Devon Shepherd, All My Children

Devon Shepherd McFadden (Tricia Pursley)

In 1983, All My Children became the first soap opera to tackle homosexuality. Tricia Pursley portrayed the divorced Devon McFadden. After a failed, unhappy marriage, a series of destructive decisions and an affair which led to alcoholism, Devon returned to the show in 1983, after getting help for her drinking problem, as a single mother struggling to make ends meet.

She took a job at Pine Valley Hospital where she met and started dating a fellow single parent, Dr. Cliff Warner. Their happiness did not last long when Cliff found out his ex-wife, Nina Cortlandt, was single again. Cliff tried to let Devon down gently, but she took the break up hard. She was about to take a drink when she met psychologist Lynn Carson.

Lynn became Devon’s pillar. When Devon found out that Lynn was gay, Devon was sure the affection she was feeling for her was love. Devon was especially jealous of Lynn’s ex-girlfriend. Devon confessed her feelings to Lynn, but Lynn did not reciprocate. In the end, the storyline concluded with Devon still in love with Cliff, having just displaced those feelings on Lynn.

In 1984, realizing she was depending too much on her mother to take care of her daughter, Devon decided it was best if she left her home, to make a new life for herself away from Pine Valley.

Appearances:

• 43 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Lynn Carlson (Donna Pescow, guest 1 episode, 1983)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

Male love interests:

• Dan Kennicott (Daren Kelly, regular)
• Wally McFadden (Jack Magee 1978–1980, Patrick Skelton 1980–1984, regular, ex-husband)
• Sean Cudahy 💀 (Alan Dysert, recurring, 36 episodes)
• Dr. Chuck Tyler (Richard Van Vleet, regular)

Relationship story arc with a man: Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Male (Regular)

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.