Janet Ciccone

Janet Ciccone (previously Snyder) is a final 3-year fictional character in the U.S. daytime soap opera As the World Turns. She was played by Julie Pinson from May 8, 2008 until the show's final episode on September 17, 2010. The character and plot is described, below, using in-universe tone.

Character history

Janet Ciccone arrives in town at Oakdale (some distance outside Chicago) on the heels of her daughter Liberty, who is secretly the daughter of TV talk-show host Brad Snyder, brother of Jack Snyder. Liberty had been conceived in a one-night stand between Brad and Janet at their high school prom. Brad and his new wife, Katie Peretti, initially think Janet and Liberty's paternity claims are false; a subsequent DNA test reveals that Liberty is indeed Brad's daughter.

Janet gets a subsistence job as a waitress at Al's Diner, and her daughter, Liberty attends public school with Jack's son, Parker. After several months, Janet marries Jack Snyder on December 12, 2008. However, Jack maintains a protective attitude with his ex-wife, Carly Tenney, as a former power couple in town. Jack periodically spends time away from Janet, in issues involving Carly.

In 2010, Janet starts to have an affair with Dusty Donovan, after Jack leaves town, with intense soul-searching, following his accidental shooting and killing of his brother Brad. Janet doesn't know if she wants to still be in her marriage to Jack, who has also cheated on Janet with Carly, or get a marriage annulment. Jack was going to tell Janet it was over after he and Carly had decided to be together; unfortunately, when Jack went to tell Janet she was bawling because Liberty is diagnosed with leukemia (cancer). At Janet's reluctant request, her father, Rocco, arrived in Oakdale as a possible bone-marrow donor for Liberty. However, Liberty refuses her grandfather's bone marrow, accusing him of only ever even meeting Liberty because she was dying. Jack now thinks he has to stay with Janet to give her and Liberty support. Jack is still unfaithful with Carly, Carly then walks in on Janet and Dusty kissing, she plans to use this to break the couple up. Although Janet has feelings for Dusty and wants to be with him, she becomes pregnant with Jack's child in order to give Liberty a bone-marrow donor. Dusty asked Janet to marry him and she said no. Then they went to see Liberty and she told Janet to say yes so Janet told Dusty she would marry him.

Rocco, wary of Dusty's "intentions" toward his older daughter, later enlisted the help of mob boss Ralph Manzo to "take care" of Dusty. Later, Rocco realizes that Dusty truly loves Janet and confronts Ralph's hostile hitmen during a fight between them and Dusty. Rocco tragically dies in the process, and Janet breaks off her relationship with Dusty, insisting that though her relationship with her father had been strained for seventeen years, he had come back not only to help Liberty, but to make peace with her. Janet concluded that Dusty was to blame for her father's death, and remains distant toward him, even after Liberty's cancer goes into remission, and Jack and Janet get their marriage annulled.

Anthony Blackthorn, a childhood friend of Janet's, comes to Oakdale at the request of Lucinda Walsh, who was scheming with Blackthorn to bring down Craig Montgomery. However, Blackthorn reconnects with Janet in the process, and the two begin dating, much to the dismay and suspicion of Dusty. Unbeknownst to Janet, Blackthorn was indeed involved with Manzo's mob, confirming Dusty's suspicions that Janet was in danger (as Manzo had been responsible for Brad's murder, along with the attempted hit on Dusty). Janet would hear nothing of it, insisting that Dusty was simply jealous of Blackthorn's relationship with her, with his reinforcing Italian stereotypes by claiming Blackthorn was a gangster. Blackthorn's secret would come out when he insisted on taking Janet to a vacation spa, Avalon Castle. Dusty followed Janet to the spa, only to be kidnapped by Blackthorn's goons and severely beaten while trying to warn Janet while inside the spa. Shocked and afraid for Dusty's life, Janet confronted Blackthorn, who was also discovered by Jack and Carly, who had since joined Dusty in his investigation. With Jack and Carly's help, Dusty and Janet were both rescued, and Blackthorn was arrested along with Manzo, who had resurfaced at Avalon Castle as Blackthorn's rival.

From then on, Janet was determined to make things right with Dusty, despite his temporary reconnection with lost love, Lucy Montgomery, after Rocco's death and their subsequent breakup. Dusty and Janet's reunion came shortly following Jack's wedding to Carly and the birth of Janet's baby, who, at the time, was still believed to be Jack's. Janet goes into labor during Jack and Carly's wedding, while decorating the cabin meant for their honeymoon. Her baby was delivered at the cabin by Dusty, with newly married Jack and Carly in attendance. Jack, Carly and Dusty then escorted Janet and her and Jack's newborn son to Oakdale Memorial Hospital. However, a paternity test conducted by Dusty's longtime surrogate father, Dr. John Dixon, revealed Dusty to be the true father of Janet's baby after all. Liberty, Teri (Janet's sister) and Dusty's young adoptive son, Johnny, later gather in the hospital to meet the new addition to their family. Janet says a short, fond goodbye to Liberty, who then leaves for New York in order to attend FIT. Janet, elated, marvels that all of her dreams had come true.

A month later, Janet and Dusty, newly re-engaged, present their infant son, Lorenzo Dustin Donovan, to Jack and Carly, whom they name as his godparents. Carly announces to Dusty and Janet that she and Jack are expecting a child of their own, and assures baby Lorenzo that he and "their little one will be great friends". With the two couples, and their families, finally happy and at peace, Janet concludes that everything had turned out exactly the way it was supposed to.

External links

• Janet Ciccone profile - SoapCentral.com