All My Children went off the air on September 23, 2011. (There was a short-lived, online revival in 2013.) But just because it’s no longer producing new episodes, that doesn’t mean AMC’s fans have forgotten the 39 happy years they spent in Pine Valley. One of the show’s greatest moments came when Bianca, played by Daytime Emmy winner Eden Riegel, came out to her mother, Erica Kane, the one and only Susan Lucci. In my book, Super Soap Scenes: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama’s Greatest Moments, Riegel recalled how it all came together.
READ MORE: Peter Bergman recalls classic scenes on Y&R.
One for the Ages
I was fortunate enough to be a part of, in my opinion, a definitive, history-making soap moment. In 2000, my character, Bianca Montgomery, came out as a lesbian to her mother, the one and only Erica Kane.
Erica has always been a notorious man-eater, with ten marriages under her belt, and constant male suitors banging down her door. So it was the height of soap irony that her beloved daughter would turn out to be gay.
READ THIS: Five facts about Susan Lucci.
Home is Where the Heart Is
Bianca came back to Pine Valley as an adult after going through rehab for anorexia and realizing, in the process, the truth about her sexual orientation. But she kept her sexuality a well-guarded secret from her mother, who she knew would not take the news well. Then, the pressure of the truth weighing on her, Bianca couldn’t take it anymore and finally came out to her mom.
She craved her mother’s love and approval for who she really was, not just as a carefully constructed mask. In a scene that will live in soap history, she and Erica were dressed alike, in very shiny, uber-girly outfits, and Bianca was to be presented later as the face of Erica’s cosmetic company.
MORE: Daytime’s secrets revealed.
This Is Me
In a dramatic moment that only the soaps could deliver, Bianca literally and figuratively stripped away the pretense, taking off her jewelry, taking her hair down, and then removing her dress so she stood before her mother in only a slip and, for the first time, begged her, “Look at me!”
Bianca felt that deep down Erica knew who she really was and was in denial. She forced her mother to see her for who she truly was.
What happened next for Bianca, for Erica, and for Riegel and Lucci? Read all about it in Super Soap Scenes: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama’s Greatest Moments!
