Show: All My Children
Character Status: Regular
Endgame: None
Orientation: Lesbian
Show Status: Over
Tropes: All Lesbians have Kids, But not too gay, Dead Love Interest, Lesbian with a Man, Sexual Assault, Tortured
Introduced in: 2000-2001 / Final season: 2009-2010
Appeared in seasons: 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010
Bianca was one of the long-term regular characters on soap opera All My Children. She came out as a lesbian at 16 to her mother, a former model and Cosmetics Mogul – it did not go well. She was the first lead character on a major daytime drama to be a lesbian. In a Variety interview, executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers spoke of Bianca’s character development: “We did not tell a story about a lesbian. We told a story about a young girl coming out and her life around it. That was a big lesson to all of us here. It’s really all about the story. If you can make people care on a human level, it’s not sexual preference. It’s about the human experience.”
Sarah was Bianca’s 1st girlfriend, when she was 16. Bianca was anorexic, and she met Sarah in rehab. When she returned home, she came out to her mother, who did not accept it. Sarah’s family also disapproved, and to appease them she got engaged to a man.
Frankie was her 2nd girlfriend and a con artist, who came to Pine Valley as part of a ploy to distract Bianca and instead fell in love with her target and was as a result murdered by one of her aunt’s henchmen. Due to Frankie’s popularity and fan backlash after her death, the show introduced Frankie’s twin sister Maggie, who became friends with Bianca, often defending her when she was bullied by homophobic classmates.
Despite Maggie originally identifying as heterosexual, she showed a romantic interest in Bianca which was reciprocated; however, initially, their relationship did not progress past friendship and Bianca began dating Lena.
Lena was Bianca’s co-worker at her mother’s company, and an industrial spy, who used Bianca to try and steal cosmetics formulas. However, as Lena began spending time with Bianca she found herself falling in love with her. Lena then refused to continue the manipulation, but was blackmailed by Michael (her partner) into following through with the takeover. Lena eventually decided to leave town rather than betray Bianca and told her the truth about her earlier scheme. She informed Bianca that she could never see her again, though Bianca followed Lena to the airport. On April 23, 2003, the two characters shared the first same-sex kiss in American soap opera history.
The physical aspects of Lena and Bianca’s romance were heavily downplayed by the series, and as a final obstacle, in July 2003, Bianca was raped by Michael, and discovered she was pregnant as a result of the rape. AfterEllen then-editor Sarah Warn stated that it was a way to assure Bianca’s continued asexuality: “the pregnant-lesbian storyline” is a favorite refuge for television writers who both want to avoid dealing with the sexual aspects of lesbian relationships and who want to “normalize” the lesbian characters — “to show viewers that, at their core, lesbians are just like heterosexual women — who of course, all want to be mothers.”
Following that storyline (and a subsequent coma), Lena decided to return to Poland, and ended her relationship with Bianca (at which point they shared their 3rd on screen kiss).
Bianca realized she was still in love with Maggie and saved her from an abusive relationship. Though the nature of Bianca and Maggie’s relationship was not specified, they, along with Bianca’s daughter Miranda, relocate to Paris in 2005 where they become lovers (off-screen) and are happy together until 2007, when Bianca returns to Pine Valley alone. She states Maggie cheated on her with another woman. Maggie followed her, hoping for reconciliation, but despite loving her, Bianca declined.
Bianca then met Zarf, a male international rock star who fell in love with her. His romantic feelings for Bianca caused Zarf to come out as a transgender lesbian named Zoe, and Bianca reciprocated her feelings. Zoe later told her that at that point in her transition process, a romantic relationship between them would not be best, and instead moved to London. Bianca decided to move to Paris to be closer to Zoe, but returned on December 26, 2007 for a brief visit, and revealed that she and Zoe drifted apart.
Reese and Bianca met off-screen in Paris, where the majority of their relationship took place, also off-screen. They were introduced in October 2008, when a pregnant Bianca (via artificial insemination) came back to Pine Valley, and their relationship featured the first same-sex marriage proposal, as well as the first legal same-sex wedding and marriage, on an American soap opera, although Reese cheated on Bianca on the day of the wedding, and Bianca had their marriage annulled and returned to Paris. They later reconciled and remarried, and their marriage ended a second time when Bianca decided to return to Pine Valley permanently.
Bianca hired Marissa to be her divorce attorney and developed romantic feelings for her, which Marissa initially rejected, saying she was straight. Marissa, feeling uncomfortable, ended up sleeping with JR, her ex-husband who was trying to win her back, although she was shown thinking about Bianca, and eventually admitted her feelings for Bianca and they kissed. Bianca pulled away during the kiss, called it a mistake, and explained that all her relationships had been a dead end – that, in the end, she always ended up losing her lover and best friend.
Bianca walked in as Marissa was telling JR that she wanted Bianca. Marissa confessed to both Bianca and JR that she was in love with Bianca. In the following weeks, Bianca and Marissa started dating, much to JR’s fury, and discussed finding a house and moving in together with their children.
In 2013, it was revealed Marissa was shot and killed in a drunken rage by JR, at a party she attended with Bianca.
Bianca was seen visiting Marissa’s grave and updating her on Marissa’s nephew/adopted son AJ, and Bianca’s own daughter Miranda, whom they had planned to raise together. Bianca told Marissa that they were meant to be together and that she would never stop missing her. Bianca ended up leaving Pine Valley after JR woke up from a coma.
Relationship story arc with a woman: Yes
Relationship story arc with a man: No
Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? Yes (rape)
Storyline during sweeps? No
[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.
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