Meg Snyder

Margaret "Meg" Snyder (previously Reyes, Stricklyn, Montgomery, and Ryan) is a resident of Oakdale on the American TV soap opera, As the World Turns.^[1] Meg is a grown daughter in the Snyder family, a central family in the fictional town of Oakdale (U.S.). Below, the character is described using in-universe tone, within the town of Oakdale.

Character history

Meg Snyder is the daughter of Emma and Harvey Snyder. She is the sister of Seth Snyder, Iva Snyder Benedict, Caleb Snyder, Elinor "Ellie" Snyder and Holden Snyder. She was involved with Dusty Donovan in the early years and even faked a pregnancy to trap him. Meg married Tonio Reyes, but she had an affair with Josh Stricklyn and became pregnant, losing the baby and had to have a hysterectomy. She later married Josh, and they left town.

She returned to Oakdale in 2005, after 11 years, and began working as a nurse at Memorial Hospital. It was revealed that she and Josh got divorced. She picked up her relationship with Dusty, until it was clear to her that he was really in love with Jennifer Munson. Meg had planned to leave Oakdale, but instead found Paul Ryan in the woods, badly injured from a gunshot wound. Since he was a fugitive, she took him secretly to an abandoned cabin, treated his wounds as a nurse, and took care of him until he was healed. The two fell in love and even became engaged.

Craig Montgomery was released from jail for his role in switching the babies of Jennifer and Gwen (long-lost sister of Carly Tenney), and set his eyes set on Meg. She eventually left Paul at the altar back in October 2006, and slept with Craig, after losing her job as a nurse in the aftermath of causing a patient's death by her negligence, after Craig stopped her from taking pills after she downed a bottle of alcohol. She married Craig to get his company, which he had stolen from Lucinda Walsh (mother of the wife of Holden, Meg's brother), so she could give it back to Lucinda. Paul and Meg planned to leave Oakdale as soon as Lucinda had the company, but Craig found out and took Meg on a honeymoon. Craig drugged Meg and let Paul come to a cliff. Paul falls from the cliff during a fight with Craig. They thought Paul was dead. She mourned and moved on with Craig, but was later shocked to see Paul alive in Oakdale, with his ex-wife, Rosanna Cabot, who had been in a coma for 2 years. She was hurt to hear that the two were engaged, but Paul couldn't resist Meg, and the two slept together after remembering their times together. She became pregnant with Paul's son, but believed the baby to be Craig's son, as Rosanna supposedly altered the paternity test. Craig, however, discovered the truth and bought a miscarriage drug to kill Meg's baby. He slipped it into her drink, but at the last second knocked it out of her hand. The truth supposedly was later put together by Paul and Meg, leading Paul to confront Rosanna (whom he'd married). She admitted her part in the conflict as well as Craig's part. Angry because Craig tried to kill his son, Paul went after Craig. While Paul and Craig were fighting, Meg tried to step in to break it up. Paul ended up hitting her, causing her to fall and lose her unborn child. Later, Holden lashed out at Paul and Craig as Meg supposedly suffered mentally over the miscarriage, in which a short time later, she was both physically and mentally fine, while carrying her nephew, Ethan, into the farmhouse shortly after being released from the hospital. Meg later divorced Craig, as Rosanna fell back into her comatose state. In the divorce decree, she returned Worldwide Industries (formerly Montgomery Enterprises) back over to Lucinda Walsh.

On May 26, 2008, Meg was re-instated as a nurse at Memorial, after getting a good word put in with the board by Barbara Ryan (mother of Paul Ryan).

In July 2008, Meg finally married Paul, nonetheless in a hospital bed, after being admitted, when she had psychotic episodes, caused by a plague. This marriage gave Meg the official name Meg Ryan. (However, to make sure there wouldn't be any confusion with the actress Meg Ryan, the show changed the name to Meg Snyder Ryan, though she would be addressed as Mrs. Ryan.) Meg learned that she and her husband are currently expecting another child, making this their second child by pregnancy, having lost their first child in a miscarriage while she was married to Craig.

The daughter that Meg is expecting with husband Paul Ryan will be named Eliza. After finding out that Paul hired a Jennifer look-alike to seduce and distract Dusty, Meg asks for a divorce. A ghost James convinces Paul to fake an overdose to get her back. Meg having found a suicide note went to the cabin they shared when she nursed him back to health and found Paul having overdosed in the chair. She starts compressions and then tries to drag him to the door but the stress sends her into labor. She calls Dusty and he takes her to the hospital where she delivers healthy baby Eliza, after which Paul agrees to a divorce and signs the papers officially ending them on January 19. However, around that time, Dusty learns that Craig has plans to marry Carly Tenney in an attempt to take Johnny away from him by proving he had more of a stable family. So to retaliate, Dusty proposed to Meg, and she accepted in order to help him get custody of his late wife's son Johnny, as a married man. Dusty and Meg married soon after in a simple ceremony, but the marriage was invalid because Dusty backdated in order to get the divorce faster. Meanwhile, Paul marries former fiancee Emily Stewart (who had shot him after their prior break-up).

Meg is committed to Deerbrook Mental Hospital (while her infant daughter Eliza remains with Paul and Emily), due to an account by Damian Grimaldi, who made the rejected Meg believe he was leaving Lily for her. However, the two-timing Damian ultimately makes her family and friends, except Paul, and to some extent, her brother Holden Snyder and his friend Molly think that she is mentally unstable. Damian later paid a man to turn off the cameras at Deerbrook and told Meg he loved her and was leaving Lily. Damian has paid to have Meg's medicine tainted to keep her crazy, but she starts saving the pills under her bed. Next, Damian made her look crazy at her court hearing. Paul later helped her escape at the court hearing, by getting hit by a car, and secretly taking Meg to hide at the Fairwinds complex. Emily later found out and wanted to turn Meg in, but later she changed her mind.

Upon this escape from Deerbrook, Meg goes to find Damian to kill him for keeping her committed. They have a struggle; Damian strangles Meg and she falls to the floor. Lily comes back, meanwhile, to argue leaving again with Damian. Damian had to hide Meg's body in a cedar trunk. Lily wonders why Damian kept her from the trunk and discovers Meg's body. In the midst of arguing about calling the police or fleeing, Lilly's ex-husband Holden walks into this scene. Damian now threatens to kill Holden, but Lily convinces Damian she loves him and will escape with him if he just lets Holden go. As they are ready to run, Meg pops out of the trunk, having been merely unconscious. At the distraction, Damian runs off, after mildly injuring Lily. Using his wealthy shipping business, Damian tries to fake his death on a ship at sea, but he is discovered and arrested for his crimes.

Months later, following Eliza's christening, Paul agrees to let Meg move back into Fairwinds despite Emily's objections. Meg's delusions returned as she continued to drug herself with methadone, in order to gain Paul's attention. Paul, aware of Meg's scheme, set a trap for her. While Meg is alone at Fairwinds with Emily, she takes Paul's gun out of its safe and tries to kill her while under the influence. Unbeknownst to Meg and Emily, Paul had loaded the gun with blanks, and he and Meg's mother, Emma, arrived in time to save both Emily from Meg, and Meg from her delusions.

Meg returns to Memorial, this time as a patient, where Paul gently encourages her to receive the treatment that she needs. Though he assures her that a part of him will always love her, he cannot follow her on her journey to recovery, but she must push herself to get better for Eliza's sake. Coming to terms with her drug-induced illness and the toxicity of her relationship with Paul, Meg agrees to go with Emma to a treatment facility in Washington, D.C., close to where her sister Iva lives. In her final moments in Oakdale, Meg confidently walks out of Memorial, with brother Holden and mother Emma by her side.

References

External links

• As The World Turns: Meg Snyder character
• Meg Snyder at soapcentral.com
• As the World Turns CAST - Meg Snyder at soaps.com