Kate
Roberts is the mother of Austin and Billie
Reed, Lucas Roberts, and
Phillip Kiriakis. She is the ex-wife of Curtis
Reed and Victor
Kiriakis.
In mid-February 1993, a woman strolled around Salem Place and reminisced about a time when she had lived in Salem 17 years before. After sharing a coffee with a young lady, Kate Roberts went to the Kiriakis Towers and accepted a job as chief editor at Victor Kiriakis' newly-created company, Titan Publishing. Coming from New York, Kate had enjoyed an impressive and rapid success in the publishing industry. She was now going to be the right hand of Victor Kiriakis. But although Kate's career record was well-known, very little was known about her personal life. Kate was a woman keeping many secrets, the biggest of which revolved around her previous life in Salem. After searching old newspaper files, Kate found a particular headline that interested her; it was about a pregnant battered woman who had been found by the side of the road.
On her first day on the job, Kate met several people on the Titan team, including Dr. Marlena Evans, who was working on an advice column for Bella Magazine. Kate and Marlena were both surprised to see each other; they obviously knew each other from the past, when Marlena had treated Kate and befriended her. Kate hoped to rekindle their friendship, but she also wanted to hide the fact that they knew each other. Another surprise visitor was the same young lady with whom she'd shared coffee at Salem Place. The girl was local TV personality Jennifer Deveraux, who was hoping to invite Kate on her show. Kate refused at first, but she quickly warmed up to Jennifer when she discovered that her full name was Jennifer Horton Deveraux. Kate was intrigued by the Horton family and was interested in finding out more about them through Jennifer. Luckily for Kate, Jennifer and her husband Jack invited her for dinner on the same night of her grandparents Alice and Tom's wedding anniversary. Alice was sure that she'd met Kate before but couldn't remember when. Although Kate confessed to having briefly lived in Salem years before, she hastily changed the subject. She found Jack and Jennifer's house fascinating and insisted on looking around, eventually winding up in the attic, where numerous boxes from the house's former tenant remained. While Jennifer stepped out to take care of something, Kate went through the boxes looking for something in particular: a small box containing a small heart-shaped locket. It was obvious that the charm was hers. She had lived in Jack and Jennifer's house.
Meanwhile, Kate found a curious manuscript inside a drawer in her office with a card of recommendation from Victor. Trusting Victor's judgement, she sent the manuscript, a novel by one Miranda Miller entitled In the Midnight Hour, to a reader. The manuscript, which was a moody romance novel, was returned with very good reviews. Suddenly, Miranda Miller herself showed up in Kate's office asking about the manuscript. Miranda, whose real name was Billie Reed, was in a rush to have the novel published. Based on her reader's review, Kate picked up the option to publish and gave Billie a $25,000 advance to tide her over while Kate herself read the novel. Little did Kate know that Billie hadn't written that novel. The manuscript was the plagiarization of a woman's diary which Jack Deveraux had found in his attic. On a Titan company retreat at Lake Summit, Kate sat down to read the novel. When she realized that she was reading her own life's story, she was furious. Kate believed that Billie was trying to blackmail her; however, she soon confirmed that Billie was completely unaware that she was the original author of the book. To keep the story from ever seeing the light of day, Kate let Titan hold on to its option on the book (it prevented Billie from selling it to anyone else.) Kate never intended to have the book published. Unfortunately, Billie caught on to Kate's filibuster and successfully pitched the book to Victor (with a little help from a tight dress and lots of thigh.) Kate was furious at Billie and told her that she would never make dime off that book.
During this time, Kate also welcomed home her son, Lucas, who was on a break from his military academy. Wanting Lucas to have a good time in Salem, she arranged for him to be entertained by Marlena's daughter, Sami Brady. Meanwhile, Lucas was upset with his mother because he didn't want to go back to military school, among other things. He also had issues with the fact that she refused to tell him who his father was, other than he had been a high-ranking army officer. To appease his curiousity, Kate gave him a photo of his father in his military uniform. However, Lucas soon discovered that the photo had been purchased and that the man in it was not his father. Lucas also found out that he had been born in Salem. When Lucas came to Kate for answers, she finally told him that he had been illegitimate and that she didn't know his father's name. Lucas was furious at Kate for this and decided that he would not be going back to the Fairfield Academy. Deciding to appease Lucas, Kate allowed him to stay in Salem. Needing a place to live, she accepted Victor's invitation to move into the East wing of his mansion. Kate and Victor had a flirtatious relationship that seemed to be headed for more. Kate was also very interested in Jack Deveraux, although not romantically. Having spent time with Jack and Jennifer, Kate sensed that bad blood ran between him and Victor. She also gathered that Victor was trying to take over Jack's newspaper, The Salem Spectator. Wanting to help Jack, Kate bought it just before Victor could and halted Victor's takeover. However, this wasn't a completely selfish move; her acquisition of The Spectator gave Kate leverage she could use against Victor at any given time. Victor vowed to get The Spectator back; but despite their new rivalry, Kate and Victor took their war into the bedroom and became lovers.
Kate's past life in Salem continued to haunt her. For instance, Tom and Alice Horton finally remembered her as the pregnant battered woman; Tom had delivered Lucas after Kate was found on the side of the road. Also, Lucas noticed that Marlena and Kate shared a special long-time friendship. Marlena knew everything about Kate, including who Lucas' father was. Although she promised that she wouldn't say anything, Marlena urged Kate to tell Lucas the truth. Since Kate was a victim of abuse, she decided to make a large contribution to Tom and Alice's Horton Center, a sort of shelter for people such as a abuse victims. While making the contribution, Alice showed Kate her family album. One of the pictures caught Kate's attention. When Alice wasn't looking, Kate took the picture and slipped it into her purse. Later, Kate travelled to Chicago and went to a sanitarium called Pine Haven. Posing as a reporter and using a pseudonym, Kate got into Pine Haven to see a patient: Laura Horton.
Meanwhile,
Kate felt dissatisfied with her relationship with Victor. She longed
for money and power, and believed that the only way that she could
achieve it was through marriage with him. However, Victor didn't have
marriage on his mind; all he wanted was The Spectator. Kate
half-jokingly told Victor that she would only let go of The Spectator
as dowry on her wedding day. Since Victor didn't respond accordingly,
Kate decided to invest some of her money in a fledgling cosmetics
company, Countess Wilhelmina, owned by Billie Reed. Because of their
previous relationship, Billie refused Kate's money at first. However,
she soon accepted Kate's loan. To stir up some jealousy in Victor,
Kate tried to seduce married men to no avail. She even tried to
seduce Jack by having him work closely with her and threatening to
sell The Spectator to Victor if he didn't satisfy her whims. She
finally backed off after Jack's daughter Abby developed aplastic
anemia. Abby's illness struck a chord in Kate and prompted her to
write an editorial in Bella Magazine about her. Kate even had herself
tested to see if she could donate her bone marrow. After having the
test, Kate sat alone in a hospital lounge and cried as she opened her
heart-shaped locket and gazed at the pictures of two
babies.
Kate wanted more power, respect, but most of all, love. After lovemaking one night, Victor proposed to Kate. But surprisingly, she turned him down. She didn't want just a marriage of convenience -- a business transaction. She would only marry Victor if he could give her something more. Although Victor couldn't guarantee her love, he did share her feeling of wanting more than just a business transaction; he wanted a child. That was good enough for Kate and a wedding ceremony was quickly arranged. As previously discussed, Kate would sign The Spectator over to Victor after the wedding but on the condition that Jack remain as editor. Kate and Victor were quickly married in a private ceremony at the Penthouse Grill. Afterwards, Victor received ownership of The Spectator. However, his first order of business was to fire Jack. Kate was annoyed by Victor's betrayal so she told Victor to do something for her: put Billie's book permanently on ice. And that he did, after Kate explained why it was so important to her.
During this time, Kate continued to pay Laura Horton mysterious visits at Pine Haven. Laura sat hopelessly catatonic in her room, unable to react to Kate. It seemed like Kate had wronged Laura somehow 18 years before. In fact, Kate felt responsible for Laura's catatonia and begged her forgiveness. During one of these visits, Kate bumped into Vivian Alamain, who had been sentenced to a psychiatric evaluation at Pine Haven. Vivian, Victor's former lover, had been jealous of Kate ever since Kate and Victor had announced their engagement. Though they hadn't engaged in any sort of rivalry, Kate knew that Vivian was a dangerous adversary. But since Vivian was indefinitely in an insane asylum, Kate simply taunted her and left.
Kate tried to mend the rift between her and Lucas by doing him many favors, most of which involved pleasing the object of his attraction, Carrie Brady. Carrie, a beautiful young woman who had won Bella Magazine's "Face of the 90's" contest despite having been scarred by acid, had to make appearances for Bella as part of her prize. Kate made sure that Lucas worked closely with her. When that wasn't enough, Kate bought Lucas a BMW for his 18th birthday. Finally, Kate decided to tell Lucas the truth -- or at least part of it. She showed him an old box full of mementos. Among them were the pictures of two children, a boy and a girl. Kate told Lucas that she had been married to a man and had those two kids with him. However, her husband became an abuser, a gambler, and a drug addict. She turned to another man for comfort who, in turn, got her pregnant. When her husband found out about the affair, he left her and took the kids with him; later, he told her that they'd died in a car crash. Lucas was moved by his mother's experience and her honesty, and they finally made their peace. Lucas apologized for his behavior toward her and expressed his relief in knowing that she had finally found happiness with Victor. Unfortunately, the happiness didn't last too long. One day, Kate's abusive ex-husband, Curtis, appeared in her office.
Curtis
was a petty crook with a serious drug problem who worked for the Los
Angeles mob. He had read about Kate's success in Bella Magazine and
decided to squeeze a nice amount of money from her. He threatened to
tell Victor all about her sordid past -- the parts he was sure she
hadn't told him. He also threatened to harm Lucas. Kate succumbed to
Curtis' blackmail and promised to liquidate some assets in order to
get him the money. Kate hastily decided to call in Billie's loan,
which she had been thinking about doing anyway since Billie had been
withdrawing large amounts of money from Countess Wilhelmina without
accounting for it. In addition to getting her fast cash, calling in
the loan would give Kate ownership of Countess Wilhelmina (since
Billie obviously didn't have the means to pay the loan.)
Unfortunately for Kate, Billie had three business days to pay the
loan; Curtis wasn't willing to wait three days and hounded Kate even
more. She finally turned to Victor for the money without giving him
an explanation. Victor asked no questions and gave her $100,000.
However, on the night that Kate delivered the money to Curtis, he
told her that it was only a downpayment; he expected her to give her
much more money. When Kate refused, Curtis grabbed her and savagely
beat her. Barely conscious and her face entirely bruised, Kate made
her way back to the house. She explained to her horrified family that
she'd fallen down the garden steps, but none of them believed her
story. After Victor and Lucas left Kate to get some sleep, she got a
small gun from her drawer and crept out of the house determined to
kill Curtis. The following morning, Curtis was found dead in an
alley; he'd been shot at point blank range in the chest.
Suspicion fell upon many people, including the entire Kiriakis household. Victor had gone out that night after leaving Kate, and Lucas had also snuck out. Kate admitted to Victor that Curtis was the man who had beaten her in the past, and Victor promised that no one would ever know that. But since Lucas had been seeing asking about Curtis and had gotten a speeding ticket near the murder location at around the time of Curtis' death, he became one of the prime suspects in the investigation. He looked even more guilty when he burned the gloves he had worn that night. Convinced that Lucas was guilty, Kate and Victor did everything to protect him. They were able to breathe a momentary sigh of relief when Billie was formally charged with the murder. Meanwhile, Kate took over Billie's company and it became part of Victor's Titan empire. Now, Billie hated Kate more than ever. Carrie begged Kate to give Billie her company back so that she could pay her legal fees, but Kate refused. However, at Lucas' suggestion, she allowed Carrie to remain at Countess Wilhelmina as Marketing Director. Kate also indirectly helped Billie by giving Austin a second job playing the piano at the Penthouse Grill. Although Kate couldn't stand Billie, she got along very well with Austin.
During this time, Laura's shadow continued to loom over Kate. At the New Year's Eve party at the Penthouse Grill, Kate was shocked to see Laura there, albeit catatonic and wheelchair-bound. Nevertheless, her presence upset her. Also at the party was a funny-looking, red-headed, bearded man. For days after the party, Kate tried to figure out who that man was by examining a picture that someone had taken of him. She eventually realized that the "man" had been Vivian in disguise! She confirmed this when her secretary, Marie, found a fake red beard at Titan. Frightened of what Vivian could know about her and Laura, Kate made an anonymous phone call to Pine Haven and warned the director that Vivian had snuck out. Not long after this, Vivian was overmedicated and fell into catatonia. Meanwhile, Kate and Victor were trying to get pregnant so she decided to go to a fertility clinic in Chicago. While there, she paid a visit to Pine Haven and teased a catatonic Vivian. To Kate's shock, Vivian got out of her wheelchair and tried to strangle her. Fortunately, the guards rescued her. About a week later, a fire broke out in Pine Haven and both Laura and Vivian were reported to have perished. While Kate was not moved by Vivian's demise, she did feel guilt and pity about Laura.
Meanwhile,
Bo
Brady began investigating the
Kiriakises in order to get the charges against Billie dropped. He
still suspected Lucas, but soon discovered that the rest of the
family might also be hiding something. Bo found that Kate had
withdrawn a large sum of cash from Titan the night of Curtis' death,
but returned it the next day with $100 missing. A $100 bill had been
found near the scene of the crime. Bo also found out from Kate's maid
that she had come home beaten the night of the murder. Kate gave Bo a
feeble explanation about falling down, but she knew that he hadn't
bought it. Scared, she decided to throw away all of the clothing she
had worn that night. This was a wise move, since Bo returned soon
after with a search warrant. Bo was looking for a particular pair of
shoes with buckles in the shape of seashells which Billie had
remembered seeing in the alley the night of the murder. Though Kate
had thrown away the shoes, her maid, Mary, found them in the trash
and kept them for herself. This proved to be Kate's undoing, for Mary
was soon spotted wearing those shoes and was forced to testify in
court. Mary's testimony cast suspicion on Kate and she was called to
the stand. In her testimony, Kate denied ever having known Curtis.
But as she finished saying this, the courtroom doors opened. A
radiant Laura walked in. She was alive and well and, worst of all,
she could walk and talk.
More information to follow!
The character of Kate Roberts has
been played by the following:
Deborah Adair (1993-1995)
Lauren Koslow (1996-present)