Simone Russell, Passions

Simone Russell (Lena Cardwell (1999–2001), Chrystee Pharris (2001–04), Cathy Jenéen Doe (2004–07))

Simone was the free-spirited youngest daughter of T.C. and Eve Russell. She had spent her life in the shadow of her older sister Whitney, and was often found lacking by her parents. Her early storylines all revolved around her love triangle with Chad Harris-Crane whom she started dating, unaware that he was also dating her sister. When she found out she was so upset she ran out into the street and was hit by a car, ending up in a coma. When she woke up she had amnesia and believed she was still in love with Chad, who played along, pretending to be her boyfriend. They broke up when Simone found out about the lies and that Chad was engaged to her sister. She then briefly dated John Hastings, but it was seldom shown on screen.

Coming out

In the summer of 2005 Simone returned after a few months of absence. Simone, who was believed to be out of town, had been living with Rae. Simone had just realized she was a lesbian when she fell in love with Rae and declared her feelings for her. Rae was only interested in a casual relationship, leaving Simone devastated. When Simone came out to her parents her mother reacted with concern for her daughter’s reputation but accepted her, while her father completely rejected her, beat her and stated he was ashamed to be her father. Simone’s sexuality was regarded as a “badge of shame” by most of the other characters in her family and her great aunt Irma described homosexuality as a sin and called her “vile” and “disgusting”.

Rae disappeared off the show but returned in December of 2005 when Simone’s family found a video in which a man claimed to have hired Rae to seduce Simone and “turn” her into a lesbian. Rae later explained that she was never hired by anyone, but had borrowed money to open a lesbian club. Simone and Rae reconnected and started dating again. Simone also reconciled with her family and after suffering a stroke, her father apologized for his homophobic behavior. In the two years that followed, Rae and Simone had little to do and made few appearances together. The relationship ended in February 2007 when Rae was stabbed to death and Simone left town with her sister to start a new life in New Orleans.

Reception

Passions was the first daytime television series to show two women in bed making love, earning the show a GLAAD award for outstanding drama series in 2006. The scene showed the camera panning to Rae’s feet as the robe she was wearing dropedp to the floor, clearly implying she was wearing nothing underneath. She then climbs into bed with Simone and the two women kissed.

The show also garnered criticism for Rae’s death, Mike Perigard of the Boston Herald believed the death was a way for the show to maintain a low quota of gay characters as a male character had just come out as gay the episode before her death: “Her fate was sealed, in my opinion, when the character of Chad (Charles Divins) was outed as having an affair with a still-unseen man. Three gay characters on a daytime soap – (four if you count the mystery guy)? Not happening. Rae had to go.”

Female love interests:

• Rae Thomas 💀 (Jossara Jinnaro, lesbian, recurring)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Yes

Male love interests:

• John Hastings (Jack Krizmanich, regular)
• Chad-Harris Crane 💀 (Donn Swaby, regular)

Relationship story arc with a man: Yes

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Female (Recurring), 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.