Ashley Kerwin
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| Ashley Kerwin | |
|---|---|
| Degrassi The Next Generation character | |
| First appearance | Family Politics (episode 1.03) |
| Portrayed by | Melissa McIntyre |
| Episode count | 76 |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Date of birth | 1988 |
| Occupation | Currently enrolled at Degrassi Community School |
| Family | Kate Kerwin (mother) Robert Kerwin (father) Jeff Isaacs (stepfather) Toby Isaacs (stepbrother) Sally (aunt) |
Ashley Kerwin is a fictional high schooler on Degrassi: The Next Generation, portrayed by Melissa McIntyre.
Contents |
[edit] Character history
[edit] Season 1
At the beginning of the series, Ashley is a stereotypical prep and over-achiever. Being extremely popular, she has her eyes on becoming Degrassi's student body president. However, her stepbrother Toby, who is frustrated by her unchallenged status and flawlessness, convinces J.T. to run against her, thus creating a conflict between the step-siblings. Due to Ashley's desire to win, at one point she bribed J.T. to lose. In the end, Ashley wins the election (fairly) and they both realize that they have to try and get along with each other.
Ashley is dating the equally popular Jimmy. She feels insecure about their relationship when Paige convinces her that they should take it to the next level already (Spinner simultaneously convinces Jimmy of the same thing) and wills herself to sleep with him before they both admit that neither of them are ready for sex. They spend the evening blowing up their condoms like party balloons, content with what the way things are going between each other.
Ashley's dad is back in town and she's proud to show him off at school. Her teachers and friends are impressed with him, including Paige who comments that he's hot for his age. Ashley has hopes of him reconciling with her mother which by the way Ashley never understood exactly why they divorced since they always got along so well. When Ashley asks her mom why they really broke up, she reluctantly tells her it's because he's gay. The following day, Ashley goes to school upset and she refuses to talk to anyone except for Terri. Before she can tell Terri why she was in a bad mood, Paige rudely butts into the conversation. She tells Ashley that the reason why her parents might have broken up despite having so much chemistry is because her father might be gay. Thinking that Paige was being a complete jerk, Ashley throws chocolate milk into her face and tells her to mind her own business, then stomps away. Paige is near tears as she tells Terri that her older brother is gay and she wasn't trying to be funny with Ashley. Later on, Ashley has a talk with her dad and she tries to accept the fact that he's gay. However, she gets angry with him when he tells her that the real reason he left her mom was because he fell in love with a man he's been friends with for a long time. Soon after, Ashley tells Terri that she wants nothing more to do with her dad, but Terri tells her to reconsider. Terri's mother passed away and she wanted Ashley to be grateful that she even has a choice as to whether she wants her father in her life or not.
Jimmy seems to be hanging around Ashley too much. Jimmy also seems to stay over her house almost every night for dinner. Ashley attempts to break up with Jimmy, but that day it happened to be Jimmy's birthday. Ashley tried to tell him to forget about what happened because it was his birthday. Jimmy then tells Ashley to leave.
As the school talent show nears, Ashley decides that she and Terri should enter under the name "Two Girls and a Keyboard". But Paige wants to join the band too. She convinces Terri, who has just gotten into tarot cards and the mystics to fake a reading where the oracles tell Ashley to let Paige in the band. Ashley finally agrees and Paige joins the band. The two have friction from their head strong natures and argue about the name of the band. Paige insists on "Paige Michalchuk and the Sex Kittens" (shortened as "PMS"), but Ashley argues for the newly updated "Three Girls and a Keyboard".
Terri sides with Paige, but Ashley still doesn't listen. This sparks a huge argument between Terri and Ashley which causes Ashley to quit the band. The duo is a huge hit at the talent show, and wins the contest. Surprised and impressed with their performance, Ashley decides to return to the band, but listens to Terri more often. Thus begins PMS.
In the episode "Jagged Little Pill", a girls' night at Ashley's turns into a disaster. J.T., whom Toby invited, brings ecstasy as a party favour. Sean tells J.T. and Toby that he's going to go into the kitchen to split the pill between the three of them but runs into Ashley. He replaces the E with aspirin and tells Ashley to throw the ecstasy out. However, instead of throwing it out, Ashley takes it. She calls Jimmy and his friends and Jimmy notices right away that she's high. Meanwhile, Sean and Emma (who had also been invited over) fight, leaving Sean depressed and alone in a bedroom. To comfort a broken-hearted Sean, Ashley then proceeds to cheat on Jimmy by making out with him on her bed and then publicly dumps him after he finds out what she did with Sean. She also makes an enemy out of Paige by insulting her and calling her a hag. Her mistake costs her long-time boyfriend Jimmy as well as all of her friends, except best friend Terri. After what happened, her popularity plummets and Paige becomes the most popular girl at Degrassi.
[edit] Season 2
As Ashley began her freshman year, it seemed like hell. She was treated like a total outcast among her friends, and even Jimmy called her a "Slut" because she had flirted with him, but accepted a date with Sean Cameron. Prompted by her new friendship with fellow outcast Ellie Nash, Ashley became gothic; she cut her hair very short, wore dark, heavy make-up and black clothes. Throughout the school year she slowly gained her friends back, by helping Paige go through her rape and she even got a chance to rekindle her relationship with Jimmy, but it didn't last long. They broke up because of the way Ashley dressed, and it didn't feel right for Ashley to change her ways and the way she looked to impress a boy. As her freshman year ended, she grew close to Craig and also helped him console after his father died in a car crash.
When Paige decides to start up PMS again, she is skeptical about re-accepting Ashley into the band like Terri suggested. But when the lyrics and singing talent is at a low, she goes to Ashley's house and pleads for her to return to the band. She tells Ashley to write something "real." Ashley reluctantly agrees, and conveniently writes a song about rape, just as Paige is recovering from hers. Paige tells Ashley to go with the old lyrics, and storms out when Ashley tells her she doesn't know anything about rape. Ashley follows her to the hall and insists on the old lyrics when Paige reveals her victimization. But when Paige sees Dean, her rapist, she tells Ashley to sing the song that she wrote about rape. Paige's confidence in Ashley restarts their old friendship.
By the end of Season 2, Ashley is helping Craig deal with the difficulty of his loss, and they continue on in their relationship.
[edit] Season 3
Ashley sheds her goth look for a more muted, but still edgy, punk rocker-chick type look. The season begins happily and without too much drama for Ashley, until Paige's 16th birthday.
Ashley and Craig have been happily dating since the end of Season 2. However, although Craig wants to go all the way, Ashley pulls back because she wants to know that he loves her first. She almost breaks it off with him when he has difficulty telling her so, but they make up after Craig tells her through a song. She decides that she's ready and the two make plans to have sex after Paige's 16th birthday party. Craig excitedly shares the news with Spinner, who proceeds to anger Ashley by making jokes about what she and Craig are about to do. Ashley, feeling betrayed, calls it off. Craig storms away only to be comforted by Manny, whom he ends up having sex with. Ashley and Craig eventually make up, but he continues seeing Manny behind her back nonetheless.
Craig's infidelity is revealed at Christmas, when Ashley peeks at the present he bought for her and finds a figure-skater charm bracelet, only to see Manny wearing it the next day. She confronts Manny, who, under the impression that Craig and Ashley are no longer together, confirms that Craig and Manny have been dating the entire time. Furious and hurt, both Ashley and Manny dump Craig, leaving him perpetually alone.
It is soon discovered that Manny is pregnant due to the one time when she and Craig had sex. Ashley's fury increases exponentially and she humiliates Manny and Craig by telling the whole school. Later, "Hell Hath No Fury" (Ashley, Paige, Hazel, and Ellie's band) and "Downtown Sasquatch" (Craig, Spinner, Marco, and Jimmy's band) compete in a Battle of the Bands contest, for which Ashley writes a scathing song about Craig in order to get him back for the "pain [he] caused." They soon reach a mutual understanding when Craig apologizes in song, thus winning both the contest and Ashley's forgiveness.
[edit] Season 4
Ashley and Craig call a truce at the beginning of the season and develop a friendship with each other. Ashley helps Craig buy a guitar using his inheritance money from his dead father. She then becomes a part of his band. However, their friendship elevates into something more when Craig realizes that he still has feelings for her. They get back together and everything seems perfect but Craig begins acting strangely, having emotional outbursts and easily becoming upset. Only more pressure is added with Ashley's father's upcoming wedding and her mother's obvious dislike of Craig.
After taking Joey's credit card, Craig gets a hotel room for Ashley because her father's wedding is stressing her out. Ashley is completely floored, and they have sex for the first time. Ashley is overwhelmed because it's her first time, but she is only more sure of their love. At the rehearsal party for the wedding, Craig proposes. Ashley, taken aback, says no, leading Craig to trash the hotel room in a fit of rage. It is later discovered that Craig is bi-polar. Ashley, who truly loves him and would like to eventually get married someday, stays with him and deals with his sudden mood-swings, paranoia, and insecurity. However, at the end of the season, she leaves for England for the summer, telling Craig that she needs time apart from him. Craig flies off the handle, going off his medication and causing his bi-polar disorder to flare up again. He manages to calm down thanks to Joey.
[edit] Season 5
At the beginning of the season, Ellie receives an email from Ashley, saying that she has decided to stay in England for the year and will not be returning to Degrassi. She stops contacting Craig (something that he notes but doesn't make a big deal out of), as she begins to date "Alastair aka Ali" in London, England, leaving Ellie to break the bad news to Craig.
Ashley returns to Degrassi in the 2-part season finale and decides to finish high school in Degrassi in Season 6. She is noticeably happier and kinder. This is evident when she tries to push Jimmy and Ellie together after Jimmy admits to her that he has feelings for Ellie and Ellie tells her that "[she's] crushing on someone, as usual." However, when Jimmy realizes that Ellie's crush is not him, he leaves. After telling Ashley that no one wants to date a guy in a wheelchair, Ashley kisses him, possibly indicating the rekindling of their relationship.
[edit] Season 6
As Ashley begins her final year at Degrassi, she continues a relationship with Jimmy that began the year before. However Ashley begins to think she's doing something wrong because Jimmy is pushing her away. It is then revealed that he has insecurities because after the shooting, he hasn't been able to get an erection. Ashley tries to help him but after not being able to perform he gets upset. Ashley then quickly assures him that she doesn't need sex for their relationship to last and that to her, Jimmy is already the man she needs.
[edit] Season 7
Craig's CD has finally come out, and Ashley finds out that he didn't credit her for one of the songs used. This inspires her to go back into music, and Toby signs her up for a talent show. Ashley wants Jimmy to chase dreams with her, so they create a track together. Ashley ends up writing Jimmy's rap out of the song altogether, since she believed the two didn't mix, and decides to perform in the talent show alone. When she performs, the crowd boos and tells her to play one of Craig's songs. Jimmy steps in with his rap and picks the crowd up. Ashley thought people only saw her as Craig's ex-sidekick, and now she didn't want to be Jimmy's. But Ashley decides to encourage him on pursuing a music career. Griffin, Ellie's new roommate, hears the track and asks Jimmy to be at a show to perform. Jimmy still wanted Ashley to perform with him, but she backs out to let Jimmy be in the spotlight. Griffin shows their work to a producer, and asks them both to make a demo to show him. Ashley manages it but cuts Jimmy's track.
Ashley continuously insists that he's the same person even if he can't walk. When Jimmy asks what happened to his rap track, Ashley admits that she deleted it leading up to a heated confrontation and Jimmy's end. Ashley finds him the next day in the halls and gives him a new CD with both their tracks on it. Jimmy asks if that was suppose to fix what she did, and she responds that even though they aren't getting along, their music is more important.
After some intense physiotherapy, Jimmy comes to the realization that Ashley just doesn't understand what he's going through in his chair. Ashley finds out that Jimmy has a new crush in Trina, and Jimmy breaks up with her. claiming that the relationship was "a crutch".
Ashley goes with Manny, Liberty and Emma to Smithsdale and has tickets to the Purple Dragon concert and invites the girls to come. She later finds Spinner and Jimmy and the concert, and Jimmy seams to still have ill will towards her. She mentions to Jimmy that she will be accompanying Craig on a tour in Europe, and then goes on stage to sing with him. It remains unknown whether she will be in any more episodes this season. It is also unknown if she and Craig are dating again.
[edit] Relationships
- Jimmy Brooks
- First Relationship
- Second Relationship
- Start Up: "Message in a Bottle" (216)
- Broke Up: "Dressed in Black" (218)
- Reason: Ashley believes Jimmy prefers the "old her," and they have grown too far apart.
- Third Relationship
- Start Up: "High Fidelity, Part 2" (519)
- Broke Up: "Live to Tell" (712)
- Reason: Jimmy falls for Trina, and says his and Ashley's relationship was just a crutch for both of them.
- Craig Manning
- First Relationship
- Start Up: "Tears Are Not Enough, Part 2" (221)
- Broke Up: "Holiday, Part 2" (312)
- Reason: Craig cheats on Ashley with Manny.
- Second Relationship
- Start Up: "Neutron Dance" (410)
- Broke Up: "Venus, Part 1" (501)
- Reason: Ashley found someone else in England.
- First Relationship
- Alistair
- Start Up: before "Venus, Part 1" (501)
- Broke Up: before "High Fidelity, Part 2" (519)
- Reason: She says that their relationship fizzled out.
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