Reese Williams and Bianca Montgomery

Writing and portrayals Eden Riegel was cast in 2000 as Bianca Montgomery, the lesbian daughter of Erica Kane. Riegel left the role and returned several times, before permanently retiring from the role in 2010. She attributed her 2008 return to the wishes of her fans. Through the web presence she created for herself during her web series Imaginary Bitches, fans let her know how much they wanted her back on the show. "I definitely wanted to fulfill that desire if I could," she said. Riegel addressed specific reasons she made the return. "It was the storyline that got me excited," she said. "I always want to come back. I love All My Children, and they're my family. I barely need an excuse—it's usually just about timing." Riegel added that "this time it was the fact that they were going to have Bianca in a committed relationship". The atmosphere was different for Reese and Bianca's relationship. Braun said in an interview with Shewired.com that she would not have been able to portray the character as well back then because Reese is so affectionate. "This character is warm and open and for me to play a woman who's in love, it's important for me to be able to express that," she said. "Perhaps that's one of the reasons they wanted me to play this." negating Bianca's previous true love Maggie. When asked how she felt Bianca and Maggie (BAM) fans would respond to the Reese and Bianca pairing, Riegel stated, "I'm pretty sure BAM fans will never be entirely satisfied until they have their two favorite girls together forever. But Lizzie's [Elizabeth Hendrickson] been so successful on Y&R [as Chloe Mitchell ], and is so obviously happy there, I am hoping they are able to embrace this pairing for the time being." Wardrobe ''All My Children's wardrobe director, David R. Zyla, collaborated with Braun in creating the wardrobe for the Reese Williams character. The two had worked together before when Braun portrayed Carly Corinthos on General Hospital''. While bringing their ideas together, they tried to make sure they did not make Reese into too much of a cliché. "I like that she goes from really strong pants with a buttoned shirt and tie, which is so on trend but is also just great style, to wearing dresses," Braun said. Reese's wardrobe goes back and forth between the two different types of style which allows Braun and Zyla to play with her fashion. "She's an architect, so to me, I would think she has a real eye for lines," said Braun. "She appreciates form and beauty, and the look we came up with I would describe as 'streamlined with a flair'." For Reese and Bianca's wedding, the dresses of the brides were chosen to complement each other by featuring "a long, lean, Grecian flowy feeling". As Bianca, Riegel was dressed in a Monique Lhuillier one shoulder sari-inspired dress with gold beading. Her shoes were gold Aldos. Reese's dress was designed to fit her style as an architect. Her dress was designed by Andrew Gn. It was "a fit to flair" which featured center beading applique and the shoes she wore were off white. The characters' family, including their daughter Gabrielle, were "dressed in the wedding's color palette: deep red." Haley Evans, who portrays the flower girl and Bianca's daughter Miranda Montgomery, wore a red velvet Lucy Sykes dress. Bianca's mother, Erica's red dress was designed by Gustavo Cadile. ==Storylines==

Most of Bianca and Reese's relationship takes place offscreen in Paris, where they live with Bianca's daughter Miranda Montgomery. They decide they want to expand their family with another baby. Zach Slater comes to Paris and meets Reese. He agrees to be their sperm donor, Reese and Bianca decide to have a commitment ceremony in Pine Valley and to get married later in Paris, since gay marriage is not yet legal in Pennsylvania where Pine Valley is located. Those plans change as they plan to legally marry in Connecticut. They set their wedding date on Valentine's Day. Bianca's cousin, Greenlee Smythe, also plans to marry her former husband, Ryan Lavery, on that same day. The two couples arrange for a double wedding. Bianca finds out that Reese was once engaged to a man and that she is Reese's first lesbian partner. She is hurt Reese did not tell her this. She also becomes increasingly insecure in their relationship as she sees her fiance getting closer with Zach. Bianca decides to test Reese's love for her. She tells Zach and Reese that she will be leaving town, but she secretly stays to spy on them. When Bianca witnesses Zach and Reese in an embrace as Zach gives Reese a kiss to the forehead, she believes Reese is cheating on her and flees. She ends up in a car accident soon afterward, but suffers no serious injuries. Zach and Reese rush to the hospital to see Bianca, and Bianca explains that she saw them embracing. She asks if they are in love. Zach and Reese say no. Despite this, Bianca is furious with Reese and does not want to talk with her. Reese frustratedly leaves the hospital and sends Bianca a note saying she plans to leave. After reading the note, Bianca hurries home to convince Reese to stay; she says that she loves her and knows that she is not romantically interested in Zach. Reese says that she would not have left, regardless. Zach and Reese continue to bond, and Reese and Bianca continue planning their wedding. However, tragedy strikes when Kendall and Bianca's brother, Josh Madden, is killed by Zach after Josh has taken Reese and his family members hostage. Zach is determined to have Josh's heart be donated to Kendall, who needs a heart transplant to save her life. Erica, the siblings' mother, makes the painful decision to take Josh off life support and donate his heart to Kendall. Kendall awakes from her coma days after her transplant. She is told of having been recently comatose, about her heart transplant, that Josh is dead and she has his heart, and of Bianca's engagement to Reese. Kendall is naturally overwhelmed by all the news, but handles it well. When she is told of Zach having fathered Bianca's second child, she seems numb to this news also. Her family had thought she would take this particular news badly, but Kendall seems okay with it. Greenlee (Kendall's best friend) and Erica, however, are the only ones to believe that Kendall is not okay with Zach being the father. Kendall moves back home not long after being awake from her coma. Reese can sense that Kendall is uneasy with her and Bianca living there. She talks with Kendall alone, but it is apparent that Kendall is distant. After their conversation, Reese leaves the room and Zach comes in. Kendall tells Zach that she wants Reese and Bianca out of their home. Zach later obliges Kendall's wishes and sets Reese and Bianca up at his casino to stay. Reese and Bianca get into a fight while there, but later reconcile. The day before Reese and Bianca's wedding, Kendall refuses to attend the ceremony. Zach tries to convince her to change her mind, saying that she is acting childish, but Kendall explains that he and Bianca betrayed her. Bianca receives word that Kendall will not be coming to her wedding and immediately rushes to Kendall's home to insist she attend. Kendall says that she will only come to the wedding as long as Bianca promises to leave for Paris soon afterward and take Reese and baby Gabrielle with her. Bianca reluctantly agrees. Later that night, Reese and Bianca have a wedding rehearsal. Kendall picks up a wine glass and makes a snarky toast to Reese and Bianca but particularly to Reese. Reese becomes upset; she grabs a bottle of wine, a glass, and walks off. Bianca follows her, but Reese wants to be alone. Zach later finds Reese and consoles her. He pulls her into a hug and then kisses her passionately; Reese kisses back. After a few moments, with Ryan having witnessed their kiss, unknown to them, they agree that the kiss never happened and that they already have people they are deeply in love with. Ryan later confronts Zach about the kiss, but Zach says it was nothing and nonchalantly walks away from Ryan. On their wedding day, Reese and Bianca are blissfully happy before the ceremony. Bianca feels that maybe she should stay in Pine Valley. She later tells her mother this and says that she will stay, which Kendall overhears and subsequently decides not to attend the wedding after all. Without Kendall, Reese and Bianca exchange wedding vows on February 12, 2009. Ryan, however, has called off his wedding with Greenlee after seeing Zach and Reese kiss. He tells Greenlee that he knows Zach and Reese have been sleeping together and that he does not want to be married next to them, but he promises her that he will give her the wedding of her dreams. Greenlee then tries to get in touch with Zach; she wants to know if he has really been having an affair with Reese. When Greenlee cannot get in touch with Zach, she drives off on her motorcycle in search of him. Also on the road are Zach and Kendall in a car arguing. Kendall ends up in the wrong lane and nearly hits Greenlee. Both try to swerve out of the other's way, leaving Greenlee to drive off the road. When Greenlee's body is not found, she is presumed dead. Reese, Bianca and others soon find out about Greenlee being missing. Ryan tells Bianca that Zach and Reese have been engaging in a sexual relationship with each other. Bianca goes to Reese to tell her that their relationship and marriage is over. She later sends Reese annulment papers, and returns to Paris with Miranda and Gabrielle. On April 24, 2009, Bianca comes back to Pine Valley after having discussed with Zach the reasons she left. After later talking over her and Reese's relationship problems with Zach and Kendall, the couple reconcile and hope that they can work their relationship out. They return to Paris together with their children, and later remarry. In 2010, Bianca returns to Pine Valley for a family emergency, and soon wants to stay. After Reese decides that she is not coming back to Pine Valley, Bianca decides to end their marriage for good and now is single. == Reception and impact ==

First same-sex marriage and critical praise Reese and Bianca are the first same-sex couple to become engaged for marriage on an American soap opera. (Within the show, the wedding took place on February 12, 2009, Valentine's Day.) Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) president Neil G. Giuliano released a statement in honor of the milestone: In addition, All My Children was nominated for a GLAAD Award in January 2009. The wedding event was featured on CNN on February 16, 2009 following the continuation of the February 13, 2009 episode. The CNN report featured positive and negative thoughts about the wedding. The View discussed the wedding the following day, and relayed that angry letters had been sent to them about the wedding. Regardless of this, they applauded ABC for featuring the ceremony. Criticism and controversy Gabrielle Montgomery In October 2008, with Bianca's return to the series during a series of tornadoes striking fictional town Pine Valley, Bianca was reported to be pregnant with her second child. Fans immediately began speculating on who the sperm donor was, which caught the attention of soap opera press, LGBT press, and other media outlets. TV Guide reported that "nobody knows [Bianca's] in town until her brother-in-law finds her under the rubble". SOAPnet.com stated, "The physical of the tornado are compared to the ripples Bianca's presence creates." Bianca's reasons for asking Zach to be the donor and doing so without informing her sister and Zach's wife, Kendall Hart Slater, infuriated viewers. This gave the series a chance to explain Bianca's return to the audience, as they saw Bianca, clearly pregnant, sit beside Zach. "Zach agreed to be Bianca's [sperm] donor, but she failed to tell him that the pregnancy took," explained Riegel. This perception was intensified once Reese was revealed by the series to have been engaged to a man just a couple of months before becoming romantically involved with Bianca. The audience had experienced sexual confusion storylines before with other former love interests of Bianca's, most notably Maggie, and were hoping that this love story would be without such confusion. The program stated that while "it is good" for All My Children to feature a same-sex wedding, they have not been impressed by the love story and that a show's producer should have more control over the way a character behaves. "I was led to believe we had her for longer than we really did—suddenly I got word that Eden is leaving now," stated Pratt. Fans "retaliated" against Pratt's comments about Riegel and the storyline. In Season 1, Episode 1 of the parody, viewed on YouTube, a fictional Carruthers has to tell Pratt that there are "fans" who become emotionally invested in the show. The fictional Pratt asks, "Who are Bianca and Reese?" and "We have lesbians on our show?" The series, described as tongue-in-cheek, concludes its first episode with the animated Pratt announcing that he has devised a plan to blame the failed storyline on Riegel as he urges Carruthers to call TV Guide to arrange an interview. ==See also==