's most popular and featured characters. She was the daughter of supercouple Phillip Spaulding
and ex-wife, Beth Raines. Lizzie was born on-screen on Thanksgiving
in 1990, but this was later revised to 1986 when she turned 18 in 2004. She is the third Elizabeth in her family; her paternal grandmother and mother's first names are Elizabeth as well.
The character of Lizzie Spaulding has been portrayed by six different actresses
, with Marcy Rylan
most recently playing the role since she was cast in 2006 to Guiding Light
's cancellation in 2009. Hayden Panettiere
was the de facto originator of the role, which she portrayed from 1996 until 2001. For Lizzie's battle with leukemia
in 2000, the show received a Special Recognition Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
for bringing national awareness of the disease to the attention of daytime viewers. In 2005, Panettiere's successor Crystal Hunt
received a Daytime Emmy Award
nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
as well as a Soap Opera Digest Award
nomination for her portrayal.
like her father.
The first-born child of Phillip Spaulding
and Beth Raines, Lizzie has a younger brother, James Lemay Spaulding. She also has two younger paternal half-siblings, Alan Cooper "Zach" Spaulding and Emma Spencer-Spaulding. Lizzie also has a sister/Aunt born to Beth and Alan named Peyton Alexandra Raines. A comment by Alan stated that Beth named the child "after that quarterback," a reference to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Lizzie has had numerous stepparents in her life. Her stepfather, Jim Lemay, was killed in a fire during Christmas
when she was a child after saving her and James' lives. Lizzie was also once close to her former stepmother, Harley Cooper Aitoro (now her aunt), and her former stepsister, Daisy Lemay. She has a daughter, Sarah, with Jonathan, and is currently married to Bill Lewis. The show's finale showed Lizzie asking Sarah to touch her belly, as Lizzie was shown pregnant with Bill's son.
) accidentally killed Carl Stevens in early 1998 when she saw him threatening her mother, Beth, with a gun. The gun fell, and Lizzie picked it up and fatally shot Carl. She suffered nightmares and hallucinations and finally had a breakdown upon being questioned by her father after being stopped from fleeing the country with her mother, who was determined to keep Lizzie's involvement in Carl's death a secret. She was sent to camp for therapy and returned somewhat better adjusted.
In 1999, she was kidnapped
by the Nursery Rhyme Stalker and was saved by Alan's old lover, Annie Dutton
(also an escaped convict at the time). She befriended her rescuer and ran away with her when Lizzie overheard her father speaking of getting rid of Annie and took it literally. Though she was reassured by the latter that Phillip wasn't planning to kill her, the woman guessed that he was making plans to send her back to prison and made plans to run away. Lizzie begged Annie to take her along, as she felt neglected by her mother, and she agreed. Lizzie was later saved by her grandfather and his then wife, India von Halkein. Upon her return to Springfield, Phillip and Beth vowed to their daughter that they would never make her feel unwanted again when she told her mother that she thought Beth wouldn't miss her if she was gone. Lizzie was devastated, though, when she learned that Annie was gone.
2000 wasn't an easy year for Lizzie either when she was diagnosed with leukemia
after being in a car accident with her stepsister, Daisy Lemay
. Though Daisy had witnessed signs of sickness in Lizzie before the accident, the latter swore her to secrecy as she wanted to witness her mother getting married to Daisy's father, Jim Lemay. Lizzie finally went into remission when she underwent a successful bone marrow transplant
thanks to her new baby brother, James. Alan later revealed to her that the baby was Phillip's and not Jim's. When she heard her mother and stepfather making plans to leave Springfield, Lizzie (Mackenzie Mauzy
) feigned sickness again but her godfather, Rick Bauer called her out and she confessed. Tragedy struck again later in the year when Jim died in a fire after saving Lizzie and James a few days before Christmas.
In 2003, after dealing with issues involving her grandfather's faked heart attack and helping Marina Cooper
frame her uncle Gus Aitoro
, Lizzie (Allison Hirschlag
) pleaded with Beth and Phillip to let her go away to boarding school
and they reluctantly agreed.
) returned home from boarding school after a fire destroyed her room, which the headmaster believed she started. She soon developed a crush on Shayne Lewis. Jealous of his relationship with Marina Cooper
, Lizzie decided to sabotage it by getting Marina's old boyfriend, Ben Reade, back in her life. Convincing Ben that Marina still cared for him, she arranged for him to meet with Marina at the high school prom. Though the latter rejected him, Lizzie persuaded him that she was lying and continually pushed him to go after Marina, first at the Bauer barbecue and later at the Bauer cabin where an unbalanced Ben would end up kidnapping Marina. Though she was returned uninjured, Ben ended up committing suicide
.
Lizzie's jealousy didn't stop at Marina, however; she was also very disturbed to learn that Olivia Spencer
, Phillip's old lover, was pregnant with his baby. Resentful of having to share Phillip with Olivia and the baby on the way, she made plans to cause Olivia to lose her baby and thus release her father's obligation to her. Pointing out to Olivia a tear on the carpet on the Beacon staircase, she later pulled up the carpet after it had been fixed in an attempt to cause Olivia to fall down the stairs. Though she appeared to change her mind after a last minute talk with Beth, Lizzie was too late and Olivia took a horrible tumble. Though she and the baby turned out to be all right, Olivia was convinced that Lizzie (who'd been behaving maliciously toward her for weeks) purposely caused her fall. Not long after, a concerned Beth and Lillian would whisk Lizzie away to a cabin where Lillian confronted Lizzie with the same accusation. Cornered, Lizzie continually denied that she did anything wrong regarding Ben and Olivia and got exceedingly defensive. Finally, desperate, she grabbed a broken shard of glass and threatened to kill herself. Luckily, Harley arrived to defuse the situation and drove a highly defensive and agitated Lizzie back to Springfield. The night of Olivia's baby shower, Lizzie sneaked out of the house on the pretense of giving her a gift. When a frightened Olivia refused the gift and asked Lizzie to leave, she continued to push the gift on Olivia and finally was escorted home by her psychiatrist. That night, Olivia found something in her baby crib—a doll's head! Though Lizzie tried to deny it and pleaded with her family to believe her, she was unable to convince her family of her innocence. Distraught over her family's mistrust, Lizzie confided in Alan that she was only trying to be a good Spaulding by manipulating events to get what she wanted. She also finally admitted to Christopher that she needed help and she wanted to get back to being that happy girl she used to be. In an effort to make amends for the pain she caused, Lizzie apologized to Marina and Shayne for her part in Marina's kidnapping.
Later that year, Lizzie tried to go on with a normal teenaged existence by auditioning for a school play, a production of Romeo and Juliet. Wanting the part of Juliet, Lizzie was extremely jealous when Tammy was given the role instead. Late that year, Lizzie was unnerved when Olivia, who had left town after the crib incident, returned claiming to have lost her baby. Still very suspicious of Olivia, Lizzie was certain that she was out to hurt Phillip, who was now in a mental hospital following a nervous breakdown
.
In 2004, Lizzie was convinced that Olivia was planning to kidnap Phillip. Although she turned out to be wrong, she and the other Spauldings learned something equally unsettling—Olivia married Phillip! Although no one in the family was happy with the hasty marriage, Beth tried to convince a disgusted Lizzie that, like it or not, she'd have to accept Olivia as her stepmother. Reeling from Phillip's new marriage, Lizzie tried to act out by drinking, but was caught by her new friend, Sandy Foster, who harshly instructed her to straighten up. Angry about the Olivia situation and about still being under a doctor's care, Lizzie found the perfect opportunity for some excitement when a kid name Blade invited her to a rave. Desperately wanting to get out from her family's watchful gaze, Lizzie sneaked out and went to the rave on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, things would end up taking a terrifying turn. Knowing how dangerous those raves could be, Nico Costaña (who met Lizzie a few months prior at Christmastime), went to the rave to talk her into leaving and guzzled her untouched drink. Suddenly feeling the high, he pulled Lizzie into a sexy Latin dance. Realizing something was wrong with Nico, Lizzie called her limo, risking getting into trouble with her family, to get Nico to the hospital. At the hospital, Lizzie was startled to learn that Nico had ingested a drug called Delirium, since she realized her own drink must have been spiked with the drug. Although Lizzie tried to tell Lillian, who was on duty at the hospital, that she just happened upon Nico wandering around, it was apparent to Lillian that Lizzie was lying. Fortunately, Nico recovered and thanked Lizzie for talking care of him.
Lizzie was startled when while visiting Phillip at the hospital, he claimed that his baby girl was actually alive. Although Beth was convinced Phillip was merely in denial, Lizzie suspected Olivia was hiding something when she suddenly put a stop to their visit. Wanting to know what Olivia was hiding, Lizzie tried to sweet talk Olivia's brother, Sam Spencer, into letting her clear the air with Olivia at his place (convinced that she'd find what Olivia was hiding there) Although she wasn't totally successful with Sam, she was able to talk Tammy into getting her Sam's address. With the address in hand, Lizzie sneaked off and discovered something amazing—a baby! Realizing that Olivia had lied all along about losing her baby, Lizzie took drastic measures and kidnapped her sister! After taking take of her sister, Emma, all night, Lizzie took the baby to Ravenwood and presented her to Phillip. Knowing what she did was wrong, Lizzie asked Phillip to forgive her and pointed out that she had taken good care of Emma. At that point, Olivia busted in demanding her daughter and threatening to lock Lizzie away. At the same time the rest of the Spauldings arrived. As Olivia continued to rant about Lizzie, Phillip tried to get her to calm down to no avail. Finally, Phillip saved Lizzie by stating that he'd asked her to bring the baby to him. when Lizzie confirmed the story, Gus ruled it a domestic dispute since Phillip was the baby's father. However, it was clear to Olivia, and even to Beth, that Phillip was covering for Lizzie. Later, Lizzie admitted to Phillip that, despite how she had thought she'd feel, she loved Emma.
Lizzie developed a crush on Joey Lupo who was in a relationship with Tammy. She succeeded in breaking them up, and admitted to Joey that she loved him. When Joey told her that he and Tammy had gotten back together, Lizzie feigned acceptance and offered Joey a celebratory drink, laced with the drug. As expected, Joey passed out. With him unconscious, Lizzie got him into bad and undressed. The next morning, Joey woke up in bed next to her who then lied and told him that they'd made love. Unfortunately, the plan would backfire. Mere days later, Joey overheard Lizzie talking to the drug dealer JB about a drug and put two and two together. His suspicions were confirmed when he looked into JB's bag and saw a vial with a drug. Incensed, Joey confronted Lizzie about what she'd done. Backed into a corner, Lizzie was forced to admit what she'd done, leading a disgusted Joey to announce that he could never love her and walk away. Unfortunately for Joey, Lizzie went straight to Phillip and told him everything. Immediately, Phillip summoned Joey and, to Lizzie's shock, blackmailed Joey into leaving town. That day, Joey left Springfield for Boston University. A few days later, as she was out driving, Lizzie spotted Tammy outside of a bar and, in a pique of anger, sped up to scare her. Suddenly, Sandy pushed Tammy out of the way and was sideswiped himself while Lizzie sped away without ever looking back. The experience left Lizzie deeply troubled, especially when she learned that Sandy was in critical condition with a damaged liver. Feeling enormously guilty, Lizzie confessed her problem to Phillip, who urged her to keep quiet while he took care of everything.
Meanwhile, Lizzie met two people, Marina's uncle (who wasn't much older than Marina) Coop, a man she instantly disliked. In the midst of this, Phillip was entrenched in his personal mission to destroy the Coop's family. After Phillip demolished Harley's house, Coop (who at this point had had many clashes with Lizzie) bulldozed through the Spaulding gate. Though faced with jail time, Phillip offered another form of punishment—he was to work as Lizzie's driver, despite Lizzie's protests. Over the course of the next few weeks, Lizzie and Coop's relationship became more combative, though there were times she lowered her guard and showed him another side of her.
Meanwhile, Lizzie's guilt continued to gnaw at her and she confessed the truth to her Aunt Alex who urged her to confess to the police. Heeding Alex's advice, Lizzie went to the police station to confess. Although Phillip tried to stop her by demanding that she keep quiet, Lizzie openly defied her father and admitted the truth. After being released on bail, Lizzie was ordered by Phillip to meet him at the airport so they could flee town. Although she wanted to stay, Phillip told her that she wouldn't get a fair trial in Springfield and they had no choice but to leave everything behind. When Coop arrived to drive her to the airport, he saw how visibly upset she was and realized that she was running from something, Coop refused to take her anywhere lest he'd be an accomplice. Finally, he figured out that she was the one who hit Sandy Foster. When he lambasted her for running away instead of facing her punishment, Lizzie revealed that she had confessed but her father was forcing her to leave. Seeing how conflicted she was, Coop tried to convince her to do the right thing and stay. Afraid of jail time, Lizzie tried to offer Coop money to be her alibi, but he refused. Nonetheless he was able to convince Lizzie that if she didn't want to leave town, she shouldn't. Buoyed by Coop's encouragement, Lizzie then met with Phillip and shocked him by informing him that she wasn't going with him. That same day, Lizzie was shocked to learn that Phillip had kidnapped all of his other children! Realizing that her father was out of control, Lizzie, against Beth's wishes, decided to meet with Phillip to get him to tell her where the children were. Unfortunately, Phillip saw through her words and believed that she was betraying him. Believing he was protecting her, Phillip had Lizzie kidnapped but she was rescued by Coop and again she refused to go with Phillip. Not long after, Phillip ended up dead from a gunshot wound.
Not long after, Lizzie received a shock when she learned that Phillip had bequeathed Company to her. (Buzz had sold it to Phillip just prior to his death) Basking in her new role as restaurant owner, Lizzie re-named the place "Lizzie & Company" and lorded her position over the Coopers whom she retained on the payroll. While clashing with the Coopers at every turn, mostly Coop, Lizzie decided to get a measure of revenge by making Coop fall in love with her and then yanking the rug out from under him. However, despite her trying to "play" Coop, their relationship would continue to be antagonistic, though with periods of genuine closeness.
By 2005, however, the pair had grown tired of their little game and they both confessed that they'd been playing the other. By this point, Harley had been arrested and was awaiting trial for murdering Phillip. Convinced she was innocent, Gus investigated to see if someone else had killed Phillip—perhaps a Spaulding. Suspecting Lizzie, Gus grilled her about her father's death. Although Lizzie begged him to drop his investigation and let her father rest in peace, Gus was adamant that someone besides Harley had committed this crime. Later, Alan confused Lizzie by warning her not to speak to Gus because Gus was out to get the family in order to clear Harley. Later, when Coop starting to grill Lizzie, she decided to put some doubts in his head about Gus by scratching her own arms and then claiming that Gus did it. Days later, Lizzie repeated her accusation to Alan and Alex and showed them her bruises but Alan surprises everyone by remaining calm and insisting that Lizzie was overreacting. Later, Lizzie called Coop, determined to make him believe that Gus attacked her again but Coop remained suspicious. Soon after, Lizzie stuck Coop in the middle of the family feud when she demanded that he step up as a witness to Gus’s first attack on her. The night before Harley's trial, as the Coopers tried to rally around Harley, Coop had to contend with Lizzie who was intent on staying in Company. In an effort to get her out, Coop locked her in the potting shed. There a panicked became hysterical and struggled to get out, even trying to break a window. Finally Coop let her out but wondered why she was so hysterical. Afterwards, Lizzie held an impromptu press conference outside Company to express her confidence in Harley’s guilt. A horrified Coop grabbed her and took her to the spot where Harley’s house once stood to show her that she’s making an ugly situation worse. Later, they found themselves stuck in wet cement and things took a lighter turn...until Lizzie intercepted Coop’s call from the lab and learned that he’d betrayed her. Apparently, weeks earlier, when she found him in her room, he was there trying to get evidence that she'd killed Phillip. Upon learning that Coop had run tests on a shard of glass found in her room, Lizzie had it canceled. Finally at the trial, Gus called Lizzie on the stand and badgered her, accusing her of Phillip's murder. When Lizzie fainted, Coop came to her aid but when he told her he knew about the shard of glass and it was time to confess to what she’d done, she slapped him across the face. Recalled back to the stand Lizzie made her deep confession—the shard of glass was from when she killed Carl Stevens! Sympathetic and deeply ashamed for what he was accusing her of, Coop tried to apologize but Lizzie felt betrayed by him. As Harley was looking more and more guilty, Coop and Lizzie found themselves in a serious kiss after he kept her from accidentally falling off Company's roof.
To slight Coop, Lizzie attempted to make him jealous, but when Coop threatened to quit Company, Lizzie was forced to realize what she had in Coop and the two began a relationship which turned serious when they were determined to get married.
After overhearing a conversation between Buzz and Coop, Lizzie learned that Coop had been accepted to study at Oxford. She is heartbroken at the prospect of losing him, Lizzie made a secret phone call, fully determined to move ahead with the wedding. She then asked Coop to meet her since she’d planned a trip for them to Cancun. Coop was thrilled, unaware that Lizzie planned to bring him to the altar instead. Although Alex uncovered Lizzie’s plot, she ultimately gave Lizzie her blessing when Lizzie made it clear she was doing it all for love. To her chagrin, Coop didn’t show up at the airport on time, leading Lizzie to think he’d backed out. Finally, an injured Coop did arrive. Learning that Coop had a strange accident while he was working on his car (tires fell on him and he knocked over a gas pipe), Lizzie was sure that Beth and Alan were to blame for trying to keep Coop away from her. Later, Coop found out Lizzie was planning a wedding and confronted her. Lizzie apologized but reminded Coop he kept a secret from her too about his offer at Oxford. Coop apologized and they both resolve to trust each other more. Coop then decided to remain in Springfield rather than go to Oxford. Later, Lizzie received word that Alan was at the hospital and confronted him about sending someone after Coop. Realizing she needed to play hard ball, Lizzie had Beth’s plane rerouted so that she’d miss the Spaulding board meeting in which a new CEO was being elected. Without Beth to intervene a surprising new CEO was elected—Harley! Meanwhile, unable to answer to a boss, Lizzie quit her new job at the television station, but Coop stood up for her when Beth tried to stir up trouble between them. Later, a grateful Lizzie promised she’d find a way to solve their cash-flow problem.
Soon after, Lizzie met a young woman named Ava Peralta. During their conversation, Ava mentioned her recent problems with a dangerous loan shark. That gave Lizzie an idea and she approached the loan shark, Dean, who gave her money to buy a new dress. . She then kept the details of the new dress a secret from Coop, confident that she’d be able to pay back the loan when the time comes .Although Dean quickly began pressuring Lizzie to pay back the money, she was confident she’d find a way out of it. A new window opened when an old prep school friend, Quinn, entered the picture with a very fat wallet. Lizzie didn’t want to step on Coop’s toes, but when money became an issue for a dance that Lizzie wanted to go to, she became tempted. When she was pressured by the loan shark, Quinn gave Lizzie the money to cover her debt. The money, however, came with a price: Lizzie. Though she loved Coop, Lizzie was desperate for the money and began a secret affair with Quinn.
Meanwhile, continually jealous of Coop's friendship with Ava, Lizzie told Ava a sob story about how Coop was so busy right now, he really didn’t need yet another person leaning on him. Ava got the message and, when Coop invited her to the Cooper Christmas party the next day, she politely begged off. Things got sticky in 2006, when Coop narrowly missed a naked Quinn who was lounging about the penthouse. A few weeks later, Quinn started having qualms about letting her have his penthouse. To show her appreciation, Lizzie rewarded him with a kiss—which was witnessed by Ava. When confronted, Lizzie (Marcy Rylan
) tried to convince Ava that it was nothing—that she and Quinn dated a long time ago. She then accused Ava of wanting Coop for herself. Both women were forced to lie when Coop came out to ask what they’re talking about. Things nearly blew up in Lizzie's face when Coop and Ava saw the owner of the store at CO2 and approached her. Luckily, Quinn saved Lizzie by paying the woman to rave about her best employee: Lizzie. Unfortunately, a vindictive Quinn betrayed Lizzie weeks later when he informed Coop that Lizzie didn't own the penthouse—he did! Confronted by an angry Coop, Lizzie confessed to Quinn funding her lifestyle. When Coop asked if Lizzie slept with Quinn, too, she denied it, insisting she only kissed him a couple of times, Lizzie tried to explain that she couldn't handle being poor but Coop was unsympathetic. He railed at her for all her lies and told her they were through.
Jonathan pieced the truth together, and at first did nothing. However, he refused to let Lizzie marry Coop, and announced at her wedding that the child was his. A scared Lizzie convinced Coop that Jonathan had raped her, and she had been too embarrassed to tell anyone. Coop believed her at first, but when everyone saw Jonathan's sweet, concerned, and uncharacteristic treatment over a weak Lizzie, her story was proved false.
Now alone, Lizzie formed a bond with Jonathan and his girlfriend Tammy. The three decided to get through the pregnancy as a team, and not let her grandfather Alan control her baby. The three got along fine, but secretly Lizzie was beginning in to fall in love with her baby's father. She began to act on it in little ways, but convinced herself a relationship with him was not possible, due to his immense feelings for Tammy. Things went well, until Alan rigged a trial to have Lizzie sent to Ravenwood for being mentally incompetent. In a rash decision, Jonathan proposed to Lizzie while she was on the witness stand, in a show of good faith to the judge that the two of them would make a loving home for their child.
The two married with Tammy’s blessing (as the marriage was intended to be just for show). Lizzie's feelings for Jon were re-ignited, and she schemed to be with him, making the logical claim that is Jonathan and Tammy were in fact 'meant to be' then she wouldn't be able to split them up. He continued to see Tammy though, to the point where he missed an important baby appointment, and returned home to find Lizzie passed out and bleeding. She was diagnosed with preeclampsia, and a guilty Jonathan ended his relationship with Tammy in order to try to be there for his wife and child for real.
Tammy was present for the baby's birth though, as Jonathan delivered his and Lizzie's daughter in a car, on the side of a snowy road. The pair named her Sarah, in memory of Reva’s mother.
Wanting to be real family with her daughter and husband, Lizzie tried her best to be the ideal wife. She was crushed to find Jonathan still cheating with Tammy though, even after their daughter’s birth. Lizzie schemed to keep her marriage afloat, and even faked post-partum depression to make Jonathan pay her attention, and stay with her. He went back to Tammy though, and a distraught Lizzie sought help from Father Ray. She left Sarah in the car while she went into the church (still trying to keep up her depression hoax) The car was stolen with Sarah inside, and Lizzie was blamed. Jon railed against her, and planned to take his daughter from her, to avoid the damage he thought she could do.
In a lapse of judgment, Lizzie begged her granddad to help her keep her the daughter she loved. This proved the wrong move though, and in an attempt to kill Jonathan, Tammy was instead killed. Jonathan faked his and Sarah’s death in a staged car crash, and didn't let Lizzie in on the secret. She was left to think her daughter was dead, and that it was all her fault.
In an act of self-declaration and rebellion, she bought a bar. In this bar, looking for any sort of human affection, Lizzie shamelessly flirted with Jake, a rough looking bar fly (who bore similar style to her ex-husband Jonathan) She almost let things get to far with him, but Billy Lewis stepped in, and though she didn’t want to be saved, he saved her from herself. Thus began an awkward, yet moving friendship.
The two helped each other a lot, and became very close. Lizzie kept his secret about being off the wagon again, and Billy offered her a high level job at Lewis Construction, putting faith in her and taking her under his wing like her grandfather would not.
Lizzie also began to form a friendship with a recovering Dinah Marler, who would become her roommate. Unaware of her summer kidnap of her, Lizzie also maintained a close-knit friendship with former mother-in-law Reva Shayne. Finally stable in an honest job, and surrounded by good people who cared about her, Lizzie began to flourish.
Thinking it’s what Billy needs in his life, and wanting to good for him, Lizzie tracks down his son, Bill Lewis, and with Dinah’s help brings him back to town. In doing so, she gained a new roommate, as Bill had no immediate lodgings upon his return.
At first wary of his strange treatment of Billy, Lizzie was won over by Bill’s charm and sweet words, and the way he defended her to her grandfather. Unbeknownst to Lizzie, Bill was scheming to get her in bed in order to gain access to her information on an upcoming Lewis project, in order to slight his father. He succeeded, and stole the deal from her, making it impossible for his father not t re-hire him.
Feeling betrayed and scorned, but still attracted the man Bill had presented himself to be, Lizzie continued to interact with Bill, despite his several attempts to get his father to oust her from the business, and his life. She tried for a while to exact revenge, and even broke into his hotel room to find information on him. Their relationship would begin to go back and forth between moments of closeness, and antagonistic moments (See Bill and Lizzie).
It became obvious that Lizzie was starting to develop deeper feelings for the Lewis heir. She was warned against this by everyone close to her, even his own father (and her confidant) Billy. Lizzie continued to be there for Bill though, and even bent over backwards trying to help him when he lost his eyesight in an explosion. Bill spurned her help though, and a crushed Lizzie turned to Reva for a shoulder to cry on. Lizzie began having severe stomach cramps, so Reva took her to Cedars, where the doctor speculated that Lizzie could be pregnant. Over zealous at the notion, Lizzie took this speculation as truth, and prepared herself to be a mother again. Bill was less than excited when she told him, but Lizzie let him know that he was not going to ruin this for her. She saw it as a second chance, a gleam of hope, and he could be in the child’s life or not. He expressed doubt about wanting to be with her and the child, and Lizzie stormed out. At Cedars, she meekly told Billy she was carrying his grandchild. An over-joyed Billy proceeded to lift her from the ground in excitement. He promised her Bill would come around, and the three would make a beautiful family. He went to see Bill and let him know that this could be his wake-up call to be a better person, and also hinted that this was Bill’s chance to one-up by being a better father and husband than he himself had been.
After several negative pregnancy tests, Lizzie was distraught to find her miracle baby was not real. A heavyhearted Lizzie attended Tammy’s memorial service alone. An apologetic Bill tried to caress and comfort Lizzie, but she was still upset with him, and tried to just bluntly tell him there was no baby. Before she could get it out though, Bill began an impassioned speech about how he wanted to be a family with her and the child, whom he now felt was a gift from God, and a second chance for them both. Lizzie was unsure, and seemed to think about coming clean, but Bill’s instance that he wanted to be with her forced her to keep her secret.
After thinking she saw Sarah in the church parking lot, Lizzie was convinced this child with Bill as something she needed to stay sane. So she asked Bill to go away with her to the Bauer Cabin, where she planned to seduce him into really getting her pregnant. After finding a bear in the cabin though, and feeling guilty about the sweet side Bill was showing her now that he thought she was having his baby, Lizzie broke down and ran from the cabin. Bill chased her, and as they struggled on a hilltop, Lizzie told him she was not pregnant. A confused Bill tried to clutch her to him, but Lizzie stumbled and came close to falling into traffic. She was saved by her former husband Jonathan though, and thus she found out he was still alive.
Though he lied to her at first, Lizzie soon sound Sarah also lived, and started building a relationship with her baby again. She and Jonathan even tried to work things out, and get married again, but her attraction to Bill, and her realization that Jonathan could never love her like he loved Tammy prevented her from marrying him. Not wanting her daughter to grow in a loveless marriage, she fled the ceremony, and reconciled with Bill. Things went sour for her and Jonathan after that, and he even kidnapped her briefly. Lizzie thought him a danger, and tried to take Sarah after this. On top of their entire drama, Alan was still trying to interfere and hurt Jon, while taking Sarah.
Making the hardest decision of her life, Lizzie kissed Sarah good-bye, and allowed Jonathan to flee with her, in hopes of saving her from the fate of growing up in the cold, lonely, loveless Spaulding home like she herself had. She could not go with them, for in exchange for Sarah’s freedom, Lizzie had offered herself for her grandfather to control.
Bill Lewis was having none of that however, and eventually rescued her from Alan’s clutches, through a plot his sister Dinah had set into motion. Still angry with Bill for his lack of commitment to her, and his continued sexual relationship with Ava Peralta
, Lizzie railed against him. Bill won her back over though, and the two made love. In the after glow, Lizzie worried aloud that Bill would grow tired of her, and end their relationship. He surprised her by asking her to move in with him, and she gleefully accepted.
As he promised, Bill made sure Alan would not go after Sarah. He assured Lizzie that her home was now with him, and that though he had tried to fight the hold she had on him, he refused to lose her ever again.
Lizzie's bliss, as usual, was short lived. She soon found that Bill was involved in a plot with his siter Dinah to bring dowon the Spauldings. Bill tried to tell her it was just business, and that he had fallen in love with her, but she forced him to choose between her and the company, and when he couldn't make a clear decision, she left him.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the CBS
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daytime soap opera
Soap opera
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Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
. She was one of the soap's most popular and featured characters. She was the daughter of supercouple Phillip Spaulding
Phillip Spaulding
Phillip Granville Spaulding is a fictional character on the popular CBS daytime soap opera, Guiding Light. The character is the adopted son of business mogul, Alan Spaulding, and his first ex-wife, Elizabeth. Phillip has been portrayed by three different actors with Grant Aleksander the most recent...
and ex-wife, Beth Raines. Lizzie was born on-screen on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
in 1990, but this was later revised to 1986 when she turned 18 in 2004. She is the third Elizabeth in her family; her paternal grandmother and mother's first names are Elizabeth as well.
The character of Lizzie Spaulding has been portrayed by six different actresses
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, with Marcy Rylan
Marcy Rylan
Marcy Rylan is an American actress.-Career:Rylan is best known for her role as Lizzie Spaulding on the soap opera Guiding Light. She joined the show's cast on February 7, 2006 taking over the role from Crystal Hunt, until the finale on September 18, 2009...
most recently playing the role since she was cast in 2006 to Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
's cancellation in 2009. Hayden Panettiere
Hayden Panettiere
Hayden Leslie Panettiere is an American actress and singer, best known as cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC television series Heroes. She began her acting career by playing Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live , and Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light , before starring at age 10 as Sheryl Yoast in...
was the de facto originator of the role, which she portrayed from 1996 until 2001. For Lizzie's battle with leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in 2000, the show received a Special Recognition Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society , founded in 1949, is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. LLS's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of...
for bringing national awareness of the disease to the attention of daytime viewers. In 2005, Panettiere's successor Crystal Hunt
Crystal Hunt
Crystal Clarese Hunt is an American actress. She is best known for playing Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light from 2003-2006. She played the role of Stacy Morasco on One Life to Live from February 2009 until March 2010.-Career:...
received a Daytime Emmy Award
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American daytime television programming...
nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series
The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series has been given every year at the Daytime Emmys since the 12th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony in 1985. The award category was originally called the Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series...
as well as a Soap Opera Digest Award
Soap Opera Digest
Soap Opera Digest is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional information...
nomination for her portrayal.
Family
Lizzie has had an unstable and difficult family life her entire existence. As a member of the immensely wealthy Spaulding family, she has gone through a chaotic and somewhat traumatic childhood and adolescence. Though her family wields great influence in Springfield, they have their share of enemies which is arguably justified given her father, uncle and grandfather's misdeeds. Lizzie has also involved herself in a great amount of trouble in her young life leading her to have periods of mental disturbanceMental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
like her father.
The first-born child of Phillip Spaulding
Phillip Spaulding
Phillip Granville Spaulding is a fictional character on the popular CBS daytime soap opera, Guiding Light. The character is the adopted son of business mogul, Alan Spaulding, and his first ex-wife, Elizabeth. Phillip has been portrayed by three different actors with Grant Aleksander the most recent...
and Beth Raines, Lizzie has a younger brother, James Lemay Spaulding. She also has two younger paternal half-siblings, Alan Cooper "Zach" Spaulding and Emma Spencer-Spaulding. Lizzie also has a sister/Aunt born to Beth and Alan named Peyton Alexandra Raines. A comment by Alan stated that Beth named the child "after that quarterback," a reference to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Lizzie has had numerous stepparents in her life. Her stepfather, Jim Lemay, was killed in a fire during Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
when she was a child after saving her and James' lives. Lizzie was also once close to her former stepmother, Harley Cooper Aitoro (now her aunt), and her former stepsister, Daisy Lemay. She has a daughter, Sarah, with Jonathan, and is currently married to Bill Lewis. The show's finale showed Lizzie asking Sarah to touch her belly, as Lizzie was shown pregnant with Bill's son.
Pre-adolescent years
Lizzie (Hayden PanettiereHayden Panettiere
Hayden Leslie Panettiere is an American actress and singer, best known as cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC television series Heroes. She began her acting career by playing Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live , and Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light , before starring at age 10 as Sheryl Yoast in...
) accidentally killed Carl Stevens in early 1998 when she saw him threatening her mother, Beth, with a gun. The gun fell, and Lizzie picked it up and fatally shot Carl. She suffered nightmares and hallucinations and finally had a breakdown upon being questioned by her father after being stopped from fleeing the country with her mother, who was determined to keep Lizzie's involvement in Carl's death a secret. She was sent to camp for therapy and returned somewhat better adjusted.
In 1999, she was kidnapped
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
by the Nursery Rhyme Stalker and was saved by Alan's old lover, Annie Dutton
Annie Dutton
Annie Dutton is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light. Cynthia Watros is most identified in the role; she played Annie from November 29, 1994 until February 23, 1998. The role was later recast, after Watros left for other career ventures, with Signy Coleman, who portrayed...
(also an escaped convict at the time). She befriended her rescuer and ran away with her when Lizzie overheard her father speaking of getting rid of Annie and took it literally. Though she was reassured by the latter that Phillip wasn't planning to kill her, the woman guessed that he was making plans to send her back to prison and made plans to run away. Lizzie begged Annie to take her along, as she felt neglected by her mother, and she agreed. Lizzie was later saved by her grandfather and his then wife, India von Halkein. Upon her return to Springfield, Phillip and Beth vowed to their daughter that they would never make her feel unwanted again when she told her mother that she thought Beth wouldn't miss her if she was gone. Lizzie was devastated, though, when she learned that Annie was gone.
2000 wasn't an easy year for Lizzie either when she was diagnosed with leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
after being in a car accident with her stepsister, Daisy Lemay
Daisy Lemay
Susan "Daisy" Lemay is a fictional character on CBS's daytime drama Guiding Light. The first-born child of Harley Cooper Aitoro and Dylan Shayne Lewis, she was born on-screen in 1987 when Harley was seventeen years old...
. Though Daisy had witnessed signs of sickness in Lizzie before the accident, the latter swore her to secrecy as she wanted to witness her mother getting married to Daisy's father, Jim Lemay. Lizzie finally went into remission when she underwent a successful bone marrow transplant
Bone marrow transplant
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cell or blood, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells, or umbilical cord blood...
thanks to her new baby brother, James. Alan later revealed to her that the baby was Phillip's and not Jim's. When she heard her mother and stepfather making plans to leave Springfield, Lizzie (Mackenzie Mauzy
MacKenzie Mauzy
MacKenzie Grace Mauzy is an American actress.-Career:Mauzy played the role of Phoebe Forrester on CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful until December 2008 ....
) feigned sickness again but her godfather, Rick Bauer called her out and she confessed. Tragedy struck again later in the year when Jim died in a fire after saving Lizzie and James a few days before Christmas.
In 2003, after dealing with issues involving her grandfather's faked heart attack and helping Marina Cooper
Marina Cooper
Marina Nadine Lewis is a fictional character on the popular CBS daytime soap opera, Guiding Light. The character is the only child of police chief, Frank Cooper, and ex-wife, Eleni Andros and was born on-screen on May 8, 1993. In December 2001, her birth year was SORASed to the early 1980s...
frame her uncle Gus Aitoro
Gus Aitoro
Augustus "Gus" Aitoro is a fictional character on the popular CBS daytime soap opera, Guiding Light...
, Lizzie (Allison Hirschlag
Allison Hirschlag
Allison Hirschlag is the daughter of long-time actress Julia Barr of All My Children. Allison was the third actress to play Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light, from 2002-2003.Hirschlag attended Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey....
) pleaded with Beth and Phillip to let her go away to boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
and they reluctantly agreed.
Teenage years
Lizzie (Crystal HuntCrystal Hunt
Crystal Clarese Hunt is an American actress. She is best known for playing Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light from 2003-2006. She played the role of Stacy Morasco on One Life to Live from February 2009 until March 2010.-Career:...
) returned home from boarding school after a fire destroyed her room, which the headmaster believed she started. She soon developed a crush on Shayne Lewis. Jealous of his relationship with Marina Cooper
Marina Cooper
Marina Nadine Lewis is a fictional character on the popular CBS daytime soap opera, Guiding Light. The character is the only child of police chief, Frank Cooper, and ex-wife, Eleni Andros and was born on-screen on May 8, 1993. In December 2001, her birth year was SORASed to the early 1980s...
, Lizzie decided to sabotage it by getting Marina's old boyfriend, Ben Reade, back in her life. Convincing Ben that Marina still cared for him, she arranged for him to meet with Marina at the high school prom. Though the latter rejected him, Lizzie persuaded him that she was lying and continually pushed him to go after Marina, first at the Bauer barbecue and later at the Bauer cabin where an unbalanced Ben would end up kidnapping Marina. Though she was returned uninjured, Ben ended up committing suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Lizzie's jealousy didn't stop at Marina, however; she was also very disturbed to learn that Olivia Spencer
Olivia Spencer
Olivia Spencer is a fictional character on the popular CBS daytime soap opera, Guiding Light. The character was introduced to audiences in the summer of 1999 as the fiancée of the late Prince Richard Winslow. Crystal Chappell originated the role...
, Phillip's old lover, was pregnant with his baby. Resentful of having to share Phillip with Olivia and the baby on the way, she made plans to cause Olivia to lose her baby and thus release her father's obligation to her. Pointing out to Olivia a tear on the carpet on the Beacon staircase, she later pulled up the carpet after it had been fixed in an attempt to cause Olivia to fall down the stairs. Though she appeared to change her mind after a last minute talk with Beth, Lizzie was too late and Olivia took a horrible tumble. Though she and the baby turned out to be all right, Olivia was convinced that Lizzie (who'd been behaving maliciously toward her for weeks) purposely caused her fall. Not long after, a concerned Beth and Lillian would whisk Lizzie away to a cabin where Lillian confronted Lizzie with the same accusation. Cornered, Lizzie continually denied that she did anything wrong regarding Ben and Olivia and got exceedingly defensive. Finally, desperate, she grabbed a broken shard of glass and threatened to kill herself. Luckily, Harley arrived to defuse the situation and drove a highly defensive and agitated Lizzie back to Springfield. The night of Olivia's baby shower, Lizzie sneaked out of the house on the pretense of giving her a gift. When a frightened Olivia refused the gift and asked Lizzie to leave, she continued to push the gift on Olivia and finally was escorted home by her psychiatrist. That night, Olivia found something in her baby crib—a doll's head! Though Lizzie tried to deny it and pleaded with her family to believe her, she was unable to convince her family of her innocence. Distraught over her family's mistrust, Lizzie confided in Alan that she was only trying to be a good Spaulding by manipulating events to get what she wanted. She also finally admitted to Christopher that she needed help and she wanted to get back to being that happy girl she used to be. In an effort to make amends for the pain she caused, Lizzie apologized to Marina and Shayne for her part in Marina's kidnapping.
Later that year, Lizzie tried to go on with a normal teenaged existence by auditioning for a school play, a production of Romeo and Juliet. Wanting the part of Juliet, Lizzie was extremely jealous when Tammy was given the role instead. Late that year, Lizzie was unnerved when Olivia, who had left town after the crib incident, returned claiming to have lost her baby. Still very suspicious of Olivia, Lizzie was certain that she was out to hurt Phillip, who was now in a mental hospital following a nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
.
In 2004, Lizzie was convinced that Olivia was planning to kidnap Phillip. Although she turned out to be wrong, she and the other Spauldings learned something equally unsettling—Olivia married Phillip! Although no one in the family was happy with the hasty marriage, Beth tried to convince a disgusted Lizzie that, like it or not, she'd have to accept Olivia as her stepmother. Reeling from Phillip's new marriage, Lizzie tried to act out by drinking, but was caught by her new friend, Sandy Foster, who harshly instructed her to straighten up. Angry about the Olivia situation and about still being under a doctor's care, Lizzie found the perfect opportunity for some excitement when a kid name Blade invited her to a rave. Desperately wanting to get out from her family's watchful gaze, Lizzie sneaked out and went to the rave on Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, things would end up taking a terrifying turn. Knowing how dangerous those raves could be, Nico Costaña (who met Lizzie a few months prior at Christmastime), went to the rave to talk her into leaving and guzzled her untouched drink. Suddenly feeling the high, he pulled Lizzie into a sexy Latin dance. Realizing something was wrong with Nico, Lizzie called her limo, risking getting into trouble with her family, to get Nico to the hospital. At the hospital, Lizzie was startled to learn that Nico had ingested a drug called Delirium, since she realized her own drink must have been spiked with the drug. Although Lizzie tried to tell Lillian, who was on duty at the hospital, that she just happened upon Nico wandering around, it was apparent to Lillian that Lizzie was lying. Fortunately, Nico recovered and thanked Lizzie for talking care of him.
Lizzie was startled when while visiting Phillip at the hospital, he claimed that his baby girl was actually alive. Although Beth was convinced Phillip was merely in denial, Lizzie suspected Olivia was hiding something when she suddenly put a stop to their visit. Wanting to know what Olivia was hiding, Lizzie tried to sweet talk Olivia's brother, Sam Spencer, into letting her clear the air with Olivia at his place (convinced that she'd find what Olivia was hiding there) Although she wasn't totally successful with Sam, she was able to talk Tammy into getting her Sam's address. With the address in hand, Lizzie sneaked off and discovered something amazing—a baby! Realizing that Olivia had lied all along about losing her baby, Lizzie took drastic measures and kidnapped her sister! After taking take of her sister, Emma, all night, Lizzie took the baby to Ravenwood and presented her to Phillip. Knowing what she did was wrong, Lizzie asked Phillip to forgive her and pointed out that she had taken good care of Emma. At that point, Olivia busted in demanding her daughter and threatening to lock Lizzie away. At the same time the rest of the Spauldings arrived. As Olivia continued to rant about Lizzie, Phillip tried to get her to calm down to no avail. Finally, Phillip saved Lizzie by stating that he'd asked her to bring the baby to him. when Lizzie confirmed the story, Gus ruled it a domestic dispute since Phillip was the baby's father. However, it was clear to Olivia, and even to Beth, that Phillip was covering for Lizzie. Later, Lizzie admitted to Phillip that, despite how she had thought she'd feel, she loved Emma.
Lizzie developed a crush on Joey Lupo who was in a relationship with Tammy. She succeeded in breaking them up, and admitted to Joey that she loved him. When Joey told her that he and Tammy had gotten back together, Lizzie feigned acceptance and offered Joey a celebratory drink, laced with the drug. As expected, Joey passed out. With him unconscious, Lizzie got him into bad and undressed. The next morning, Joey woke up in bed next to her who then lied and told him that they'd made love. Unfortunately, the plan would backfire. Mere days later, Joey overheard Lizzie talking to the drug dealer JB about a drug and put two and two together. His suspicions were confirmed when he looked into JB's bag and saw a vial with a drug. Incensed, Joey confronted Lizzie about what she'd done. Backed into a corner, Lizzie was forced to admit what she'd done, leading a disgusted Joey to announce that he could never love her and walk away. Unfortunately for Joey, Lizzie went straight to Phillip and told him everything. Immediately, Phillip summoned Joey and, to Lizzie's shock, blackmailed Joey into leaving town. That day, Joey left Springfield for Boston University. A few days later, as she was out driving, Lizzie spotted Tammy outside of a bar and, in a pique of anger, sped up to scare her. Suddenly, Sandy pushed Tammy out of the way and was sideswiped himself while Lizzie sped away without ever looking back. The experience left Lizzie deeply troubled, especially when she learned that Sandy was in critical condition with a damaged liver. Feeling enormously guilty, Lizzie confessed her problem to Phillip, who urged her to keep quiet while he took care of everything.
Meanwhile, Lizzie met two people, Marina's uncle (who wasn't much older than Marina) Coop, a man she instantly disliked. In the midst of this, Phillip was entrenched in his personal mission to destroy the Coop's family. After Phillip demolished Harley's house, Coop (who at this point had had many clashes with Lizzie) bulldozed through the Spaulding gate. Though faced with jail time, Phillip offered another form of punishment—he was to work as Lizzie's driver, despite Lizzie's protests. Over the course of the next few weeks, Lizzie and Coop's relationship became more combative, though there were times she lowered her guard and showed him another side of her.
Meanwhile, Lizzie's guilt continued to gnaw at her and she confessed the truth to her Aunt Alex who urged her to confess to the police. Heeding Alex's advice, Lizzie went to the police station to confess. Although Phillip tried to stop her by demanding that she keep quiet, Lizzie openly defied her father and admitted the truth. After being released on bail, Lizzie was ordered by Phillip to meet him at the airport so they could flee town. Although she wanted to stay, Phillip told her that she wouldn't get a fair trial in Springfield and they had no choice but to leave everything behind. When Coop arrived to drive her to the airport, he saw how visibly upset she was and realized that she was running from something, Coop refused to take her anywhere lest he'd be an accomplice. Finally, he figured out that she was the one who hit Sandy Foster. When he lambasted her for running away instead of facing her punishment, Lizzie revealed that she had confessed but her father was forcing her to leave. Seeing how conflicted she was, Coop tried to convince her to do the right thing and stay. Afraid of jail time, Lizzie tried to offer Coop money to be her alibi, but he refused. Nonetheless he was able to convince Lizzie that if she didn't want to leave town, she shouldn't. Buoyed by Coop's encouragement, Lizzie then met with Phillip and shocked him by informing him that she wasn't going with him. That same day, Lizzie was shocked to learn that Phillip had kidnapped all of his other children! Realizing that her father was out of control, Lizzie, against Beth's wishes, decided to meet with Phillip to get him to tell her where the children were. Unfortunately, Phillip saw through her words and believed that she was betraying him. Believing he was protecting her, Phillip had Lizzie kidnapped but she was rescued by Coop and again she refused to go with Phillip. Not long after, Phillip ended up dead from a gunshot wound.
Not long after, Lizzie received a shock when she learned that Phillip had bequeathed Company to her. (Buzz had sold it to Phillip just prior to his death) Basking in her new role as restaurant owner, Lizzie re-named the place "Lizzie & Company" and lorded her position over the Coopers whom she retained on the payroll. While clashing with the Coopers at every turn, mostly Coop, Lizzie decided to get a measure of revenge by making Coop fall in love with her and then yanking the rug out from under him. However, despite her trying to "play" Coop, their relationship would continue to be antagonistic, though with periods of genuine closeness.
By 2005, however, the pair had grown tired of their little game and they both confessed that they'd been playing the other. By this point, Harley had been arrested and was awaiting trial for murdering Phillip. Convinced she was innocent, Gus investigated to see if someone else had killed Phillip—perhaps a Spaulding. Suspecting Lizzie, Gus grilled her about her father's death. Although Lizzie begged him to drop his investigation and let her father rest in peace, Gus was adamant that someone besides Harley had committed this crime. Later, Alan confused Lizzie by warning her not to speak to Gus because Gus was out to get the family in order to clear Harley. Later, when Coop starting to grill Lizzie, she decided to put some doubts in his head about Gus by scratching her own arms and then claiming that Gus did it. Days later, Lizzie repeated her accusation to Alan and Alex and showed them her bruises but Alan surprises everyone by remaining calm and insisting that Lizzie was overreacting. Later, Lizzie called Coop, determined to make him believe that Gus attacked her again but Coop remained suspicious. Soon after, Lizzie stuck Coop in the middle of the family feud when she demanded that he step up as a witness to Gus’s first attack on her. The night before Harley's trial, as the Coopers tried to rally around Harley, Coop had to contend with Lizzie who was intent on staying in Company. In an effort to get her out, Coop locked her in the potting shed. There a panicked became hysterical and struggled to get out, even trying to break a window. Finally Coop let her out but wondered why she was so hysterical. Afterwards, Lizzie held an impromptu press conference outside Company to express her confidence in Harley’s guilt. A horrified Coop grabbed her and took her to the spot where Harley’s house once stood to show her that she’s making an ugly situation worse. Later, they found themselves stuck in wet cement and things took a lighter turn...until Lizzie intercepted Coop’s call from the lab and learned that he’d betrayed her. Apparently, weeks earlier, when she found him in her room, he was there trying to get evidence that she'd killed Phillip. Upon learning that Coop had run tests on a shard of glass found in her room, Lizzie had it canceled. Finally at the trial, Gus called Lizzie on the stand and badgered her, accusing her of Phillip's murder. When Lizzie fainted, Coop came to her aid but when he told her he knew about the shard of glass and it was time to confess to what she’d done, she slapped him across the face. Recalled back to the stand Lizzie made her deep confession—the shard of glass was from when she killed Carl Stevens! Sympathetic and deeply ashamed for what he was accusing her of, Coop tried to apologize but Lizzie felt betrayed by him. As Harley was looking more and more guilty, Coop and Lizzie found themselves in a serious kiss after he kept her from accidentally falling off Company's roof.
To slight Coop, Lizzie attempted to make him jealous, but when Coop threatened to quit Company, Lizzie was forced to realize what she had in Coop and the two began a relationship which turned serious when they were determined to get married.
After overhearing a conversation between Buzz and Coop, Lizzie learned that Coop had been accepted to study at Oxford. She is heartbroken at the prospect of losing him, Lizzie made a secret phone call, fully determined to move ahead with the wedding. She then asked Coop to meet her since she’d planned a trip for them to Cancun. Coop was thrilled, unaware that Lizzie planned to bring him to the altar instead. Although Alex uncovered Lizzie’s plot, she ultimately gave Lizzie her blessing when Lizzie made it clear she was doing it all for love. To her chagrin, Coop didn’t show up at the airport on time, leading Lizzie to think he’d backed out. Finally, an injured Coop did arrive. Learning that Coop had a strange accident while he was working on his car (tires fell on him and he knocked over a gas pipe), Lizzie was sure that Beth and Alan were to blame for trying to keep Coop away from her. Later, Coop found out Lizzie was planning a wedding and confronted her. Lizzie apologized but reminded Coop he kept a secret from her too about his offer at Oxford. Coop apologized and they both resolve to trust each other more. Coop then decided to remain in Springfield rather than go to Oxford. Later, Lizzie received word that Alan was at the hospital and confronted him about sending someone after Coop. Realizing she needed to play hard ball, Lizzie had Beth’s plane rerouted so that she’d miss the Spaulding board meeting in which a new CEO was being elected. Without Beth to intervene a surprising new CEO was elected—Harley! Meanwhile, unable to answer to a boss, Lizzie quit her new job at the television station, but Coop stood up for her when Beth tried to stir up trouble between them. Later, a grateful Lizzie promised she’d find a way to solve their cash-flow problem.
Soon after, Lizzie met a young woman named Ava Peralta. During their conversation, Ava mentioned her recent problems with a dangerous loan shark. That gave Lizzie an idea and she approached the loan shark, Dean, who gave her money to buy a new dress. . She then kept the details of the new dress a secret from Coop, confident that she’d be able to pay back the loan when the time comes .Although Dean quickly began pressuring Lizzie to pay back the money, she was confident she’d find a way out of it. A new window opened when an old prep school friend, Quinn, entered the picture with a very fat wallet. Lizzie didn’t want to step on Coop’s toes, but when money became an issue for a dance that Lizzie wanted to go to, she became tempted. When she was pressured by the loan shark, Quinn gave Lizzie the money to cover her debt. The money, however, came with a price: Lizzie. Though she loved Coop, Lizzie was desperate for the money and began a secret affair with Quinn.
Meanwhile, continually jealous of Coop's friendship with Ava, Lizzie told Ava a sob story about how Coop was so busy right now, he really didn’t need yet another person leaning on him. Ava got the message and, when Coop invited her to the Cooper Christmas party the next day, she politely begged off. Things got sticky in 2006, when Coop narrowly missed a naked Quinn who was lounging about the penthouse. A few weeks later, Quinn started having qualms about letting her have his penthouse. To show her appreciation, Lizzie rewarded him with a kiss—which was witnessed by Ava. When confronted, Lizzie (Marcy Rylan
Marcy Rylan
Marcy Rylan is an American actress.-Career:Rylan is best known for her role as Lizzie Spaulding on the soap opera Guiding Light. She joined the show's cast on February 7, 2006 taking over the role from Crystal Hunt, until the finale on September 18, 2009...
) tried to convince Ava that it was nothing—that she and Quinn dated a long time ago. She then accused Ava of wanting Coop for herself. Both women were forced to lie when Coop came out to ask what they’re talking about. Things nearly blew up in Lizzie's face when Coop and Ava saw the owner of the store at CO2 and approached her. Luckily, Quinn saved Lizzie by paying the woman to rave about her best employee: Lizzie. Unfortunately, a vindictive Quinn betrayed Lizzie weeks later when he informed Coop that Lizzie didn't own the penthouse—he did! Confronted by an angry Coop, Lizzie confessed to Quinn funding her lifestyle. When Coop asked if Lizzie slept with Quinn, too, she denied it, insisting she only kissed him a couple of times, Lizzie tried to explain that she couldn't handle being poor but Coop was unsympathetic. He railed at her for all her lies and told her they were through.
Baby drama
After her breakup with Coop, Lizzie found comfort in a drunken one-night-stand with Jonathan Randall, who had also been ousted by his lover Tammy Winslow. Weeks later, Lizzie would find herself pregnant with Jonathan's child. Unsure if it belonged to him or Coop, Lizzie decided to make sure everyone believed the child to be Coop's, and schemed to cover up her night with Jonathan.Jonathan pieced the truth together, and at first did nothing. However, he refused to let Lizzie marry Coop, and announced at her wedding that the child was his. A scared Lizzie convinced Coop that Jonathan had raped her, and she had been too embarrassed to tell anyone. Coop believed her at first, but when everyone saw Jonathan's sweet, concerned, and uncharacteristic treatment over a weak Lizzie, her story was proved false.
Now alone, Lizzie formed a bond with Jonathan and his girlfriend Tammy. The three decided to get through the pregnancy as a team, and not let her grandfather Alan control her baby. The three got along fine, but secretly Lizzie was beginning in to fall in love with her baby's father. She began to act on it in little ways, but convinced herself a relationship with him was not possible, due to his immense feelings for Tammy. Things went well, until Alan rigged a trial to have Lizzie sent to Ravenwood for being mentally incompetent. In a rash decision, Jonathan proposed to Lizzie while she was on the witness stand, in a show of good faith to the judge that the two of them would make a loving home for their child.
The two married with Tammy’s blessing (as the marriage was intended to be just for show). Lizzie's feelings for Jon were re-ignited, and she schemed to be with him, making the logical claim that is Jonathan and Tammy were in fact 'meant to be' then she wouldn't be able to split them up. He continued to see Tammy though, to the point where he missed an important baby appointment, and returned home to find Lizzie passed out and bleeding. She was diagnosed with preeclampsia, and a guilty Jonathan ended his relationship with Tammy in order to try to be there for his wife and child for real.
Tammy was present for the baby's birth though, as Jonathan delivered his and Lizzie's daughter in a car, on the side of a snowy road. The pair named her Sarah, in memory of Reva’s mother.
Wanting to be real family with her daughter and husband, Lizzie tried her best to be the ideal wife. She was crushed to find Jonathan still cheating with Tammy though, even after their daughter’s birth. Lizzie schemed to keep her marriage afloat, and even faked post-partum depression to make Jonathan pay her attention, and stay with her. He went back to Tammy though, and a distraught Lizzie sought help from Father Ray. She left Sarah in the car while she went into the church (still trying to keep up her depression hoax) The car was stolen with Sarah inside, and Lizzie was blamed. Jon railed against her, and planned to take his daughter from her, to avoid the damage he thought she could do.
In a lapse of judgment, Lizzie begged her granddad to help her keep her the daughter she loved. This proved the wrong move though, and in an attempt to kill Jonathan, Tammy was instead killed. Jonathan faked his and Sarah’s death in a staged car crash, and didn't let Lizzie in on the secret. She was left to think her daughter was dead, and that it was all her fault.
A new leaf
After losing the thing that meant most to her in her daughter Sarah, being alienated by her mother, ostracized by her grandfather, and being duped (unknowingly) by Reva, Lizzie had hit rock bottom.In an act of self-declaration and rebellion, she bought a bar. In this bar, looking for any sort of human affection, Lizzie shamelessly flirted with Jake, a rough looking bar fly (who bore similar style to her ex-husband Jonathan) She almost let things get to far with him, but Billy Lewis stepped in, and though she didn’t want to be saved, he saved her from herself. Thus began an awkward, yet moving friendship.
The two helped each other a lot, and became very close. Lizzie kept his secret about being off the wagon again, and Billy offered her a high level job at Lewis Construction, putting faith in her and taking her under his wing like her grandfather would not.
Lizzie also began to form a friendship with a recovering Dinah Marler, who would become her roommate. Unaware of her summer kidnap of her, Lizzie also maintained a close-knit friendship with former mother-in-law Reva Shayne. Finally stable in an honest job, and surrounded by good people who cared about her, Lizzie began to flourish.
Thinking it’s what Billy needs in his life, and wanting to good for him, Lizzie tracks down his son, Bill Lewis, and with Dinah’s help brings him back to town. In doing so, she gained a new roommate, as Bill had no immediate lodgings upon his return.
At first wary of his strange treatment of Billy, Lizzie was won over by Bill’s charm and sweet words, and the way he defended her to her grandfather. Unbeknownst to Lizzie, Bill was scheming to get her in bed in order to gain access to her information on an upcoming Lewis project, in order to slight his father. He succeeded, and stole the deal from her, making it impossible for his father not t re-hire him.
Feeling betrayed and scorned, but still attracted the man Bill had presented himself to be, Lizzie continued to interact with Bill, despite his several attempts to get his father to oust her from the business, and his life. She tried for a while to exact revenge, and even broke into his hotel room to find information on him. Their relationship would begin to go back and forth between moments of closeness, and antagonistic moments (See Bill and Lizzie).
It became obvious that Lizzie was starting to develop deeper feelings for the Lewis heir. She was warned against this by everyone close to her, even his own father (and her confidant) Billy. Lizzie continued to be there for Bill though, and even bent over backwards trying to help him when he lost his eyesight in an explosion. Bill spurned her help though, and a crushed Lizzie turned to Reva for a shoulder to cry on. Lizzie began having severe stomach cramps, so Reva took her to Cedars, where the doctor speculated that Lizzie could be pregnant. Over zealous at the notion, Lizzie took this speculation as truth, and prepared herself to be a mother again. Bill was less than excited when she told him, but Lizzie let him know that he was not going to ruin this for her. She saw it as a second chance, a gleam of hope, and he could be in the child’s life or not. He expressed doubt about wanting to be with her and the child, and Lizzie stormed out. At Cedars, she meekly told Billy she was carrying his grandchild. An over-joyed Billy proceeded to lift her from the ground in excitement. He promised her Bill would come around, and the three would make a beautiful family. He went to see Bill and let him know that this could be his wake-up call to be a better person, and also hinted that this was Bill’s chance to one-up by being a better father and husband than he himself had been.
After several negative pregnancy tests, Lizzie was distraught to find her miracle baby was not real. A heavyhearted Lizzie attended Tammy’s memorial service alone. An apologetic Bill tried to caress and comfort Lizzie, but she was still upset with him, and tried to just bluntly tell him there was no baby. Before she could get it out though, Bill began an impassioned speech about how he wanted to be a family with her and the child, whom he now felt was a gift from God, and a second chance for them both. Lizzie was unsure, and seemed to think about coming clean, but Bill’s instance that he wanted to be with her forced her to keep her secret.
After thinking she saw Sarah in the church parking lot, Lizzie was convinced this child with Bill as something she needed to stay sane. So she asked Bill to go away with her to the Bauer Cabin, where she planned to seduce him into really getting her pregnant. After finding a bear in the cabin though, and feeling guilty about the sweet side Bill was showing her now that he thought she was having his baby, Lizzie broke down and ran from the cabin. Bill chased her, and as they struggled on a hilltop, Lizzie told him she was not pregnant. A confused Bill tried to clutch her to him, but Lizzie stumbled and came close to falling into traffic. She was saved by her former husband Jonathan though, and thus she found out he was still alive.
Though he lied to her at first, Lizzie soon sound Sarah also lived, and started building a relationship with her baby again. She and Jonathan even tried to work things out, and get married again, but her attraction to Bill, and her realization that Jonathan could never love her like he loved Tammy prevented her from marrying him. Not wanting her daughter to grow in a loveless marriage, she fled the ceremony, and reconciled with Bill. Things went sour for her and Jonathan after that, and he even kidnapped her briefly. Lizzie thought him a danger, and tried to take Sarah after this. On top of their entire drama, Alan was still trying to interfere and hurt Jon, while taking Sarah.
Making the hardest decision of her life, Lizzie kissed Sarah good-bye, and allowed Jonathan to flee with her, in hopes of saving her from the fate of growing up in the cold, lonely, loveless Spaulding home like she herself had. She could not go with them, for in exchange for Sarah’s freedom, Lizzie had offered herself for her grandfather to control.
Bill Lewis was having none of that however, and eventually rescued her from Alan’s clutches, through a plot his sister Dinah had set into motion. Still angry with Bill for his lack of commitment to her, and his continued sexual relationship with Ava Peralta
Ava Peralta
Ava Peralta is a fictional character on the daytime soap opera Guiding Light. She was played by Michelle Ray Smith from August 24, 2005 to July 27, 2008, reprising her role briefly in December 2008 and July 2009.-Character's background:Ava was the product of rape...
, Lizzie railed against him. Bill won her back over though, and the two made love. In the after glow, Lizzie worried aloud that Bill would grow tired of her, and end their relationship. He surprised her by asking her to move in with him, and she gleefully accepted.
As he promised, Bill made sure Alan would not go after Sarah. He assured Lizzie that her home was now with him, and that though he had tried to fight the hold she had on him, he refused to lose her ever again.
Lizzie's bliss, as usual, was short lived. She soon found that Bill was involved in a plot with his siter Dinah to bring dowon the Spauldings. Bill tried to tell her it was just business, and that he had fallen in love with her, but she forced him to choose between her and the company, and when he couldn't make a clear decision, she left him.