Whitney makes her first appearance as the adopted daughter of her legal guardian
Bianca Jackson (
Patsy Palmer) alongside Bianca's young biological daughter
Tiffany Dean (
Maisie Smith) and her two brothers
Liam Butcher (James Forde) and
Morgan Jackson-King (Devon Higgs). As Whitney settles herself in
Walford with her family, they get reacquainted with Bianca's boyfriend
Tony King (
Chris Coghill) following his release from prison. When Whitney and Tony reunite in her bedroom, they kiss and Tony tells Whitney their relationship is back on and that they will move away together. It is then revealed that Tony is a paedophile who has been sexually abusing Whitney by grooming her since she was 12. When Bianca harangues him about the prospect of marriage, he gives her Whitney's money to put a down-payment on a flat. When Whitney and her classmate
Peter Beale (
Thomas Law) are cast in a school play, Tony is secretly envious of them rehearsing in private and punches Peter out of jealously. Whitney convinces Peter and his sister
Lucy (
Melissa Suffield) not to report the attack to the police, but Tony blames her for the incident and ends their affair. Devastated when Tony accepts Bianca's marriage proposal, Whitney locks herself in her bedroom. Bianca takes her away on holiday, attempting to mend their relationship. When they return, Tony and Whitney share a passionate kiss, and Tony informs Whitney that their relationship is back on. When Tony begins grooming Whitney's friend
Lauren Branning (
Madeline Duggan) into harbouring romantic feelings for him, Whitney becomes jealous and demands Tony to focus on her rather than Lauren. Tony loses interest in Whitney but on the day she turns sixteen, Whitney confesses her relationship with Tony to Bianca. Horrified, she confronts Tony and realises that he has been abusing Whitney all along. She calls the police and Tony is arrested, to Whitney's dismay and outrage. In the build-up to Tony's trial, Whitney contacts her biological mother
Debra Dean (
Ruth Gemmell) and tries to discuss the past; however, Debra is not interested and rejects her. Debra later tells Whitney she has a half-brother,
Ryan Malloy (
Neil McDermott). Whitney tries to take back her statement against Tony but after Whitney's barrister sees her mobile phone containing the messages from Tony, he is sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment. Whitney falls in love with
Connor Stanley (
Arinze Kene), but their relationship ends when Whitney finds out that Connor has been two-timing with her and Bianca's mother
Carol (
Lindsey Coulson). She decides to move out and stays with Ricky's sister and Ryan's wife
Janine Butcher (
Charlie Brooks). After Whitney sees Janine successfully pickpocket someone, she decides to try it herself – but ends up being hit in the face. Whitney is approached by
Rob Grayson (
Jody Latham), who helps her and buys her food before returns her to Albert Square; he also gives Whitney his phone number before she returns home. Whitney contacts Rob and asks to stay with him – to which he accepts. She throws her phone away and tells nobody that she is going. Janine lies about Whitney's whereabouts but when she admits she does not know where Whitney is, Lauren (now played by
Jacqueline Jossa) and Janine attempt to find her, and Lauren sees her in Dartford going into a club. Lauren goes back with her to her bedsit, but Whitney does not want to go, saying she and Rob are in love. Whitney has sex with a man called
Chris (Richard Simons) and it is revealed that Whitney has been having sex with Rob's friends to pay off his debts to them. Rob locks her in a room so she breaks the window and escapes, stopping a car and asking for help. The following month, she sends Lauren a message and meets her outside the police station, as she has been arrested for shoplifting. When Whitney starts a relationship with a man named
Lee (Mitchell Hunt), it is revealed that he is a friend of Rob's, and when Whitney agrees to meet Lee by text, Rob takes control of Lee's mobile phone. She allows Rob to take her home but then tells him to wait outside while she escapes through the back door and hitches a lift to
Southend-on-Sea with friends. Rob finds her and
Fatboy (
Ricky Norwood) calls Ryan to help, who fights with Rob on the pier. The pair fall in and Rob dies. Whitney and Fatboy begin a relationship, but she soon feels smothered by Fatboy's affections and falls for
Tyler Moon (Tony Discipline), who she begins dating after admitting to Fatboy that she does not like him romantically. Whitney and Tyler plan to get their own home and he soon proposes to Whitney; she accepts. She receives a letter from Tony, asking Whitney to visit him in prison. Whitney visits but is told that he has committed suicide. Trying to come to terms with Tony's death, she goes out for lunch with Tyler, but they argue which leads to Whitney ending their engagement.
Joey Branning (
David Witts) comforts her and the pair have sex. She tells Tyler, who leaves Walford. Whitney later sets her sights on
Johnny Carter (
Sam Strike), unaware that he is gay. Johnny's parents,
Mick (
Danny Dyer) and
Linda Carter (
Kellie Bright), hope that Johnny and Whitney will become an item, but his sister
Nancy Carter (
Maddy Hill) reveals to them that he is gay. A few weeks later, Johnny comes out to Whitney, which hurts her as she feels that Johnny has been using her. They later become good friends and Whitney forgives Johnny. When Johnny's elder brother,
Lee Carter (
Danny-Boy Hatchard), returns from serving in Afghanistan, Whitney takes an instant liking to him and they share a kiss. After they begin a relationship, she moves into the
Queen Vic pub with the Carters. Lee develops depression, and when Whitney finds out, she struggles to support him. Whitney later thanks Mick for helping her with Lee, but accidentally kisses him on the lips in the process. Whitney is forced by
Babe Smith (
Annette Badland) to tell Lee about her kissing Mick, and although Nancy tells her to move out, Lee's response is to propose marriage. When they are both diagnosed with chlamydia,
Abi Branning (
Lorna Fitzgerald) confesses that she and Lee had sex, which is how it got transmitted to them. Whitney initially ends their relationship and considers leaving Walford, but later decides to give him another chance. Whitney learns that she is pregnant but suffers
spotting and is taken to hospital with Lee, Linda and Mick, where the bleeding gets heavier. A scan shows Whitney has miscarried her baby, devastating her and Lee. Whitney marries Lee but the pair soon begin arguing over money. She finds his wage slip showing how little he earns. A bus crashes into the market and Whitney is trapped underneath it. She is rescued, and in hospital she talks to Mick about her marriage. He comforts her and she kisses him again, which is seen by
Denise Fox (
Diane Parish). Whitney decides to organise a night out and pawns her wedding ring for cash. Lee discovers what she has done and they start arguing. When Whitney says he doesn't deserve her, Lee slaps her in the face. She decides to give Lee another chance on the condition that he will never assault her again, and he agrees; however, on Valentine's Day, Lee leaves Whitney, leaving a handwritten note on their bed saying he no longer loves her. He returns the following day, apologising to Whitney for his actions and tells her of his plans to move away. Whitney grows close to new bar manager
Woody Woodward (
Lee Ryan). Lee wants a divorce and she receives a letter from Lee's solicitor, citing her unreasonable behaviour as grounds for the divorce. Whitney and Woody kiss and have sex and Mick finds them in bed together. Mick finds items that Whitney has shoplifted and she says she should never have married Lee as she is damaged and only good for sex. When Whitney is depressed and vulnerable, Mick kisses her, to which she responds. When
Shirley Carter (
Linda Henry) finds out about the kiss, she orders Whitney to leave. Whitney returns two months later. She moves back into the Queen Vic and takes back her barmaid job. Whitney reveals that she is engaged to Woody and asks Mick to give her away at their wedding. Linda throws her out after she realises that she is the person Mick kissed. When Woody is offered a job in Spain as a bar manager, he asks Whitney to come with him and she accepts. However, at the last minute, Whitney discovers a note outside the tube station from Woody saying that she is better to remain in Walford. Tiffany arranges a date between Whitney and
Callum "Halfway" Highway (
Tony Clay), but Whitney leaves the date after being put off by his behaviour. However, she warms to him and they begin a relationship, eventually trying for a baby. Whitney and Halfway become engaged and during their respective stag and hen parties, Halfway confesses to having kissed
Ben Mitchell (
Max Bowden). Whitney insists that she loves Halfway, but jilts him at the altar and encourages him not to live a lie with his sexuality. Whitney returns from a solo honeymoon and announces that she has met another man. The man is revealed to be
Leo (Tom Wells), who, unbeknownst to Whitney, is the son of Tony. Leo takes Whitney to a hotel and Tiffany asks Bianca who Leo is. Once she finds out he is Tony's son, she calls Whitney to tell her, and she and Halfway rush to the hotel to find her. Whitney tries to leave the hotel room but Leo does not let her, yelling at her to admit that she and Bianca had made up the story that Tony had abused Whitney. She agrees to tell him the truth and goes on to explain what really happened – that Tony did abuse her as a child and that she has finally accepted that it was not her fault. They fight, but she is able to leave. Leo starts stalking Whitney, telling her he believes her about Tony and that he loves her because of their both having a connection to Tony. Whitney agrees to speak with him and he tells her he wants to continue their relationship. Whitney tells him that will never happen. He then opens a stall at the market to be close to Whitney and goes on a date with
Dotty Cotton (
Milly Zero), imagining that she is Whitney. Whitney starts writing down everything that Leo does as evidence. Leo is then arrested; whilst celebrating in public, she steps out onto a balcony and sees Leo. She rushes to call the police but Leo arrives on the balcony and pushes her, causing her to drop her phone.
Kush Kazemi (
Davood Ghadami) arrives and seeing Leo has got hold of Whitney, saves her and accidentally pushes Leo which causes him to fall off the balcony. Leo survives and Kush gets arrested, so Whitney pretends to want to get back together with Leo so that he will drop the charges against Kush. Leo agrees to not press charges, but he finds her evidence notebook in her bag which he takes. Whitney agrees to meet with Leo and he takes her to Tony's grave where he pushes her into the ground, forcing her to apologise to Tony. He then takes her to the Queen Vic, where he forces her to announce to everyone that she has been lying about Tony abusing her and that she has made it up as a teen for attention. Everyone stands up for Whitney, knowing she is just being forced to tell them that, and Leo leaves. Whitney thinks he is gone but unbeknownst to her, he hides in her bedroom attic and is spying on her through a hole in the ceiling of her room. Leo appears in her room with a knife. Whitney tries to escape by throwing a jewellery box at him but she realises that the doors in the house are locked. She pushes him in the kitchen and he is seemingly knocked out before jumping up again and assaulting Whitney. She grabs the knife in defence and he accidentally falls on it, to his death. Whitney calls Mick for help and he tells her they are going to the boat party for an alibi. Mick washes the knife and Whitney puts it in her purse. When the boat crashes, Whitney confesses to murdering Leo and tells the police she killed someone, showing them the knife in her bag. She is later brought to the police station.
Gray Atkins (
Toby-Alexander Smith) offers to represent Whitney and she is questioned by police who are doubtful as to why she would have gone to the boat party if she had killed Leo in self-defence. Whitney struggles in prison in the days leading up to her bail hearing, during which she is denied bail. She decides to go on a hunger strike and hallucinates, hearing Tony's voice, seeing herself as a child and warning herself about Tony. She then collapses and is taken to hospital, where Gray later informs her that he found evidence that Leo had been hiding in her house and spying on her for weeks. She is then given bail. Leo's mother,
Michaela (
Fiona Allen), confronts her and turns on Whitney, blaming her and getting people to harass her online. Whitney is kidnapped at knifepoint by Michaela and taken to a locked room. Michaela is still convinced that Whitney is to blame for Leo's death and wants her to confess. Whitney's secret phone ring and she is quickly able to cry for help as
Max Branning (
Jake Wood) listens on the other line. Whitney is eventually found to be not guilty. Whitney takes time to recover from her ordeal and an unexpected kiss with Kush on Valentine's Day 2021 leads to the pair beginning a relationship. The pair quickly become engaged and have an unofficial ceremony in the square. Gray becomes jealous and when Whitney and Kush plan to leave Walford with Kush's son
Arthur Fowler Jnr, he takes advantage of Whitney taking Arthur to the toilet to confront Kush. Kush discovers that Gray is a murderer and the pair have a physical fight which results in Kush being killed by an oncoming train. Whitney is left devastated by Kush's death and blames the Mitchell family, believing that they are to blame for Kush's death. On the day that Callum marries Ben, a bereaved Whitney gets into a car and tries to run over Ben and his father
Phil Mitchell (
Steve McFadden) but accidentally hits her friend
Kat Slater (
Jessie Wallace) instead who is hospitalised. Later in the year, Whitney begins to suspect that Gray has killed his wife
Chantelle Atkins (
Jessica Plummer) to whom Whitney had befriended. She grows concerned for the well-being of Gray's second wife
Chelsea Atkins (
Zaraah Abrahams) and warns her off marrying Gray. Chelsea is pregnant with their son
Jordan Atkins and fears being a single mum. She works with
Kheerat Panesar and eventually finds evidence on an online forum that Chantelle has been using which proves that Gray had abused her. On Christmas Day 2021, the day of Gray and Chelsea's wedding, Whitney shows Chelsea the evidence and although Chelsea hesitates, she goes through with the wedding. A few months later, Gray is finally exposed and Chelsea sees his true colours. Whitney and Chelsea become housemates and good friends. They are later joined by
Felix Baker (Matthew Morrison) and his brother
Finlay Baker (Ashley Byam). Although initially attracted to Finlay, he rejects her attempt to kiss him. Whitney has a
one night stand with
Zack Hudson (
James Farrar) and she finds out she is pregnant on her 30th birthday. She confides in Chelsea and worries about whether Zack is the right man to be in a relationship with. When he is offered a job on a cruise ship, she hides her disappointment and is pleased when he stays. Their daughter is diagnosed with
Edwards syndrome and they are told that she will not survive after birth. Zack and Whitney make the heartbreaking decision to end her pregnancy on 2 March 2023, and name their baby Peach as she was the size of a
peach at the time of termination. Zack and Whitney begin a legitimate relationship in their grief, plant a tree in the allotments in Peach's memory, and later decide to become foster parents. They foster a young boy named Ashton over Christmas 2023 and struggle when he is moved away. Not long after, Whitney discovers that she is pregnant again and decides to keep this from her adoptive aunt
Sonia Fowler (
Natalie Cassidy) who is also trying for a baby but had not been unsuccessful. Although Sonia is hurt that Whitney bud her pregnancy from her, they soon make amends. Whitney and Zack visit Bianca in Milton Keynes in early 2024 when she splits up from
Terry Spraggan (
Terry Alderton) and leaves
Penny Branning (
Kitty Castledine) in charge of her stall. Whilst there, she bonds with twelve year old
Britney Wainwright (Lola Campbell). Whitney sees a lot of herself in Britney and is disgusted to find her mother is a drug addict, that Britney has been eating from bins and has not attended school in years. Whitney angrily confronts Britney's mother Keeley and is hit by an oncoming car - however, Whitney and the baby are unharmed. Whitney is eager to give Britney stability and a home. Zack and Whitney argue over Britney so he leaves to go back to Walford whilst Whitney decides to foster Britney without going through the system. Instead, she pays Keeley several thousand pounds to take care of Britney herself but keeps this from Zack. She initially tells him that she fostered her legally and when he finds out, the pair have an argument in which Whitney fiercely tells him that she will always put Britney over Zack. Heartbroken, Zack sleeps with Lauren who had not long returned to Walford. Out of guilt for how she treated Zack, Whitney proposes to him in the Queen Vic and he accepts. Bianca, who is visiting her family in Walford, finds out that Zack cheated on Whitney and pressures him to tell the truth but he is unable to go through with it. On Whitney's hen night, Lauren and Whitney are locked in a van and she nearly tells Whitney herself but Whitney then goes into labour. Bianca rescues the pair and Whitney calls Bianca "mum" for the first time. Whitney gives birth to
Dolly Dean-Hudson but at the hospital, Britney overhears Zack and Lauren talking about their one night stand. Whitney's wedding day soon arrives and whilst Whitney is saying her vows, Britney reveals the truth about Zack and Lauren and a raging Whitney attacks Lauren with her bouquet. Whitney is aware that she is being gossiped about and Zack tries to win her round. She refuses to reconcile with Zack and ends her long-standing friendship with Lauren. Sonia encourages Whitney to make peace with Lauren whilst Zack's sister
Sharon Watts (
Letitia Dean) also tries to encourage Zack to win Whitney back to no avail. Whitney then realises that she has wasted her whole life relying on a man and plans to make a fresh start from Walford as a single mum to Britney and Dolly. One last curveball is thrown at Whitney when Zack informs her that Bianca was also aware of his infidelity - initially, Whitney had agreed to live with Bianca but the loss of trust between them results in Whitney reaffirming her desire to raise her daughters on her own. She has a heart to heart with Callum where he praises her for her strength and courage. Whitney eventually visits Lauren and tells her that she does not want a feud. And even though Lauren is genuinely sorry for what she has done, Whitney is unwilling to forgive her and laments the end of their friendship. Whitney meets up with Zack one last time, where she takes partial responsibility for the end of their relationship, surmising that their love for each other was not strong enough for either of them, but admits that she will never regret the time they had together. When Zack asks Whitney if he can see Dolly again, she promises to allow this, assuring him that he will be a great father, and allows him to say goodbye to Dolly. The residents throw a big farewell party for Whitney in the pub where there is a slide show showing photos of Whitney and her friends and family over the last sixteen years. Whitney bids a final farewell to Sonia, Stacey, Chelsea and Felix before she boards a bus with Britney and Dolly as they head to
Wakefield to live with Ryan. ==Reception==