Ivy Winthrop
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Ivy Winthrop Crane is a fictional character on NBC's newest daytime drama, Passions. Ivy has been played by Kim Johnston Ulrich since the show's start in 1999.
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[edit] Character history
[edit] Pre-Show
The daughter of governor Harrison Winthrop and Helen Revere-Mott-Beaton, Ivy was (originally) born sometime in 1956. She grew up in a state neighboring Maine and was raised in the lap of luxury, her mother a descendant of Paul Revere. It was possibly her advantaged upbringing that led her to an affair with a Harmony lifeguard, Sam Bennett. Although she knew of Sam's intention to be a cop, Ivy was determined that she would marry Sam and make him give up his blue collar roots, and have him become a businessman, running her father's shipping company, even though she knew he never wanted that. When Sam took a job for the summer working for Ivy's father to make enough money to marry Ivy to keep her in the lifestyle to which she was accustomed, Ivy soon began seeing Julian Crane, and they eventually became lovers. Throughout the summer, she heard nothing from Sam, unaware that her father was stopping the letters from getting back and forth.
Harrison Winthrop knew his daughter, and knew she would never be happy on a policeman's salary. Ivy proved her father right when she got closer and closer to Julian Crane, accepting his offer of marriage after Ivy believed Sam had begun seeing other women. She wed Julian in 1974 believing that his love for her and his father's money would be enough to make her happy. She moved to Harmony after marrying Julian. On their wedding night, Ivy learned that Julian had been forced into marriage by his father, Alistair, and went to Sam, officially consummating their relationship. The next day she went to her father and told him that she was leaving Julian, and she and Sam would live off her trust fund, and Harrison would just have to accept it. Harrison told her that if she wanted to be with Sam it was her choice, but there was no money -- their family was broke, the trust fund was gone, and if she left Julian to be with Sam, Ivy would have to live off whatever Sam could make. Ivy went back to Julian, and left on their honeymoon the next day.
Unbeknownst to all, Ivy learned she was with child. She decided to use this to her advantage, and secure a place for Sam's child within the Crane dynasty by passing him/her off as Julian's child. In the spring of 1975, she gave birth to a son, Ethan Crane (later in life he would change his name to Ethan Winthrop). Ivy doted upon her son, so much so she ignored her other three children, sending them off to boarding school as soon as possible. Ivy also resented her husband Julian and kicked him out of their bed after their youngest child, Fox, was born. She became cold and aloof toward him and, as a result, he nicknamed her "Ice Princess", and "Poison Ivy".
Ivy was still affected by her memories of Sam; she still kept a locket he gave her with his picture inside, and placed a photo of Ethan on the opposite side. This always reminded her of the love she and Sam once shared. She relied on the locket through the years, and also wrote a letter to Sam explaining the truth to him. At the last minute she decided to keep it. She seemed content being the wife of a Crane, only putting the needs of Ethan before everything else. Eventually, she had three more children by Julian - two daughters (one of whom is named Fancy) and a son, Fox. Though Ivy did love her children, she never really showed it - only toward Ethan. By the time Ethan was ten, all of his younger siblings were in boarding school, in part so that Ivy could punish Julian by making sure he never knew his children, and in part because she had no interest in any children that did not belong to Sam.
[edit] 1999
In July of 1999, Ivy Winthrop Crane accidentally met new police chief Sam Bennett for the first time since they last saw each other back in 1974. In the coming months Ivy became obsessed with Sam, and his family. The Crane way of power had overtaken and drove her to become power-mad. She did however, have a softer side and wanted to tell Sam several times that he was the father of Crane heir Ethan but changed her mind due to her advice from friend and confidant Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald. Nonetheless, Ivy began inserting herself with several charitable events, always making sure Sam would be there, and she would always try to tell him the truth but fail to do so.
[edit] 2000
Consumed over wanting to tell the truth over, and over again Ivy always contradicted herself. She continually made advances toward Sam, and unwillingly was forced to obey her wicked father-in-law Alistair Crane in helping him break up Sheridan Crane,and Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald. She also lent a hand in helping her son to follow his heart when he tackled if he would propose to Gwen Hotchkiss, or Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald. When she learned that Dr. Eve Russell had been Julian's love before Julian and Eve's marriages, she used that information to blackmail Eve not only into keeping quiet about her obsession with Sam, but into helping her land Sam, and covering up Ethan's conception date so Sam wouldn't think it was possible that Ethan was his son.
When the events of the Passions Storm led Ivy to confess who Ethan's true father was, everyone dismissed the idea believing Ivy to be delusional from a head injury. Manipulating and cunning Ivy tried to infiltrate several romantic interludes Sam shared with his wife Grace, but would always fail miserably at every chance she had.
One thorn in Ivy's side was Gwen's meddling mother Rebecca Hotchkiss. She never really liked Ivy, so she wanted to take her place as Mrs. Julian Crane. She tried to come up with a scheme to get rid of her. As luck would have it, Ivy kept mentioning Sam in her presence. One day, Ivy slipped and mentioned how she was worried about Ethan's father. Rebecca knew that it couldn't have been Julian because he was in the mansion with her. Plus, she hated Julian. She finally figured out that Sam was Ethan's father. She didn't have any proof of this so she had to look for it. While she was looking for proof, she found Ivy's locket with Sam and Ethan's picture in it. Also she found her daughter's rival Theresa's laptop that had the proof she needed. Ivy's letter to Sam was on the computer. The letter said that Sam was Ethan's father.
Unknown to Ivy, Rebecca told her daughter what she found out, and the two mainly set out to destroy Ethan's relationship with his fiance Theresa, not caring if the secret hurt Julian or Ivy.
[edit] 2001
As Ivy celebrated the engagement of Ethan, and Theresa she was unaware of the Hotchkiss women's plan that would destroy her life. The two women had found, and sent a letter Ivy wrote to Sam Long ago to the tabloids.(See link below to see a copy of the letter.) A tabloid reporter, J.T. Cornell who printed the headline, snuck in to the party and showed a stunned Julian the headline, "Crane Secret Revealed! Ethan Crane is Sam Bennett's Son!" An enraged, and grieved Julian exposed Ivy's betrayal to the whole town and denounced Ethan as his son. Ivy suffered emotional turmoil by Sam, Julian, Ethan, and even Grace-who miscarried a baby boy, when she learned the shocking truth. Alistair quickly turned his back on Ethan as well. Lost without his identity as a Crane, Ethan vowed to destroy whoever ruined his life. So did Ivy, who tried making up for her secrets to everyone. Grace, still upset over her baby's death, cursed Ivy with her Standish power's. But, a curse would not put Ivy down.
Even after the devastating tabloid scandal, Ivy still wanted to be a part of Sam's life. She devised a way to break up the Bennett marriage. She hired a photographer David Hastings to pose as Grace's long lost husband. Ivy had explosive information on David and blackmailed him into having her way. David hated every minute of it, but was forced to follow her orders. David came to Harmony that July, and began inserting himself in to the Bennett's lives. Ivy watched from afar, being preoccupied with helping Ethan (now using her last name Winthrop), and Theresa plan their double wedding with her brother Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald, and Sheridan Crane.
What Ivy did not know was that, a desperate Gwen made an anonymous call to the tabloid, identifying Theresa, Ethan's own fiancée, as the person responsible for sending the e-mail. The tabloid reporter ran the story, and on the wedding day, Rebecca made arrangement's for a printed copy to be left in Ivy's bedroom. As Ivy dressed for the wedding, she found the tabloid, and believed the false story! She sped away to the church in her car, and crashed right through the church wall! She stopped the ceremony, and denounced Theresa in front of all the shocked guest's! Theresa admitted she knew Ethan was a Bennett and didn't tell him, but swore she was innocent of sending the e-mail. Gwen also denonced her, stating she was lying. Ethan was devastated Theresa knew, and Ivy encouraged Ethan never to trust Theresa again.
Though Ivy tried to talk Ethan out of loving Theresa, he still had feelings for her. That August, he learned Theresa was in Bermuda, and tracked her down. Ivy realized Julian was there finalizing their divorce. Feeling distressed, Ivy managed to seek comfort in the fact that David was succeeding in braking up the Bennett marriage. Ivy's plan continued, and she continued to masquerade as the devoted friend. When the dispatched hurricane Peggy struck Harmony, Ivy assisted Sam in helping him fix Harmony's lighthouse beacon to save the Harmony teenager's on Warlock Island. However, in the midst of the storm she was struck by lightning, and fell from the lighthouse ladder.
Wet, and delusional Ivy believed she was dying. Sam managed to send for paramedics. Ivy, nearly died on the way to the hospital, and was revived. Later, Eve realized Ivy suffered from spinal injuries, and had to have intensive surgery. Ivy pulled through the surgery, though now she was wheel-chair bound, and could not walk very far. Julian even considered murdering her while she was in her hospital cubicle. She had frequent lapses of pain, and for a time became addicted to pain medication. But, Ivy's spirit was not stopped. She continued to instruct David to woo Grace into falling in love with him so that she could have Sam for herself.
Unfortunately, Rebecca saw Ivy's extended recovery at the oppertunity to bar Ivy completely from the Crane Mansion, and had it redecorated. Ivy was furious, and even disgusted when she saw what color Rebecca painted the mansion's living room and it's tacky furniture. Ivy refused to accept the divorce, and it was only thanks to Eve and Ethan that she was accepted at all. Eve blackmailed Julian so that Ivy was allowed to stay in the mansion, and Ethan planned to fight for his mother's rights in not accepting the Bermuda divorce. Rebecca soon moved into the Crane mansion, and wanted Ivy's friend and companion Pilar fired. Ivy refused. Rebecca reasponded by shooting Ivy's favorite vase! She proceeded to destroy many of Ivy's heirlooms.
Even though she was an unwanted guest at the mansion, Ivy stood her ground. She begged Ethan to still not marry Theresa, still believing the girl told her secret to the tabloids. It wasn't long before she found out Julian was married to Theresa! She blamed Theresa not knowing that it was Julian who intoxicated her, and drunk himself were set up by his friend Bruce in a marriage ceremony, later revealed to be a sham.
Ivy was going to tell Ethan about the secret, but Theresa-now emotionally unstable after learning that she was expecting a child which she assumed to be Julian's- stopped her, and broke Ivy's wheelchair with a fireplace poker. She then locked Ivy in her room. Ivy was determined to tell Ethan the secret even if it meant crawling to Ethan and telling him the truth and that is what she did! With every ounce of strength Ivy crawled down the Crane Mansion steps interrupting yet another wedding- Julian and Rebecca's. Ivy fell unconscious and was placed in the hospital again.
Julian evilly wanted the secret of his marriage to Theresa to stay hidden as well and decide to eliminate his wives. He mercilessly coaxed the unstable Theresa to the idea by killing Ivy by putting his lighter up to the unconscious woman's oxygen tank. Theresa could not murder, and stopped at the last second, but the explosion was accidentally caused when Rebecca- who was wearing jewlry which brushed up against the tank and caused the explosion!
All three women survived. Ivy eventually awoke.
[edit] 2002
[edit] 2003
[edit] 2004
[edit] 2005
[edit] 2006
Ivy is trying to foil the wedding of her son Fox and Sam's daughter Kay Bennett. Recently Ivy's long running of secret of having hired David Hastings to pretend to be Grace Standish's husband was exposed by Kay which has resulted in the end of her engagement with Sam.
[edit] Family
[edit] Spouse(s)
- Julian Crane (ex-husband; divorced August 2001)
[edit] Children
- Ethan Winthrop (son, with Sam)
- Unnamed Crane (daughter, with Julian)
- Fancy Crane (daughter, with Julian)
- Fox Crane (son, with Julian)
[edit] Grandchildren
- Ethan Crane (grandson, via Ethan)
- Sarah Winthrop (granddaughter, via Ethan; stillborn)
- Nathan Winthrop (grandson, via Ethan; medical abortion)
- Jane Winthrop (granddaughter, via Ethan)
[edit] Parents
- Harrison Winthrop (father; deceased)
- Helen Revere-Mott-Beaton (mother; deceased)
[edit] Relationships
- Julian Crane (ex-husband; divorced August 2001)
- Sam Bennett (fiance; 2005-2006)
[edit] Siblings
Though Ivy was originally supposed to have been an only child, she later mentioned that her father had left all of his money to her siblings, thinking Ivy's financial well-being set in stone as Julian Crane's wife. It is unknown how many siblings Ivy has, or what their names are. The references are not concise, though, as there have also been more recent mentions of Ivy being an only child.
[edit] Occupation
- Socialite
