Billie
Reed is the daughter of Kate Roberts and Curtis Reed. She has a full
brother, Austin Reed, and two half-brothers: Lucas Roberts and
Phillip Kiriakis. She is the wife of Bo Brady, and mother of the
deceased Georgia Brady. Billie began her tenure as a sweet,
streetwise, spunky heroine who wouldn't let life keep her down. She
was the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold, although she wasn't a
hooker but a former porn actress. Finally escaping her demons, Billie
lost the man she loved to his ex-wife. Billie then transformed, and
stopped at nothing to win back the love of Bo Brady. She even went as
far as to use her dead child as ammunition.
In
the fall of 1992, Billie flew into Salem surprising, not only
viewers, but even her own older brother, Austin. Austin had been
quite worried for some time about a particular "her" who had gone
missing. As it turned out, "she" was Billie, who had run away from a
drug rehab center in Boston where Austin had been keeping her. Up
until now, Billie and Austin had led very rough street lives. Along
the way, Billie had done some questionable things, among them getting
involved with drugs. Although she swore Austin that she was clean, we
knew better. Almost as soon as Billie met Austin's gambling partner,
Tim Rollins, she became involved with drugs once again. Tim
encouraged her drug habit by procuring cocaine, heroin, and ecstasy.
On one particular evening, Tim and Billie attended a party at which
she tried to score some ecstasy. Unbeknownst to her, the dealer was
an undercover cop! The party was busted, and so was Billie. Upon
being arrested, she met officer Bo Brady and became smitten with him.
Billie got off rather easy and tried to stay away from Tim and his
shady gambling ring. Soon after, her past began to catch up with her
however. Certain shady characters were aware of secrets from Billie's
past and were willing to use them to attain their goals...
At the time, Austin had been boxing nights, trying to make ends meet. He had fallen into the influences of a gambling ring that orchestrated the boxing matches in order to win money. This ring also dealt drugs and laundered money. When Austin tried to stop boxing and throwing fights the ring went after Billie. In the past, Billie had appeared in several porno films directed by fellow Salemite Phillip Collier. At one point, Billie sought police protection from her mysterious enemies and Bo Brady was assigned. Even though Billie was obviously interested in Bo, he was engaged to Dr. Carly Manning. Nevertheless, she and Bo struck up a friendship, which was strengthened by Billie's ability to support Bo following the death of his sister, Isabella.
In the meantime, Billie kicked her drug habit. She tried to turn her life around by getting a decent watering job at Casey's Roadhouse and by moving in with Austin's girlfriend, Carrie Brady. However, she managed to convince Austin to continue fighting in order to keep her past in the closet. The only person who knew about it was Phillip, who wouldn't dream of telling anyone. Phillip was now the producer of the Jennifer Deveraux show and engaged to Kimberly Brady; to tell that he'd produced pornos would mean the end of his career. For now, Billie was safe.
But her lucky streak would soon be challenged by a new, and somewhat amusing (if not unbearably convoluted), situation. Tony Becker, an old friend of Billie's, had recently been arrested and facing a couple of months in jail. Tony asked Billie to hide $100,000 that he'd acquired while he was in prison, for safekeeping. Billie agreed, and decided to hide the money in an old barn outside of Salem. Of course, not without taking some money for herself. Meanwhile, Austin was facing yet another desperate situation with the gambling ring. He was ordered to throw a major fight -- a fight that would reward the victor with $50,000! Austin was sick of throwing fights and decided against doing so with this one, but Billie told him not to. Gus Bartoli, one of the honchos in the ring, had already made threats against Billie and Austin. Billie finally convinced Austin to go ahead and throw the fight. He almost did, until Carrie cheered him on and caused him to win. Billie knew this wouldn't sit well with Gus and urged Austin to leave Salem. In addition to Gus and his ring, there was the threat of the police finding out that Austin was involved with the illegal gambling ring -- Tim had been arrested in connection to the ring and warned Austin to get him out of jail or he'd go down with him. Billie decided to spring Tim with Tony's money and then get out of town. But it was too late. Gus and his men got to Austin and nearly beat the life out of him, sending him to the hospital with severe injuries. Austin managed to come out of it okay, but it was enough to put a nervous streak down Billie's back.
Yet the problems for Billie were never-ending. Soon after this, she went to check on Tony's money to discover that it was gone! She put an ad in The Spectator hoping to get a clue as to who found it, unaware that it was Jack Deveraux himself who'd literally stumbled upon her stash of dough. On top of this little dilemma, Billie's life was once again at risk after Abe Carver was shot at the Salem docks following a rough drug deal. In investigating the shooting, Bo questioned Billie about the pier. Who usually ran the pier? Whose turf was it? Billie knew darned well whose territory it was and hesitated to tell Bo. Cash Bowman, a lowlife dealer, had already thought ahead and warned Billie not to tell the cops anything -- he had shot Abe. Nevertheless, Billie told Bo and Cash was arrested.
Meanwhile,
Jack saw Billie's ad and contacted her about the money, which he'd
already spent in his quest to regain control of The Spectator. After
much bickering, the two decided to try to get it back. Jack found the
perfect solution in his very own house. Hidden inside of it was a
manuscript for a very intriguing autobiography. Jack thought it was
very good and sure to sell. With a few adjustments, Jack decided to
get this novel published by Titan Publishing. In the Midnight
Hour by Miranda Miller was to be a sure hit. Playing the part of
"Miranda Miller", Billie presented the novel to the publisher, Kate
Roberts. Kate had someone else read, who assured her it'd be a
success. In the meantime, Billie was continuously harassed by Cash,
who'd been released from jail. Soon, however, the harassment stopped.
After Cash became the center of a police scandal involving Bo, he
left town.
At this time, a curious incident occurred. While Jack and Billie were trying to raise money to pay back Tony, they decided to join in a high stakes poker game. Billie beat the pants off of several people at this game. Although the game was broken up by the cops, Billie won the deed to a company that night. It was a small cosmetics company, which Billie named Countess Wilhelmina Cosmetics after herself (Wilhelmina being the female version of Wilhelm, the German version of William, from which the name Billie is derived. Get it?) Jack and Billie were less than impressed with the dumpy-looking place that this company operated from. But Billie was determined to make it work.
Soon after, Jack and Billie's publishing scam blew out into the open. After reading the manuscript, Kate became enraged and accused Billie of having stolen it! Jack and Billie were unaware that the mysterious manuscript had been written 17 years earlier by Kate herself! Billie and Jack were outraged at Kate's accusations and threatened to take the novel to another publisher. Finally, Kate purchased the novel. However, she did not publish it. Jack and Billie cared very little about this. All they cared about was that they now had enough money to pay back Tony. Tony finally returned to Salem, got his stinkin' money, and left for good.
For the next few months, Billie worked on getting her company off the ground. This was kind of hard, since the only person helping her was someone who'd come with the company -- the scientist who developed the cosmetics, Charlie Van Dieter. Billie decided to seek major help and pleaded her case to business tycoon Victor Kiriakis. With a lot of flirting and sexy moves, Billie got Victor to consider a partnership in Countess Wilhelmina. In the end, it did not work out and Victor turned the offer down. Billie was dismayed. She knew that her cosmetics were good and would make money, but no one had faith in her small company. She tried to bring it out of the mist by herself. While Charlie worked on new fragrances (and drooled over Billie while doing so), Billie took pictures of a shirtless Bo for ads to promote the company (and drooled over Bo while doing so.) Her tactics worked. By selling Countess Wilhelmina products from a small booth in Salem Place, Billie began to make a profit. Kate Roberts took a note of this wondered if maybe Victor had been too hasty in his decision to turn down Billie's offer. Kate made Billie an offer. She proposed to give Billie a substantial loan with which to build her company. After much hesitation, for Billie despised Kate, Billie went ahead and signed a contract with Kate. She would soon regret her decision. In her spare time, Billie also helped out Alice Horton by being a volunteer at the hospital. In doing so, she quickly struck up a friendship with Kristen Blake, who worked with Alice at the Horton Center.
While
her company's future looked up, Billie's love life did not. After all
of this time, she was *STILL* infatuated with Bo Brady, despite the
fact that he was *STILL* engaged to Carly (the mind boggles!) Billie
had almost given up on Bo when Carly suddenly died. Once again,
Billie played the sympathetic friend and comforted Bo over the death
of a loved one. Meanwhile, Billie was shocked one day while leaving
Salem Place. She became the sole witness to an assassination attempt
at the parking lot which resulted in the shooting of DA Rebecca
Morrison. The shooter saw Billie looking at him. Billie was so
nervous that she went to see Bo at his boat, only to find out that he
was about to leave for a couple of days to deal with Carly's death.
Billie stowed away on the boat but gave herself away when she got
seasick. Bo and Billie eventually got stranded somewhere outside of
Salem, where the parking lot shooter cornered Billie. When he came
out of the shadows, Billie noticed that it was none other than her
deadbeat father, Curtis. The only problem with computing this notion
was that Curtis had supposedly died years earlier. But no, Curtis was
not dead. He was very much alive and working for the mob. Billie told
her father to leave her alone, but Curtis convinced her to take him
under her wing, as well as to keep quiet about what she'd seen at the
parking lot. Billie agreed to let him stay in the basement of her
building, but only if he agreed to go into drug rehab. Curtis
obliged. Billie was actually somewhat happy to have her father back,
but kept his return a secret from Austin.
Soon
after, Bo began investigating the Parking Lot Shooter, partly to
forget about Carly's death. In little time, Bo was hot on Curtis'
heels, and Curtis informed Billie that he'd be going to Los Angeles
to meet with some "friends" and take care of business. Billie was
extremely glad to see him go. However, she became worried for her
father when Bo got a lead from Los Angeles police commander Ozzie.
When Billie heard that Bo was going to LA undercover to bust the
Parking Lot Shooter, she felt obliged to protect her daddy. So Billie
followed Bo to LA and sneaked into his hotel room at the Ritz
Carlton. Though Bo wasn't there, Billie was so mesmerized by the
luxury suite that Billie took a bubble bath and fell asleep in the
tub. When she woke up, Bo (calling himself Hank Richards) and some
shady men were staring at her. Bo and Billie quickly covered up her
mistake saying that she was his girlfriend from back East. Later,
Billie explained to Bo that she'd come to LA because she'd been
worried about him. Bo allowed her to stay since she had been witness
to the shooting and might recognize the shooter. Before getting down
to business, Bo and Billie had some time and LA taxpayers' money to
kill, so Bo took her out on the town. From a luxurious shopping spree
on Rodeo Drive, to a bike ride at the beach, Bo and Billie had quite
a good time spending police money. This time together brought them
closer together -- Billie was thrilled when Bo caught the brass ring
for her on the merry-go-round. That evening, Bo and Billie were to
meet the mobsters at a fancy cocktail party. Before going out, Bo
presented Billie with a sapphire & diamond necklace. He also gave
her the brass ring on a gold necklace. They finally admitted their
feelings for each other. Leaving the romance, they met with the
mobsters. Billie was horrified to see Curtis there and told him to
get out as soon as possible. When Bo asked her if she saw the Parking
Lot Shooter there, she said no. With their mission in Los Angeles a
failure, Bo and Billie returned to Salem.
Soon
after returning from Los Angeles, Bo began to be troubled once again
by the ghost of Carly. Although Billie tried to convince him that she
was dead, Bo began thinking that she was alive and staying with
Lawrence Alamain. Billie thought he was just upset, but Bo was
actually right on the money. One night, Bo and Billie were watching
the Alamain mansion and Bo thought he saw Carly dancing with
Lawrence. They went inside the house and questioned Lawrence, but he
and Vivian squirmed their way out. Later that night, Bo and Billie
were at the park...and were shocked to see Carly there. Carly didn't
seem to recognize Bo or Billie; soon Lawrence arrived and spirited
her away. In the end, it was explained that Vivian had buried Carly
alive in a deranged revenge plot; Lawrence had rescued her in the
nick of time, but Carly had been left with amnesia. Bo struggled for
some time to make Carly remember him to no avail. Finally, Billie
decided to help. Even though she knew that she'd lose Bo if Carly
recovered, Billie felt compelled to help. After speaking with Marlena
Evans, Billie decided to track down Carly's son, Nikki. Marlena had
said that seeing Nikki would possibly trigger Carly's memory. No one
knew where Nikki was, and Lawrence would not say where he was. So
Billie devised a plan to find him. She went to the Cheatin' Heart one
night, where Ivan (Vivian & Lawrence's houseman) was drowning his
sorrows (he was upset over Vivian's questionable future.) Billie got
him drunk and flirted with him, and finally got him to say where
Nikki was. Billie unselfishly picked up Nikki and brought him to the
airport, where Lawrence and Carly were preparing to leave the
country. The plan worked, and Carly remembered everything. Billie
thought she lost Bo. But the time that they'd spent together in Los
Angeles, and the time that Carly and Lawrence had spent together in
the mansion, was too much to keep Bo & Carly together. They
parted amicably, and Carly left for Paris with Lawrence and Nikki. Bo
was now ready to move on with Billie.
Although things seemed fine for Billie, they flipped upside-down when Curtis returned from Los Angeles. Again, he needed a place to hide out from certain people. And once again, Billie allowed him to stay in the basement of her building. In time, Billie did tell Austin that Curtis was staying there, although Austin was extremely unhappy about this. But trouble was brewing. Although Curtis led her to believe that he was still in drug rehab, he was actually consuming vast amounts of cocaine. And that was just the tip of the iceberg...Curtis kept asking Billie for money for this and that. Billie innocently obliged, using up Countess Wilhelmina profits.
With the encouragement of Caroline Brady and Bo's son, Shawn-Douglas, Bo and Billie fell into a quirky teen-age relationship. As the weeks droned on, Bo and Billie grew more serious, and what was to be their biggest night finally came. At Shawn D's suggestion, Billie organized a costume birthday party for Bo at the Penthouse Grill. Bo was to be dressed as Romeo, and Billie as Juliet. Alice Horton made Billie a grand blue dress for her to wear, and Billie felt this would be the greatest night of her life. But she couldn't have been more wrong.
The night of the party, Billie was lured away from the party by Curtis. He'd been acting strangely for a while and Billie was suspicious. Curtis took her to the park by force, where he informed her that he'd gotten some good stuff for them, just like "in the old days." He pinned Billie against the ground, where he injected her with heroin and raped her. Billie tried to get away from him and threatened to tell Bo, but Curtis warned her that if she did, he'd show Bo the porno films she'd starred in. Curtis laughed at Billie, telling her that "Bozo" would never want a junkie porn queen for a girlfriend. Soon after, Billie began passing out. Curtis took her to the basement of her building and covered her with a tarp while various people came looking for him. In the early morning, Billie woke up in the alley behind her building to find her father dead. He'd been shot.
Austin
found Billie and took her back upstairs to her apartment. Once Billie
recovered from the effects of the heroin, Billie confessed to Austin.
She told him what Curtis had done to her the previous night, and
proceeded to unleash another terrible secret: Curtis had sexually
abused Billie for many years, beginning when she was 12 years old. He
would drug her into oblivion and then rape her; Billie had never told
Austin because Curtis had constantly warned her that if she did, he
would kill him. Billie had blocked out the abuse until the previous
night, when it obviously came back to her. Austin and Billie swore to
each other that they would keep the fact that "Curtis Brown, the
Parking Lot Shooter", as the Salem PD had identified the body, was
their father. They wanted to avoid any murder charges at all
costs.
This was kind of hard to do, however, since Billie quickly became the prime suspect. She had been missing for most of the night and couldn't account for her lost time; part of her dress, which had been ripped, was found near the murder scene; Curtis had been living in her basement; but most of all, a gun was found in Billie's dresser drawer. Her fingerprints were all over it, and ballistics tests proved that it'd been the gun with which the murder had been committed. Although the evidence against Billie was strong, there was no motive, thus the DAs case against Billie was weak. Other suspects were investigated, such as Kate & Victor Kiriakis, Lucas Roberts, and Stefano DiMera. In the end, newly-arrived District Attorney Pat Hamilton charged Billie with the murder of Curtis Brown.
To make matters worse, Kate then decided to take back the loan she'd given Billie. Kate had noticed the disappearing profits from Countess Wilhelmina and recalled her loan. Since Billie still owed her money, Kate acquired the entire company to make up for the difference. In other words, Kate stole Billie's company from right under her. Billie's hatred for Kate now reached an all-time high.
Early
in 1994, Billie was constantly freaking out about her upcoming trial.
It would begin in early February. Throughout this entire ordeal, Bo
stood by Billie, believing in her innocence despite that he was the
one who found the gun in her apartment. The day before the trial, Bo
tried to calm Billie down by taking her on a short trip down the
Salem River on his boat. Billie soon woke up on a deserted island,
where she and Bo had been shipwrecked. Together they stumbled upon an
old chest that contained various tropical clothes which they decided
to wear. On the island, Bo & Billie frolicked and such. At one
point, Bo brought Billie a number of seashells. A particular one
triggered something in Billie. If you haven't guessed it by now, this
didn't really happen; it was just one of Billie's silly dreams (which
was filmed on location in Puerto Rico.) However, this dream contained
a significant clue to what happened the night of the murder -- the
shell. Billie would eventually remember that somebody arguing with
Curtis that night had been wearing shoes with that shell on them. Bo
had a sketch of the shoes made and tried to track them down. But no
shoe store or manufacturer had any record of ever having carried such
a shoe. Finally, Bo discovered that the shoes had been used the
previous year in Bella Magazine ads, but they had since been
discontinued. When he asked Kate about the shoes, she didn't know
anything about them.
One of the first persons to take the stand during the trial was Billie's neighbor and friend, Wendy Reardon. Wendy's testimony was extremely important to Billie's case, as it shifted suspicion from her. Wendy had heard two different arguments in the alley the night Curtis had been killed, proving that Billie wasn't the only one there. That's where the leads stopped. Marlena offered to put Billie under hypnosis so that she'd remember what had happened that night, but Billie refused. She was afraid that she'd spill everything about her past under hypnosis. It looked hopeless for Billie until one night, when she and Bo went to the Cheatin' Heart. At the bar, Billie noticed a blonde woman at the bar who was wearing some very peculiar shoes. They were the shell shoes! Bo quickly arrested the woman and brought her down to the station. As it turned out, the woman was Mary, one of the maids at the Kiriakis mansion. At first, Mary kept quiet under orders from Victor. But eventually she confessed. She stated that the shoes had belonged to Kate. The night of Curtis' murder, Kate had arrived home with bruises on her face. She'd been wearing the shell shoes that night. Soon after, Kate had asked Mary to throw away the shoes. But Mary had liked them so much that she'd kept them for herself. This testimony now cast suspicion away from Billie and on Kate Kiriakis.
Mickey Horton, Billie's attorney, then decided to put Kate on the stand. When asked if she'd known Curtis Brown, Kate denied it with a high-and-mighty air. "My husband and I attend many charities and fund-raisers here in Salem, but I can assure you they are not held in alleys frequented by drug addicts." But Laura Horton, who had just returned from the dead minutes earlier, burst Kate's bubble. Laura announced that Kate was lying. When she took the stand, Laura said that Kate knew very well who Curtis was because they had been married. Billie and Austin were speechless, as this could mean that Kate Kiriakis, of all people, was their mother! Billie ceased to be the focus of the trial, as both counsels began to suspect that Kate had murdered Curtis. On the stand, Kate testified that, indeed, she had been married to Curtis and that she hated him. She said that he had stolen her two children away from her. She also revealed that Curtis had been blackmailing her -- that's why she had gone to the alley the night he was killed.
Billie
and Austin were virtually stupefied by Kate's testimony. What if she
was their mother? She'd been married to Curtis, and she'd had two
children by him. Austin seemed hopeful, but Billie hated everything
about it. She despised Kate, and she refused to believe she was their
mother. One day, before court resumed, Billie decided to find out the
truth. She followed Kate into the ladies' room, where she asked her
about her children. Kate, who was in great distress, resented her
questions and went so far as to call her a drug-addicted whore. She
blamed Billie of trying to shift suspicion on her and ultimately
accused her of being Curtis' lover. Naturally, this upset Billie.
Upon returning to the courtroom, Billie begged Mickey to do
everything in his power to convict Kate. And he did, demonstrating
that Kate had already tried to kill Curtis once before in 1975 during
their stormy marriage. Mickey then asked the court to drop charges
against Billie because Kate was guilty. But in the heat of the
argument, Lucas Roberts, Kate's son, stood up and said that he had
killed Curtis! As a result of this, a mistrial was declared in
Billie's case and Lucas was promptly arrested.
Even though she was free, Billie was hardly out of trouble. Just as she and Bo were ready to consummate their relationship, began to be haunted by what appeared to be Curtis' ghost (I choose to think that it was just Billie's subconscious.) In addition to Curtis telling her that the truth about his murder was still not out, telling her to "think back", Curtis also teased her about their incestuous relationship. Of course, this kept Billie and Bo from making love (oh no!)
Billie attended Lucas' arraignment. He had signed a confession saying that he'd shot Curtis. But during the proceedings, Billie began to have flashbacks of the night of the murder. She remembered that Kate had argued with Curtis about something that he was supposed to have taken care of. Later that night, after Kate had left, Curtis told Billie that Kate was a "high and mighty bitch" who he was going to kill if she didn't give him what he wanted. All of this proved that Kate hadn't killed Curtis because he was still alive after she'd left the alley. Billie also remembered that Lucas had come looking for Curtis that night, but Curtis hadn't been there. Later that night, Curtis also talked to Billie and talked about how Lucas was just a "little punk." Again, this testimony suggested that Lucas hadn't killed Curtis because he was still alive after he'd left. Finally, Billie recalled seeing Kate in the alley still later that night; Kate had gone to the alley brandishing a gun only to find that Curtis had already been killed. Because of this, charges were dropped against Lucas and any suspicion towards Kate disappeared. Unfortunately, this also meant that the trial against Billie would resume.
This time, the case against Billie hit her with vicious force. With Billie still refusing to go under hypnosis, there was nothing to help her case. Things got worse when Pat Hamilton finally decided to put her on the stand. Once on it, Billie accidentally confessed that Curtis had been her father. Having let that little tidbit slip, Billie had no recourse but to confess everything, all while Bo sat in the courtroom stunned. He realized that she had gone with him to Los Angeles the year before to keep him from catching up with Curtis. Billie nervously informed the court that Curtis had sexually molested her as a child, feeding her drugs in order to make it easier for him to rape her. She also explained that she'd starred in pornographic films after running away from home -- films that Curtis had threatened to show Bo the night he was killed. This was the possible motive that Pat Hamilton had been looking for. Next, Pat Hamilton asked Billie to try to remember what had happened in the alley. Billie suddenly became hysterical and rambled about several things...hearing voices in the alley...one of which said "Check, Checkmate." Billie finally concluded that she must've said that and killed Curtis.
Go to Part 2
of Billie's history
The character of Billie Reed has been
played by:
Lisa Rinna (1992-1995)
Krista Allen-Moritt (1996-1999)