Kendall Hart: Difference between revisions

Kendall Hart
All My Children character
Alicia Minshew as Kendall Hart
Portrayed by	Sarah Michelle Gellar (1993–95) Alicia Minshew (2002–11, 2013)
Duration	1993–95, 2002–11, 2013
First appearance	March 11, 1993
Last appearance	July 8, 2013
Classification	Former, recurring
Created by	Megan McTavish
Introduced by	Felicia Minei Behr (1993) Jean Dadario Burke (2002) Ginger Smith (2013)
Crossover appearances	One Life to Live
File:Sarah Michelle Geller as Kendall Hart.jpg Sarah Michelle Gellar as Kendall Hart
In-universe information Occupation Author of Charm (2008) CEO of Enchantment Cosmetics (2003—) Co-founder and co-owner of Fusion Cosmetics (2003—) Board member of the Miranda Center (2004—) Family Kane Father Richard Fields Mother Erica Kane Adoptive parents Bill Hart Alice Hart Half-brothers Trey Kenyon Josh Madden Half-sisters Bianca Montgomery Spouse Anton Lang (1994–95) Zach Slater (2005, 2006–09, 2009–12) Sons Spike Lavery Ian Slater Stepchildren Ethan Cambias Gabrielle Montgomery Grandparents Eric Kane Mona Kane Tyler Aunts and uncles Silver Kane Mark Dalton Nieces Miranda Montgomery Gabrielle Montgomery First cousins Julie Rand Chandler

Kendall Hart is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. The character was portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar from 1993 to 1995, and by Alicia Minshew from 2002 until the show's series finale on September 23, 2011. On March 7, 2013, it was announced that Minshew will guest-star on the Prospect Park's continuation of All My Children. She appeared on the second July 8 episode, and exited the same day.

The character is the daughter of Erica Kane, a child conceived when Erica was raped on the night of her 14th birthday by movie matinee idol, Richard Fields. Emerging as one of daytime's most popular and layered characters, Kendall was originally written as a complex villain, described as a "complicated bad girl" and “the scheming daughter of the biggest schemer of them all, Erica Kane,” but was later reformed. The writers scripted her as a heroine, while keeping devious aspects of the character intact and shares love-hate relationship with Greenlee Smythe.

Background

Rapid aging

Kendall has been the subject of Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome (SORAS), which caused the show's producers to "de-SORAS" her biological mother Erica Kane, portrayed by Susan Lucci. Lucci says that Erica was 15 when the show began in 1970. "I love playing her. I enjoyed playing her when she was a 15-year-old high school girl, the naughty girl in town, and I enjoy playing her now, when she's still the naughty girl, but she's broadened her area of operation to include the entire world," said Lucci. Erica being 15 in 1970 placed her birth year at 1955.

When Kendall first appears on the show in 1993, she is 16 years old, portrayed by a then 16-year-old (or 15-year-old) Sarah Michelle Gellar. This was despite the fact that Kendall was the result of Erica's rape at the age of 14 before the show began in 1970 (23 years earlier). Fans protested the age differences due to the changes making Erica and Kendall too young compared to Erica's original 1955 birth year. In response to this, the show's producers rapidly aged Kendall to 23, which moved Erica's birth year one year forward to 1956.

When Minshew took over the role in 2002, the character's birth year was changed to 1976; Erica's birth year was subsequently pushed even later than where it was before, to 1962. Though Kendall's birthdate was changed to September 25, 1970 in 1993 as a result of SORAS, her birthdate was revised to September 25, 1976 in 2002, closer to her originally intended birthdate when she first appeared as a 16-year-old girl on March 11, 1993.

Casting and character portrayal

Sarah Michelle Gellar

For a couple of years, the producers of All My Children had been thinking about introducing a new character as a foil for Erica Kane, and were waiting for the right moment. The opportunity presented itself in 1993, just as Erica was enjoying her engagement to latest love Dimitri Marick, portrayed by Michael Nader. A casting call went out for a young actress to portray the part of Kendall Hart, Erica's long-lost daughter.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (1993–95) won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1995 for portraying Kendall Hart, Erica Kane's long-lost daughter.

The show's producers were adamant about keeping the storyline a secret. During the casting process, the actresses were told that Kendall would be Erica's new assistant. "I didn't know when I auditioned for Kendall that she would turn out to be who she is," stated Gellar. "I had heard rumors, but everybody was denying it. Besides, I was scared enough at the thought of working with Susan," she said.

The number of teenage actors in New York auditioning for the role, which eventually went to Gellar, was abundant. Bearing a resemblance to Lucci, Gellar was complimented as having the acting talent and the "forceful personality" needed to go up against Lucci's experience; a "chip off the Kane block", Kendall was to be like a younger version of Erica.

"When they told me I was playing her daughter, I was like, 'What? Daughter? Me?' I remember on my first day when I walked into the rehearsal hall, Susan and Michael were rehearsing a scene," said Gellar. "I was very nervous. I kept thinking, 'What if I'm really bad and they fire me?' I just snuck in the back and tried to blend in with the coffee machine, when all of a sudden, Susan said, 'Hold it, we need to stop for a minute.'" Gellar said that Lucci walked over to her and said, "Congratulations! I'm very glad you're here" and hugged her. "She put her arm around me and said, 'Don't worry, nobody bites.' And then she introduced me to everyone who was there. She really did help me and always made sure I was okay during my first couple of weeks when I was still unsettled. Both Susan and Michael made me feel comfortable," Gellar stated.

Kendall made her All My Children debut on March 11, 1993, to an unsuspecting audience as Erica's new 16-year-old assistant (her age was later revised to 22/23 years old as a result of SORAS). Eventually the truth was revealed: Kendall was Erica's long-lost daughter. She was angry for being 'abandoned' at birth – even though going through the pregnancy had resulted from a rape, which Kendall was unaware of – and determined to exact revenge against Erica as payback.

Gellar stated that Kendall was "the most terrible daughter" on daytime during her reign while acknowledging Kendall’s want for her mother’s approval and the multifaceted aspects of the character, “I think that’s what’s the most fun about her. She’s unpredictable, and it allows me to play different aspects of her. She’s weak, she’s strong, she needs men, she doesn’t need men.” Regarding the character's years on the show, Gellar said, "I seduced my stepfather, and when he wouldn't sleep with me, I slept with the stable boy, cried rape, and my mother stabbed him with a letter opener. Then I went to jail for perjury, burned my parents' divorce papers, and locked up my little sister. I think that was all in the first week." On portraying Kendall, Gellar stated, "I chose to see Kendall as misunderstood," and explained, "I don't always agree with her methods, but as an actress I have to justify her actions - and I do."

Gellar was initially cast as a teenaged Kendall, who praised the show for casting her in “a role in (Gellar’s) age category which is so complex” and stated, “I thank Judy Wilson (AMC's casting director) so much for giving me the chance to actually be a teenager playing a teenager on the show. (…) To get a role like Kendall, I feel so lucky because it's so rare.” However, the character was rapidly aged to 22/23 and the show kept Gellar in the role, "I may not physically look 23, but then again, not all 23-year-olds look their age," said Gellar. "I think people should just forget about that. Age is a personal vision. Besides, I know that at 17, Sarah is more mature than Kendall at 23."

Gellar's stint on the show was successful. "Longtime fans of the soap saw her as the second coming of Erica." The more Gellar demonstrated that she could handle the work, the more the writers showcased her. She became a household name to the soap opera medium, and "[f]ans wrote to her to tell her she reminded them of Natalie Wood and people stopped her in the street." Gellar recalled the time she got into a cab and was greeted by the driver. "I had no idea who this guy was. It turns out his son was the doorman at my apartment building," she said.

Gellar won a Daytime Emmy Award in 1995 for the portrayal, but eventually left the role on July 3, 1995 to pursue other acting opportunities. She briefly returned to the series as part of the series finale week; her cameo was that of a mental patient who claimed she sees vampires and that she started seeing them "before they were trendy", and that she was Erica Kane's daughter. Both were nods to Gellar's role as Kendall Hart and her iconic role as Buffy Summers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Alicia Minshew

The show waited six years before contemplating to recast Kendall. Minshew, like Gellar, was unaware that she was auditioning for the role of Erica's first born when the casting call came. "No, I honestly had no clue I was auditioning for the role of Kendall," she stated. "I had auditioned for several roles on All My Children several times and thank God Judy Wilson (All My Children casting director) called me up one day and said 'we are casting a part we think you would be excellent for,'" Minshew stated. "At the time, the role was being called 'Candy' because they were keeping it incognito... Wilson told me she wanted me to come in and just be my fun, sassy self, be strong, be sassy, do what you always do." Minshew screen tested with Josh Duhamel (ex-Leo du Pres), stating:

Love him, love him, love him. Wish I got a chance to work with him! Oh my God. I really think he helped me with my screen test because he was so present for me, so charming and so touchy-feely. He was right there for me. He gave me so much. I remember forgetting my lines and the two of us improvised a little bit, just played off of each other, until I figured out where I was. It was so real! I thanked him. I gave him a big kiss. I said, 'Thank you, you made my screen test so fun. I had such a good time, I forgot that I was trying to get a job.' They had a couple rounds of auditions. [The second time I went in,] we did the exact same scene. He said, 'All right, it's you again! We get to have some fun!' We already had a nice rapport going on, so I was excited. I was like, 'Whatever happens, this is fun.'

It was after the screen test with Duhamel that Minshew was told that the role was actually for Kendall Hart. "Judy pulled me into a room after my screen test and told me, 'I want you to know that the role is for Susan Lucci's daughter Kendall who was originally played by Sarah Michelle Gellar,'" said Minshew. "And then I got so nervous and thought I don't know if I can do this and Wilson said...that I had a pretty good shot at the role, to which I thought ehhhhh she's kissing my butt." Minshew. said, "I always tell people that I truly believe one of the reasons why I got this part was Josh...he made me feel so comfortable and I had so much fun playing with him and I was just able to let go, forget I was screen testing and just throw myself into the part...whatever I did was good and they liked me. I started 3 days after I screen tested.

Minshew detailed her working relationship with Lucci as healthy: "She's just such a strong presence. For a little tiny lady, she's a beautifully strong presence. I've always known who she was. So I was like, 'Wow! That is really cool!' My first day on the show I worked with her. I said, 'Hi, I'm playing Kendall, and I think you're beautiful.' She warmed up to me immediately. We've had a great rapport. She's just... She has only been good to me."

When asked of her portrayal of the character, Minshew cited Kendall's complexity. "She is a hard character to play. When I first came to the show, I was a little off...I had never done daytime before, had never watched the show, so I was not familiar with Sarah Michelle's portrayal of Kendall... I was a newer actress and really, really green and it took me a while to delve into the character and find out who she really was and to make her more real and vulnerable."

As Minshew grew to understand the character, she became more connected to Kendall. Her acting improved with each newly discovered aspect. Years later, Minshew stated, "Now I feel like I love Kendall so much. She has become part of me. I find myself sticking up for her and defending her...the character means a lot to me on a personal level and it's nice to see the fans enjoying Kendall as much as I enjoy playing her."

Storyline

1993–95

Given up for adoption to Bill and Alice Hart as a baby, Kendall Hart is raised in Florida by her adoptive parents. They keep her adoption a secret from her and, as a child, Kendall learns of her adoption late one night when she overhears her parents discussing it. Kendall, though being raised by loving parents, feels displaced all her life and unseals her adoption papers when she is old enough. She discovers her birth mother is her childhood idol, Erica Kane, and dreams of a fantasy mother-daughter reunion. In March 1993, Kendall initially arrives in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania as a teenaged runaway to get a job at her birth mother's cosmetics company, Enchantment, but keeps her true identity as Erica's daughter a secret at first. Erica hires Kendall as her personal assistant to help plan her wedding to Count Dimitri Marick. However, in April 1993, Erica's mother, Mona Kane Tyler, notices a familiar birthmark on Kendall's neck, identical to the birthmark she saw on Erica's baby girl. Having held Kendall as a baby, Mona recalls the infant's birthmark and realizes that Kendall may be Erica's first-born child that she had Erica give up for adoption to the Harts when she was 14 years old. Erica was raped on her 14th birthday by movie actor Richard Fields in a trade so that he would act in a film that her father, Eric Kane, was directing and she became pregnant, suppressing the experience (until remembering it again later after learning Kendall is her daughter in May 1993.) Mona begins to seek information about Kendall when she is visited by Nick Davis and shares her suspicions with him. Nick searches Kendall's room at Myrtle's boarding house and stations Hayley Vaughan there as a resident to investigate Kendall, but they are unable to find evidence that she is Erica's daughter. Meanwhile, Kendall reveals to Myrtle that Erica is her mother. Jealous of the attention her half-sister, Bianca Montgomery, receives after a horse riding accident in May 1993, Kendall blurts out the truth to Erica, showing her adoption papers listing Erica's name, and Erica welcomes the young woman into her life as her daughter, inviting Kendall to live with her.

While they all try to make it work as a family, Kendall's jealousy of Bianca, and of the attention she receives from Erica, increases as she and Bianca continue to bicker and act out. Bianca, feeling threatened by Kendall's developing relationship with Erica, ruins Kendall's bridesmaid dress with ink in an unsuccessful attempt to try and get her out of Erica's wedding party in June 1993. Kendall manipulates Bianca and when Bianca locks herself in the Wildwind mausoleum in August 1993, Kendall ignores her sister's cries when she hears them later on, but reveals Bianca's location shortly after. As Erica and Kendall work to develop a healthy mother-daughter relationship, an unaware Kendall accidentally stumbles upon the discovery of her birth father's identity while watching one of Richard Fields' movies in August. At Erica's alarmed reaction to the film, Kendall begs her to tell her who her biological father is. Reluctantly, Erica reveals this information and when Kendall begins asking questions, Erica demands that Kendall completely forget about him, explaining she wants to protect both herself and Kendall. Despite Kendall's promises to do so and repeated warnings from Erica against locating Richard Fields, Kendall resolves to find her father after expressing the need to understand where she came from, earnestly trying to keep her search hidden from Erica. Dimitri offers to help Kendall and aids her in her search, hiring Hayley as a private investigator. During the successful operation, Kendall develops a crush on Dimitri. Erica starts experiencing flashbacks to her rape after she comes across Kendall's research on her biological father in the stables in October 1993 and again, she forbids Kendall from finding him.

However, together with Dimitri and Hayley, Kendall finds Richard Fields in November 1993 with the expressed intention to confront him over his violation of Erica but Richard Fields lies to Kendall that he never raped her mother and successfully deceives Kendall. Desperate to believe she was not conceived in rape, Kendall makes herself accept Richard Fields' story. When Erica finds out Kendall has visited her biological father in California and discovers Dimitri's part in it, she lashes out at them both and leaves Dimitri, demanding a divorce. Shortly after, Kendall's adoptive mother calls in December 1993 and asks her to return to them in Florida but Kendall still wants another chance with Erica. Erica gently implores Kendall to stop hurting herself and return to the Harts after telling her she can no longer try to be the fantasy mother Kendall dreamed her to be. Kendall is distraught and finds Dimitri, mistaking his paternal feelings for her as attraction. As Dimitri explains he only loves Kendall as a daughter, Kendall unsuccessfully attempts to seduce her step-father and Dimitri rejects her. Devastated, Kendall loses her virginity to a medical student from Hungary named Anton Lang, Dimitri's ward, who she had been developing a friendship with for several months. The following morning, a troubled Kendall, afraid she is pregnant, hysterically runs to Erica and claims Dimitri raped her. Enraged, Erica accuses Dimitri of raping her daughter and stabs him with a letter opener when she hallucinates him as Richard Fields.

When Kendall learns Erica has stabbed Dimitri, she faints from shock. Released from jail on bail and having learned Kendall is denying her accusation against Dimitri, Erica tries to coax an anxious Kendall into admitting that Dimitri raped her but Kendall eventually reveals she made up the claim. Upset, she reveals she now believes Richard Fields' stories to her that he didn't rape Erica, despite Erica continuing to warn Kendall against him, and furiously admits her lie about Dimitri was revenge against her mother for giving her up at birth. Erica says she was defending Kendall against Dimitri and accuses her of knowing what her accusation would to do her marriage. When Kendall dares her mother to hurt her with scissors, Erica is appalled and refuses to do so, disowning her. At Erica's attempted murder trial during February 1994, Kendall states that Erica knowingly stabbed Dimitri because she was jealous he wanted Kendall romantically as well. Kendall tells the jury that the only thing she told Erica was that she had unprotected sex with Anton and was scared that she was pregnant. Kendall is continually cautioned against Richard Fields by everyone but remains unable to accept their warnings about him and wanting to believe Richard Fields loves her, brings him to Pine Valley in January 1994. A horrified Kendall catches Richard Fields attempting to rape Bianca at the Pine Cone Motel in March 1994 and stops him, rescuing Bianca before she is assaulted. Having witnessed her biological father for what he truly is and devastated to accept that he raped Erica, Kendall apologizes to Erica and testifies for the defense, confessing her lies in court. She is charged with perjury and sentenced to 30 days at Green Briar, a correctional facility. Erica refuses to help Kendall out of her perjury charge but, feeling terrible over leaving her daughter in jail, she calls Alice Hart to help Kendall and Kendall is briefly reunited with her adoptive mother in March 1994.

While imprisoned, a newly embittered Kendall meets fellow town pariah and inmate, Janet Green, who has received experimental plastic surgery on her face and the two gradually become friends. After both are released from jail in April 1994, Kendall keeps quiet about Janet's true identity when she learns she is masquerading under a new face and name "Jane Cox", in an effort to help Janet reunite with her young daughter, Amanda. Kendall helps keep Janet's secret, admiring Janet's love for Amanda, wanting Erica to love her in the same way. However, Janet's identity is revealed during her failed wedding to Trevor Dillon. Their friendship continues, lasting until Kendall witnesses what she believes to be Janet's death in May 1995. In love, Anton proposes to Kendall while she is in jail. Though she initially declines, wanting time to find herself, Kendall accepts his proposal. She and Anton move into the Hunting Lodge at Wildwind near the end of April 1994, where she meets Julia Santos, igniting a lasting rivalry. Anton has Kendall promise that she will cease her plotting against Erica.

Dimitri, who has since learned Anton is his son, hires Kendall as his personal assistant on the same condition that she stop her schemes against her mother. However, hurt by her history with Erica, Kendall secretly agrees to write a tell-all book about her mother with Del Henry, a writer who initially propositioned the idea to her while she was still incarcerated. When Kendall's grandmother, Mona, dies in August 1994, Kendall is deeply affected and attempts to pay her respects, only to be angrily confronted by Erica, who mistakenly believes that Kendall is faking her grief and had merely come to crash the funeral. Despite Kendall's heartfelt confessions, Erica orders her to leave. Later, when visiting Mona's grave, Kendall gets into another argument with Dimitri, which climaxes when Kendall demands to know why he still protects Erica after she stabbed him. She manages to intercede a thank-you note from Erica to Dimitri and forges a new letter in its place to thwart any reconciliation between them. Her work with Del on the misleading tell-all book continues and they start to develop a friendship. Del urges Kendall to let go of her revenge schemes, telling her to use her talents for good, and Kendall supports him as he prepares for and undergoes a kidney transplantation later in December 1994, receiving a kidney donated by his sister, Dixie Cooney. However, Kendall's involvement in the book is discovered in August 1994. Though Anton lets Kendall stay at first, he throws her out of Wildwind when he discovers the burned remnants of Erica's note, realizing Kendall forged the letter Dimitri received.

After the tell-all book is dropped, Kendall briefly fakes a pregnancy, followed by a false suicide attempt, in an effort to win Anton back during September 1994. When this fails, she works for a short time as Brooke English's assistant at Tempo Magazine. In December 1994, Janet suggests to Kendall that she lie that Anton is Dimitri's son. Kendall, trying again to win Anton back and get revenge on the Maricks, tells this seeming lie to Anton, completely unaware it is true. After Dimitri confirms this is true to Anton, Anton finds Kendall as she is preparing to return to Florida for the holidays. He takes her away to elope as vengeance against their respective parents, now engaged to be remarried on New Year's Eve. Kendall and Anton experience a difficult marriage. She is hired as a waitress at McKay's Restaurant and Anton, angry at Dimitri, quits his medical training to become a car mechanic. Corvina convinces Kendall to steal fabled documents kept in a ceramic leopard at Wildwind that would make Corvina and Anton the heirs to Wildwind. When they find it empty, Corvina and Kendall forge these documents themselves. Kendall becomes worried as Anton and Julia grow closer but her relationship with Del grows stronger, conflicting Kendall. Del continuously attempts to persuade Kendall from her revenge plots, assuring her that Erica doesn't hate her and she (Kendall) is good. However, Del warns the Maricks that Kendall is developing a new scheme. The forgeries Kendall and Corvina created to inherit Wildwind fail and Anton has his marriage to Kendall annulled after she is tricked by the Wildwind residents into signing annulment papers due to her continuing plots.

Kendall's relationship with Del develops into a romance and they fall in love during May 1995. He helps Kendall to rebuild her life, and let go of her anger against Erica and the Harts. She renews her relationship with her adoptive mother, Alice Hart, after her father, Bill, dies suddenly from heart problems in June 1995, leaving Kendall grief-stricken. Together, Kendall and Del prepare to go to Florida so Kendall can take care of Alice after learning Alice is suffering from health problems. Before her departure, Kendall and Anton wish each other well. Kendall also makes peace with Erica and apologizes to her for all the bad things she had done, explaining that she did these things out of hurt and in order to get Erica's attention but now accepts that she was given up for adoption in an act of love and not selfishness. Erica forgives her and gives her Mona's ring, hugging Kendall before wishing her to be happy. Kendall leaves Pine Valley with Del on July 3, 1995.

2002–10

In January 2002 Erica goes on trial for the murder of Frankie Stone, Bianca's girlfriend. Needing someone to help incriminate her, Erica calls in an eager Kendall, half-wishing that Kendall will not betray her in hopes she really has changed. Newly embittered, Kendall implicates Erica. Having since amicably split from Del, Kendall stays at the Pine Cone Motel across from Ryan Lavery. The two come to verbal blows often due to their strong-willed personalities, but eventually begin dating. After Erica's house is set on fire with Bianca still inside, Kendall is charged with arson. Ryan hires Trey Kenyon to represent her at trial, not knowing that Trey is the guilty party. Believing that Erica is framing her, Kendall becomes obsessed with the idea of exposing her mother, despite being engaged to Ryan. Ryan catches Kendall seducing Aidan Devane for information regarding Erica, and leaves town after ending his relationship with a devastated Kendall. Erica learns evidence of Kendall's innocence and uses it to clear her of her arson charge.

Needing something beyond her flirtation with Aidan, Kendall begins a cosmetics company along with Greenlee Smythe, Mia Saunders, and Simone Torres, with start-up capital provided by Liza Colby, to compete with her mother's company, Enchantment. They name the company FUSION. It has a rocky start, as Kendall and Greenlee have been enemies in the past, but their company grows to be a success.

Kendall begins dating the charming Michael Cambias, but ends things after sensing menace behind his charms. He attempts to rape both Kendall and Erica, but succeeds in raping her younger sister, Bianca. As Bianca is being raped, Kendall helps Erica through a panic attack involving the night she was raped and Kendall was conceived. This marks a cornerstone of their relationship. Police are unable to make a strong case against Cambias, and Kendall begins a convoluted plot against him when he is released from prison. After claiming she had married him in Las Vegas, Michael is murdered by an unknown assailant. Her relationship with Erica, which has grown stronger over the previous months, is again strained because of the marriage to Michael, his murder, and the revelation that Bianca is pregnant with his child. Erica encourages her to get an abortion, and Bianca prepares to go through it with the help of her friend, Maggie Stone. At the clinic, Kendall tells her sister how much she admired her, and though Kendall does not give an opinion on the abortion, Bianca lets Kendall know that she has secretly decided to keep her baby.

So that no one will know that Bianca is carrying the child of a rapist, Kendall claims that she is pregnant with Michael's child after marrying him (actually marrying Enchantment's chemist, Boyd Larraby, who masqueraded under Michael's identity to help make it seem like Kendall married Michael) before Michael was murdered. A skeptical Greenlee begins investigating her friend, while Erica shuns her. Bianca, however, stands by her sister, as does a newly returned Ryan Lavery, who helps keep the secret. Kendall explains to Bianca that she is helping her and her baby because she sees the baby as herself since Kendall was also the product of rape.

Kendall is put on trial for Michael's murder and begins wearing padding underneath her clothes to keep up the ruse. Not understanding the level of trust Ryan has in Kendall, Greenlee reveals the fake pregnancy by ripping the dress off a testifying Kendall. Kendall is forced to reveal that she had faked her pregnancy to protect Bianca, who has killed Michael, though she doesn't remember. Realizing how much Kendall cares for Bianca, Erica becomes close to her daughter again, but Kendall's budding friendship with Greenlee is shattered.

Kendall begins dating Ryan again, who suggests that she forgive Greenlee. Kendall refuses and uses the controlling interest of Fusion she had inherited after Michael's death to treat her former friend unfairly. To even the playing field, Ryan gives Greenlee the shares of Cambias he has inherited from the deceased Alexander Cambias. He goes on to propose to Greenlee to help her out at Fusion, which causes an infuriated Kendall to lock her nemesis in a room to stop the marriage. Kendall attempts to marry Ryan herself, but he chooses Greenlee after realizing what Kendall has done.

To help Kendall be on equal footing at Fusion with Greenlee, Zach Slater offers to marry her and give her his shares of Cambias Industries. Over time, Zach and Kendall's relationship turns into deep romantic love and Kendall's friendship with Greenlee begins to mend. Eventually the two become so close that they consider themselves "sisters."

Kendall goes on to have two children. Her first, Spike Lavery, is born on May 31, 2006. He was originally supposed to be Greenlee's biological child and carried by surrogate mother Kendall. However, a power outage caused by Zach forces Kendall to use her own egg during the artificial insemination. She is almost killed when JR Chandler accidentally drops construction supplies on Kendall and her unborn son. Zach comes to consider Spike as his own son, though Kendall shares custody with Ryan and his wife Annie Lavery at the time.

Ian Slater is her son with Zach, and he is conceived during Kendall and Zach's second marriage, in February 2007, while the "Satin Slayer" terrorized Pine Valley. He is born severely premature on July 26, 2007.

In early 2009, Kendall receives a heart transplant after being rendered comatose by a tornado.

2013

On July 8, 2013, Minshew reprised the role of Kendall Hart. On May 1, 2013, Zach reveals that he and Kendall divorced while the show was off the air because the Russian mob wanted a piece of his casino. Kendall was sick of living in fear and wanted her kids to be safe. Bianca is revealed to be taking care of Kendall as something is wrong with her heart again. Kendall urges Bianca to return home and that she is fine.

Reception

ConFusion nightclub

ABC executives decided to capitalize on Kendall's popularity by having the character ponder the idea of a nightclub, and then extend that to real-life events. The series detailed Kendall naming the club ConFusion. Though the "Fusion girls" are shown to love the idea, Babe Carey Chandler does not, for fear that another nearby bar will tempt her alcoholic husband (JR) and send him on yet another destructive path. Kendall goes through with the idea, however, and the nightclub opens its doors to a red carpet event on July 25, 2006. The event is the introduction of real-life pop star Rihanna as one of the show's musical guests. Following her appearance, real-life singer Mary J. Blige makes a cameo appearance at the club on July 28, 2006. Soon after the appearances, the club becomes one of the popular establishments for residents of the series.

The nightclub also manages to acquire several famous real-life reporters, who portray themselves while the residents of Pine Valley walk down the red carpet. Such reporters included Emily Frances (the main entertainment reporter for the WB11 Morning News), Taylor Race (of WPLJ/New York), and America's Next Top Model contestant Toccara Jones, among others, as one of the reporters in a scene where Rihanna walks through on her way to a performance inside of the club.

Of the nightclub ConFusion event, Taylor Race briefly described his Pine Valley town-experience with humor: "If you think you put a lot of time and effort into a bit or break on the radio, think again when it comes to TV – you spend 20 minutes in makeup, just to get the mic flag on TV!" he said, as he sipped his double half-caf, no-foam, extra hot, nonfat, 30% soy latte delivered by his assistant, Serge. "I picked up some serious TSL today in Pine Valley...and a nasty rash too. I'd love to spend more time chatting with you, but the Daytime Emmy people are on Line 7, and Lucci is requesting The Goo Goo Dolls on Line 9. I will tell you that this daytime drama stuff is great – you just make stuff up! Hold on – I'm going to stare at my cell phone for dramatic effect.... OK, that's a wrap! Lunch, everybody! Back on set at 3 pm!"

A few real-related products were presented by the employees of the club, including wheat grass plant (available at Target or online at Amazon.com), George Nelson Lamps (available at Target or online), Panasonic Flatscreen Television (available at Target or online), and Spiegelau Vino Grande Martini Glasses (available at Amazon.com).

Book

In February 2008, executives decided to have Kendall write and sell a book that would also be available in real-life stores, coinciding the fictional and real-life launch dates.

The book is credited as being written by the character. Publishers Weekly said Kendall is "given a novelist's voice", and that the writers who produced the tie-in "[got] it right". The book, titled CHARM!, was released at a price of $15.99, and was successful; it became a bestseller not only within the series but in real life, with Publishers Weekly adding:

The novel's conceit is that the book is Kendall Hart's roman à clef, written to set All My Children's town of Pine Valley on its ear. Kendall Hart's stand-in for this fiction (i.e., the fictional author Kendall's fictional avatar in the novel) is a sweet yet assertive young woman, Avery Wilkins, who runs her own New York–based cosmetics company, Flair, and is launching a new perfume—Charm!—that she hopes will put her on the map. When Avery first founded the company with financial backer Finn Adams, a softhearted smart man she later fell in love with, she never thought that he would die and leave his share of the company to his Paris Hilton–type daughter, Parker. Parker's drug and alcohol binging at late-night glitterati parties endanger the reputation of Flair and its new perfume, and a mysterious phone call to Avery from a manipulative woman claiming to be Avery's mother (a nod to Susan Lucci's character, Erica Kane) throws everything into a heady cloud of smoke. Romance aficionados will find Avery's two love affairs (with a dashing newsmagazine producer and a quick-witted yet sensitive billionaire, natch) intoxicating, but the denouement lacks punch—perhaps because soaps never have to come up with an ending.

See also

• Zach Slater and Kendall Hart

External links

• Kendall Hart at SoapCentral.com