| Ethan Winthrop | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Travis Schuldt (1999-2002) Eric Martsolf (2002-2008) Rib Hillis (temp. 2006) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Alive | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1999-2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | July 5, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | August 7, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Ethan William Alexander Winthrop-Bennett I | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | Ethan Crane Ethan Crane I Ethan Winthrop Sr. Ethan Winthrop I Ethan Winthrop Crane Ethan Bennett Ethan Winthrop-Bennett | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gender | Male | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Mar. 9, 1975 (Pisces) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Age | 33 (2008) 49 (2024) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Attorney (currently) Crane Industries Heir (disinherited in 2000) Lawyer for Crane Industries (formerly) Lawyer for Ivy Winthrop (on permanent retainer) Lawyer for Hotchkiss family (formerly) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Crane Mansion (14 Raven Hill Road) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Ethan William Alexander Winthrop-Bennett (né Crane) is a fictional character on the NBC/DirectTV soap opera Passions.
Character History[]
Early Life[]
Ethan William Alexander Winthrop-Bennett (né Crane) was born in Harmony, New England on Mar. 9, 1975 as the only child of Sam Bennett (b. July 7, 1954) and Ivy Winthrop (b. Nov. 10, 1954). Though he is the only child of his parents union, he has six half-siblings from his mother's side and his father's side: Fancy Crane (b. Jan. 10, 1979), Fox Crane (b. Mar. 12, 1980), and Pretty Crane (b. Jun. 2, 1982) from Ivy and Noah Bennett (b. Jun. 11, 1980), Kay Bennett (b. July 24, 1984), and Jessica Bennett (b. Oct. 28, 1986) from Sam. His mother Ivy was deeply in love with his father Sam, but Ethan's maternal grandfather, former governor Harrison Winthrop, saw to it that the young lovers stay separated. Ivy and Sam discovered her father's treachery on Ivy's wedding night to Julian Crane, and the two made love, resulting in Ethan's conception making Ethan their love child and their illegitimate, or in harsher terms, bastard son. When Ivy learned she would have nothing if she remained with Sam, she chose to stay with Julian and pass Ethan off as a Crane. As Ethan Crane, Ethan lived a life of luxury and power. Being Julian's first-born son, he was bred to be the heir to the Crane empire. This, coupled with his mother's favoritism of Ethan over her other three children with Julian, caused Ethan's siblings to deeply resent him, especially his brother, Fox and his sister, Fancy. At the age of thirteen, Ethan met Gwen Hotchkiss at a joint mixer for both of their schools. The two became fast friends, and soon started dating. The two then went on to attend Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school. Once out of high school, Ethan went on to attend an unknown undergraduate school and then Harvard Law School.
Crane Heir[]
After graduating from HLS in 1999, Ethan decided to move back to his hometown of Harmony with Gwen. He took a job as the lawyer for Gwen's parents, spent some time in private practice, and then went to work for Crane Industries. He and Gwen left and later returned to Harmony that summer of 1999. Ethan had loved Gwen from the time they were children, but he was reluctant to fully and finally commit to their relationship, until his aunt Sheridan pushed him into it. Knowing he was proposing for the wrong reasons, Gwen turned him down - she would not marry him, except for love, and opted to wait for a more sincere proposal. However, their prospective engagement was pushed to the backburner when Ethan began being the victim of mysterious "accidents" and became determined to learn who was stalking him. With the help of private detective Frank Lomax played by Jason Olive who left the show and is written out and is not on the show and not seen after, he eventually discovered that the stalker was Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, the daughter of the Crane family housekeeper Pilar. Theresa's teenage crush on Ethan made her clumsy and accident-prone in his presence. Ethan befriended Theresa without knowing the depth of her feelings for him, all but oblivious as the starry-eyed ingenue assigned cosmic meaning to their every encounter and his every off-handed comment.
Theresa's conversational preoccupation with "true love" backfired on her, and moved Ethan to propose to Gwen; although the engagement was nearly a non-starter when the engagement ring which Ethan had insisted, she try on became stuck on her finger - one of her several small-time plots to stall Ethan from marrying Gwen - but eventually, Ethan and Gwen celebrated their engagement.
Not long after becoming engaged to Gwen, Ethan began questioning his feelings for Theresa; his doubts culminated in his admission of his love for her at her hospital bedside as she struggled than i guess she had to crash for her life after a motorcycle accident. What would become the central motif of this triangle to date emerged when Ethan struggled to reconcile how he could fulfill his affection for and obligation to Gwen and also answer his inexorable pull toward Theresa. Ethan eventually canceled his wedding to Gwen mere hours before the ceremony (and was disinherited by Alistair Crane for doing so); he proposed to Theresa in church, in front of all of Harmony, on Christmas Eve.
Paternity Reveal and Fallout[]
Early in the New Year, Gwen's mother, Rebecca, discovered that Theresa had information on her computer proving Ethan was not a Crane and, with Gwen's consent, sent the information to a tabloid, timing the announcement to coincide with Ethan and Theresa's engagement party. Gwen and Rebecca believed that Theresa was a gold-digger, and that once money was no longer part of the package, Theresa would leave Ethan. Rebecca assured Gwen that she, Rebecca, would marry Julian Crane and convince him to reinstate Ethan into the family, easing Gwen's guilt.
Theresa, convinced that it was only a momentary setback, stood by Ethan after he was stripped of all Crane rights and privileges, as he struggled to learn who had outed him to the tabloids, but she never revealed that she had known before the newspaper had created the scandal, nor did she suspect Gwen and Rebecca were to blame until much later. That summer, desperate to prevent Theresa and Ethan's wedding, Gwen once again contacted the tabloid and told them that the information had come from Theresa's computer, implying that Theresa, rather than Gwen and her mother, was the one who had revealed Ethan's true paternity.
The news broke on what would have been Ethan and Theresa's wedding day, and Ethan's mother, Ivy, was consequently so angry at Theresa that she crashed her car into the church to stop the wedding. Gwen's quiet insistence that Theresa had known the truth and hadn't told do Ethan prompted to Theresa to run away, down the aisle; and Ethan, who maintained his faith in Theresa, tried to convince her that he do still wanted to marry her but Theresa refused to listen to him and went to Bermuda, determined to get Julian to adopt Ethan and reinstate him as the Crane heir no matter what she had to do.
When Theresa returned from Bermuda having drunkenly wed Julian, Ethan forgave her and restored their relationship under the condition that there be no more lies; but Theresa kept one more huge secret from him—she was pregnant! The secret of the baby, presumed at the time to be Julian's since she was not far enough along for it to be Ethan's, was the final straw for Ethan; he broke off their relationship. Do Ethan renewed his relationship with Gwen and remained bitterly angry for some time at Theresa - until pregnant Theresa confessed to killing Julian Crane. Ethan knew she was innocent and was covering for someone, but never realized that she believed she was covering for him (thanks to a fake videotape made by Rebecca, showing Ethan killing Julian). When Theresa was found guilty and sentenced to death, Ethan helped her run from the law, taking her to the Crane cabin, where she went into labor. She hid her labor pains, using all the time she had to convince Ethan that they could still have a future; it took the arrival of Gwen, who quickly realized Theresa was in labor, to allow for the delivery of Theresa's son, whom she named for Ethan. Ethan later became godfather to "Little Ethan".
The police took Theresa back to Harmony, where Theresa was "executed"; her execution was in fact a ploy to convince still-living Julian, who believed Theresa had shot him, that it was safe to come back to Harmony. Ethan had been devastated, and was greatly relieved that Theresa was alive, and he quickly became enamored of her son; although he'd purchased an engagement ring for Gwen, he began to imagine a future with Theresa again. Until the revelation of Gwen's pregnancy spurred Ethan to reassess and to commit to Gwen and their unborn child. Gwen didn't want to marry for the baby alone; Ethan convinced her that his feelings for Theresa were over, and his loyalty would thereafter be to Gwen. Despite some last-minute attempts at interference by Theresa, Ethan and Gwen were married in December 2002.
Marriage to Gwen[]
Sarah's Stillbirth[]
Gwen's difficult pregnancy led the couple to travel to L.A. in the summer of 2003 (a summer which lasted well into October, in real time) to visit specialists; unluckily for all of them, Theresa, who had been trying to get over Ethan and give them space while Gwen's health was fragile, had left Harmony for L.A., as well. Ethan's devotion to his wife was shaken by the proximity of Theresa, and he found himself repeatedly drawn to her, jealous of her new relationship with his brother Fox Crane and tortured by memories of their past. The two shared passionate kisses on the beach in L.A., which were unfortunately caught on camera by a news reporter; when Gwen saw her husband with Theresa on camera, she left the hospital looking for her husband. A confrontation with Theresa led to Gwen being hospitalized. The doctors at the hospital informed Ethan that he had to choose between his wife and unborn child but before Ethan could choose, the doctors came and told him that they had lost the baby. Gwen and Ethan later named their daughter Sarah. Upon returning to Harmony, Ethan swore to his grief-stricken wife on their daughter's casket that Theresa was out of his life for good.
Jane's Birth and Custody Battles[]
Gwen, angry at Theresa for her role in causing her daughter's death (which would prevent her from carrying any further children), colluded with her mother in causing the courts to take Theresa's son from her; Ethan, bound by his promise on his daughter's grave, was powerless to openly help Theresa, and contented himself with working with Theresa's lawyer secretly to help her regain custody. Once Julian (then considered Little Ethan's biological father) and his wife, Rebecca, gained custody, Ethan agreed with Gwen that they were inappropriate parents, and agreed that he and Gwen should take custody of the boy in the stead of Rebecca and Julian; and so Rebecca and Gwen's plan of giving Gwen Theresa's son to raise was accomplished. Around this same time, Gwen was attempting to find a surrogate mother for herself and Ethan (after the fight/accident with Theresa in L.A., most of Gwen eggs were no longer viable, and she could not carry a baby herself...however, another woman could carry the child if some of Gwen's eggs were fertile). Theresa, believing that without Ethan's help she'd never regain custody of her son, resorted to stealing Ethan and Gwen's embryo and having herself implanted with it, intending to exchange their child for hers once it was born. But when she believed she had miscarried the baby, she sank to still more desperate measures; after slipping a dangerous date rape drug into Ethan's drink, she dressed up as Gwen, climbed into his bed and had sex with him. Though Ethan knew it was her and denied it till after Jane was born.
It was soon discovered that Theresa was in fact carrying twins, although, because Theresa had had a one-night stand with Fox, both the maternity and paternity of the twins was in question. After being informed by Dr. Eve Russell her body was unable to successfully carry both children to term, she was given the option of a medical abortion, which would kill one fetus, while ensuring the other would live. At Gwen and Ethan's insistence, Theresa agreed to have the baby with the best chances of survival be saved. After delivering a healthy baby girl prematurely less than a month later, DNA testing proved Theresa to be the biological mother of the little girl, and Ethan the father, much to Gwen's outrage. Theresa later decided to name their daughter Jane Winthrop after the novel Jane Eyre. Gwen became mad with grief, and stabbed Theresa in the back with a hospital scalpel. She was arrested and put in jail, while Theresa fell into a coma. Ethan was devastated for both women, and torn once again by his love for and obligations to each. Theresa woke, but was paralyzed.
Gwen, who was hospitalized after a suicide attempt and was suffering from elaborate delusions about her unborn children, later kidnapped Jane and hid her in the Crane cabin before absconding on the Crane jet with Katherine Crane. Ethan and Theresa led a frantic search for their child, growing closer while attempting to locate Gwen and their daughter. At the same time, Ethan also began growing closer to his father and paternal half-siblings. After learning his half-sister Jessica Bennett had been assaulted, he, along with Chad Harris, and Fox Crane tarnished and destroyed the nightclub in which it occurred.
Soon Ethan, Theresa and Fox learned Gwen, Jane, and Katherine were being held prisoner by Alistair at the Crane Compound. They rescued them from the Compound, reuniting Ethan and Theresa with their daughter. Ethan had planned to sue for custody of Jane, but offered to let Theresa keep their daughter if she would end the war with Gwen. But Theresa pressed charges against Gwen hoping that Ethan would turn to her with Gwen in prison, and Ethan sued for custody as he had originally intended. Gwen was acquitted once it was revealed that a drug interaction had caused her behavior, and the judge gave custody to Ethan and Gwen, in part because of the method Theresa used to conceive the child.
Shortly after the court decision, a heartbroken Theresa accused Ethan of stealing her baby from her; Ethan admitted to Theresa that he loved her and wanted to be with her and her two children, but could never break his marriage vows to do it. That summer, Harmony was struck by an earthquake and tsunami, and Ethan saved Theresa's life numerous times; Theresa's belief that this proved their connection and commitment, though, was met by Ethan's insistence that they keep their love "bottled up" in deference to his marriage.
While Ethan served as Eve Russell's lawyer (she was on trial for attempted murder; a mistrial was eventually declared), a desperate Theresa married Alistair Crane in order to move into the Crane Mansion to look for clues to prove her innocence in the old matter of the tabloid scandal and to regain contact with Jane. Ethan was appalled by her actions, considering marriage to Alistair a deal with the devil. He softened however, after learning Theresa was being raped night after night by Alistair, and offered to help her leave Harmony, which she refused to do after Alistair adopted her son. Theresa's many attempts to kill Alistair were thwarted, but Ethan nearly became a victim of the final one; she had poisoned guacamole with aspirin and Ethan, after eating it, collapsed, became comatose, and was declared brain-dead.
Gwen decided to take Ethan off life support as per his wishes, but Theresa wouldn't hear of it and enlisted the help of Noah Bennett to help her kidnap Ethan. When everybody's backs were turned Theresa and Noah took Ethan from the hospital and took him to the Crane Cabin. Gwen eventually found them and took Ethan back to the hospital where she still planned to let Ethan go, but decided to wait until after Christmas. At the Christmas Eve service Theresa prayed to God that if he would bring Ethan back she would leave Gwen and Ethan alone forever. Just as the service began Ethan entered the church alive and well. Ethan forgave Theresa for accidentally poisoning him, and it was revealed that his supposed "brain-dead" state had been a trick of Alistair's, which is how Ethan became one of the suspects at Alistair's New Year's Eve "Murder Party" when the man was found stabbed. He was soon cleared, and it was discovered (only by Julian) that Liz had been the one to stab Alistair, for raping her many years before.
Ethan found himself in the position of having to resist Theresa's constant advances, as Theresa, realizing Ethan would never leave his wife for her, offered to become his mistress. Gwen urged Ethan to make a total break and the couple resolved to move to India, but were stopped when Theresa was named in Alistair's will as the heir to the Crane Empire; she used her newfound resources to ground the plane Gwen and Ethan had already boarded for India, and to prevent Ethan from getting jobs elsewhere.
Ethan, Gwen and Jane set up house at Grace's B&B to get out of Theresa's sphere of influence; but the move was to no avail. Theresa arranged a demanding job for Gwen at Collier & Co., to drive a wedge between Gwen and Ethan, while Ethan, refusing Theresa's extravagant offers of co-chairmanship of Crane Industries—which would have allowed him to fulfill the idealistic plans he'd once had as Crane heir—resorted to working in a garage. Soon mysterious events were drawing the residents of Harmony to Rome. Theresa found out that Jessica, Paloma, and Simone were in danger there and asked Ethan to accompany her to Italy to save his half-sister, and Ethan agreed. Ethan and Theresa were forced to stay in a hotel suite together when Theresa received and e-mail telling her that someone from Harmony would die in Rome. Ethan wanted to be near Theresa to protect her. Very soon Theresa found J.T. Cornell, the editor of the tabloid in which Ethan's paternity was revealed. Theresa got the evidence she needed to show him that it was Gwen and Rebecca who set the truth of Ethan's paternity to the tabloids. But soon Rebecca called J.T. and convinced him to take the evidence and run. J.T. managed to get away from Theresa in time. Ethan was convinced she was lying and stormed out on her.
Jealousy of Jared Casey[]
After Theresa finally gave up on Ethan, Ethan became upset and very jealous of Jared Casey. When Pilar (Theresa's Mother) was shot Ethan went to see her, she told him to leave Gwen and go be a family with Theresa, Little Ethan and Jane. Later on, Theresa and Jared were staying at the same hotel as Ethan and Gwen. Ethan accidentally crawled into Theresa's bed. They were both drunk and he thought that she was Gwen and Theresa thought that he was Jared. They ended up having sex. Not long after the two knowingly began a short affair. Ethan always admit his love for Theresa, and he was convinced that Jared was a criminal (but couldn't prove it to Theresa).
Divorce and return to Theresa[]
Early in the New Year, the Blackmailer drugged Ethan and induced him to crawl into bed with Theresa, presumably so that Gwen, upon catching them, would leave Ethan once and for all - which is what happened. Gwen left Ethan and Jane at the end of January 2007, despairing that he would always love Theresa, and declaring that she deserved a man who loved her alone.
The same incident threw a wrench in Theresa's relationship with Jared, during which time (the day after Gwen left him), Ethan moved into the Crane mansion so that Theresa could help him take care of Jane. Ethan and Theresa appeared to be on track to finally renew their old relationship - only the secret Theresa had been keeping from Ethan regarding their son's paternity stood in the way - but before she could tell him, she began being blackmailed by the same entity that had drugged Ethan and which had framed her brother Luis for multiple crimes he hadn't committed (while her brother Miguel had similarly been set up by Julian and Fox Crane). Ethan was forced to watch in frustration as Theresa withdrew from him, allowing herself to be coerced into marrying Jared Casey, all because the mysterious blackmailer apparently wants Ethan for himself.
Despite Ethan's efforts to unmask the blackmailer and exonerate Luis, he's been unsuccessful; as her brothers' attorney, he was frustrated by sham court proceedings, controlled by the blackmailer, which culminated in Luis being sentenced to death and Miguel to life in prison. Theresa has repeatedly underscored the necessity, per the blackmailers' orders, of committing to her new husband - a claim which Ethan has repeatedly rejected, going so far as to kidnap Theresa and take her to one of Alistair's hidden safe rooms so they could make love, hiring a look-alike to impersonate him so they could be alone without fear and to draw out the blackmailer, and demanding to know her secret to end the blackmailers' hold on her.
Ethan's efforts have not been without their risks; for continuing to see one another covertly, the blackmailer has punished Ethan and Theresa by crushing Ethan between two walls, threatening Theresa at knifepoint, trapping the pair in the Crane Mausoleum and setting fire to it, and demanding that Theresa conceive her husband (Jared Casey)'s child. Believing they were about to die, Theresa confessed the truth about their son to Ethan in the Crane Mausoleum; but he passed out before he heard it, and remains ignorant of her secret. But her secret is increasingly in danger, as, rapidly, more people have learned it - Pilar, Chad, Whitney, Julian (with whom Theresa made a business bargain to ensure his silence), and Father Lonigan (who set Theresa's penance as telling Ethan the truth); her secret is also one of the many that is on J.T. Cornell's USB stick, which was recently discovered by Gwen and Rebecca hidden in Theresa's office. They, too, now know her secret, and have stated the intention of using it to ruin Ethan's relationship with Theresa - and to ruin Theresa for good. Despite Theresa's secret and the fact that both she and Ethan remain married to other people, Theresa accepted Ethan's proposal of marriage on June 27, 2007; upon finding out about her continued relationship with Ethan, Jared gracefully bowed out of the picture and wished Theresa every happiness, while Ethan's wife, Gwen, has also signed her divorce papers.
Finale[]
On August 17, 2007, it was revealed that Alistair was in fact alive; it was soon established that Alistair had not only been responsible for twisting grandson Vincent's already fragile psyche, but had also been behind Vincent's actions as the Blackmailer. Vincent told Alistair of the secret that he had learned - that Little Ethan had been fathered by Ethan, not Julian - and Alistair was enraged that Theresa had duped him. Theresa finally married Ethan on August 20, 2007. Gwen tried to stop the wedding and honeymoon by telling Ethan the truth, but was stopped by Alistair, who wanted to keep Little Ethan's real paternity a secret to protect his corporate interests. Alistair's attempt to poison Theresa put Ethan in a coma instead. With Alistair now known to be alive, Rebecca Hotchkiss noted in the August 23, 2007 episode that "if Alistair's not dead, then Theresa's marriage to Ethan is not legal. She is a bigamist". Alistair reminded Theresa that he was her legal husband and, fearful of being made a laughingstock for making a non-Crane his heir, threatened to harm her if she told anyone about Little Ethan's paternity. On August 29, 2007, Theresa finally revealed to an unconscious Ethan that he had a son during his hospitalization for the poisoning. The next day a nurse told Theresa that she believed Ethan could indeed hear everything Theresa said. Theresa tested this by asking Ethan to squeeze her hand, which he did. After Ethan woke up from his coma, he revealed he had heard Theresa's revelation that he has a son (although she had failed to mention his son's name or that she was the mother). The two were overjoyed. Theresa finally asked Pilar to go get Little Ethan. As Pilar and Little Ethan walked in to the hospital room, Gwen entered with a surprise. She handed Ethan a baby boy and said, "This is your son, our son, yours and mine". The NBC run of Passions ended with Ethan holding the baby, Gwen smirking at her rival, and Theresa looking horrified.
DirecTV storylines[]
Devastated to learn Gwen allegedly had a son Jonathan Winthrop with Ethan, Theresa once again decided to tell the truth of her son's paternity only to be threatened by Gwen and Alistair into backing down. Ever relentless, Theresa planned on telling Ethan until her own mother begged her not to, eventually admitting that Gwen and Rebecca were blackmailing her because of her involvement in the massacre of the Vasquez family in Mexico twenty five years before. An embittered Juanita Vasquez blamed Pilar, and threatened to exterminate the entire Lopez family, just as Juanita's had been. Theresa could not tell Ethan the truth even when Jonathan in need of a liver donor needed the help of a sibling. When Jane failed to be used, Theresa arranged for her son Little Ethan to be used in the procedure, unfortunately she had to keep telling Ethan lies, infuriating him. Gwen took advantage of the situation by telling Ethan that Theresa had another lover. In February 2008, Ethan, Luis, and Miguel learned that Theresa and Pilar were being held hostage in Mexico by Juanita Vasquez. The group arrived just as Juanita caused an explosion to destroy the boat both Pilar and Theresa were on. Ethan and Luis both swam to the wreckage where Pilar was recovered and taken back to shore, while Theresa struggled to keep herself alive in the shark infested waters. Ethan and Theresa were briefly reunited only to have Theresa pulled further out to sea as Ethan was pulled under and caught in the wreckage. As everyone awaited news of Theresa's fate a rescue worker came with news that Theresa's bloody and torn blouse had washed up on shore and her family was grief-stricken by the news. Ethan took this especially hard and said a tearful goodbye to the only woman he had ever loved.
At the prompting of his mother, Ethan decided to stay with Gwen for the sake of his children. Gradually Ethan began to take notice of the children's nanny Gertrude, and the two bonded with he not realizing Theresa was in disguise all along. Theresa and Ethan were finally reunited in the August 4, 2008 episode of Passions. Theresa, knowing Juanita had been caught, finally told Ethan that Little Ethan is his biological son and not Julian's as was always believed. Soon after, Little Ethan, with Rebecca on his heels rushed into the basement with the camera holding the proof of the secrets and lies Gwen and Rebecca had plotted to keep Ethan and Theresa apart. After a mishap with the camera Little Ethan was finally able to fix it and Sam appeared with the camera in hand as it began to play the recording of the plots hatched by Gwen and Rebecca, who were then arrested on many criminal charges including fraud, bribery, and attempted murder of not only Pilar's sister and nephews in Mexico, but also everyone in the basement of the church. As imminent doom hovered over Harmony in the form of an erupting volcano, Tabitha was baptized with everyone present and Gwen and Rebecca began arguing over a trip to Las Vegas that Gwen didn't remember, where it was revealed that Gwen had married an unknown man while drunk and the marriage was never annulled or divorced. This occurred before Ethan and Gwen were married in 2002, thus nullifying their marriage. With Gwen's marriage invalid, and Alistair Crane murdered by Viki Chatsworth three months before, Theresa and Ethan were married in a Church ceremony as they both had dreamed of in front of family and friends at St. Margaret Mary's church on August 7, 2008.
Overall Character Summary[]
Ethan Winthrop is the only child of Ivy Winthrop Crane and Sam Bennett. He is also the oldest child born to both of os his parents. Ivy was with the two men within a 24 hour period, and Ethan was born exactly nine months later...a beautiful ten pound baby. Sam is his biological father, even though Julian is his legal father, and is the man listed on his birth certificate. He met Gwen Hotchkiss at age 12, and the two immediately hit it off. They even proceeded to go to the same Connecticut boarding school, Choate Rosemary Hall Boarding School. While they had many other opportunities, they remained a couple (despite Ethan's infidelities), not only through high-school but also once Ethan went off to attend Harvard law (while Gwen attended another university). In July of 1999, Ethan had recently turned 24 and graduated from law school, and came home to Harmony to work for Gwen's parents, then spent some time in private practice, but soon went to work for Crane industries.
Ethan has always been in love with Gwen, but he was reluctant to finalize their relationship, until his aunt Sheridan pushed him into it. Knowing that he was proposing for other reasons, Gwen turned him down -- if she couldn't marry for love, she wouldn't marry him. That issue was pushed to the back-burner when Ethan began being the victim of mysterious 'accidents', and became determined to learn who was stalking him. With the help of private detective Frank Lomax, he eventually realized that Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald was his stalker, but decided to give her a second chance, and soon began to believe that Theresa was his friend, not realising that she was really trying to be close to him in an effort to break him and Gwen up and get him for herself. He has never saw her as more than a friend, but she assigned meaning to even the most trivial events. Her dreams almost backfired, though, when all her talk of 'true love' helped Ethan to see how much he loved Gwen, and prompted him to propose to her. The engagement almost didn't happen when Theresa refused to give him the engagement ring (that she claimed was stuck on her finger), but luckily, Gwen and Ethan loved each other enough to work it out.
Plans for the wedding were going ahead as scheduled when Gwen was called out of town on business. Believing she had their best interests at heart, Gwen and Ethan approached Theresa with the idea that she handle the wedding arrangements while Gwen was out of town. Gwen would, of course, still be involved every step of the way through fax and e-mail, and would have final say, but they wanted someone there to do the wedding. Gwen was only out of town for a few days, but Theresa capitalized on that time, and spent as much time with Ethan as possible. While his heart still belongs to Gwen, Ethan has felt stirrings of feeling for Theresa, not realising that Theresa has this whold thing planned out. Knowing that he was feeling conflicted, Ethan begged Gwen to return home. Although initially she was unable to, she quickly wrapped up her business, returning to Harmony the next day.
The real trouble came after Gwen returned home, when Theresa told Ethan she loved him on the prom boat. Ethan had no idea -- and immediately wrote it off as a crush. Theresa had told him about her boyfriend Chuck, who broke up with her, and he assumed she was looking for a rebound love. Theresa couldn't possibly love him -- she was a child, with a teenage crush, and he was a man. Theresa tried to explain that she DID love Ethan, and it wasn't a rebound, but then she would have had to confess that she really was stalking Ethan and had lied all about 'Chuck'. Gwen was immediately suspicious when she caught the two together in a compromising position, but Theresa smoothly lied her way out of that, and is now Gwen's maid of honor!
Since that night on the prom boat, Theresa has made every opportunity to be alone with Ethan. It doesn't help matters that in addition to Theresa manipulating him, Ethan's father Julian is encouraging him to sow his wild oats with Theresa, and Ethan's friend Chad is manipulating things to push Theresa and Ethan towards each other. Ethan continually tells Theresa that it's Gwen he loves and he only thinks of her as a friend, and has tried to tell her that he knows and loves Gwen, and a few months with her can't compare to years of love with Gwen, but Theresa refuses to believe him. Ethan has no idea the lies she has told to land her Crane, or the extent of her obsession. He has finally gotten through to her that he's not in love with her, but unfortunately, an accident (caused partly through her own negligence, partly because of sabotage) has landed her in the hospital, and is leaving Ethan conflicted about his feelings. Is it his long-time love and soul mate Gwen that he wants, or is it Theresa, who he honestly believes to be an innocent young girl rebounding from a broken heart?
A few weeks before he was to marry Gwen, Theresa nearly died in a motorcycle accident. Ethan suddenly realized that he returned her feelings of love, and told her so in the hospital. Less than 12 hours before he was to marry Gwen, in the middle of their engagement party, Ethan informed her that while he was still in love with her, he was also in love with Theresa, and called off the wedding. He did not, however, call off the engagement. On Christmas Eve, while still engaged to Gwen, he took Gwen to Church, then surprised everyone by proposing to Theresa. The next day, Gwen broke off their engagement.
Theresa and Ethan's relationship has hit a snag now though. At his engagement party, Ethan was rocked with the news that his father is not Julian Crane, as he'd always thought, but Sam Bennett. Rather than being the heir to the Crane fortune, he is the illegitimate son of a man he hates. Lost and confused, Ethan goes to Theresa and tells her he wants to call off the wedding...but they decide to go through with it. Ethan immediately turns his back on the Crane family, and walks away from them, dropping the 'Crane' name.
Ethan made a promise to Ivy that if Theresa continued to lie to him, that he would break off his future with her. When Theresa lied to him about sleeping with Julian (which he discovered when her pregnancy was announced to the whole world), he had enough, and broke things off...not because of her pregnancy, because because it was the latest in a string of lies. He forgave her for most of them, but he couldn't forgive her for this. Theresa continues to insist that he still loves her and wants her back, but he reminds her that her lies ruined their future.
Ethan continued to decline Theresa's advances, feeling that he just couldn't trust her any more. Despite all of that, though, he is still drawn to Theresa, despite also being drawn back to his first love, Gwen. Ethan and Gwen get closer, and become lovers again, but when Ethan learns that Theresa has confessed to killing Julian Crane, he and Gwen try to get her off, both believing that she is innocent. What Ethan doesn't realize is that Theresa thinks she's covering for him! He begs the Crane attorney, Davis, to help her, not realising that Davis has been instructed to make sure Theresa is found guilty. When the judge declares Theresa's fate, the two go on the run together.
When Theresa goes into labor at the cabin, she refuses to tell Ethan because she needs more time to convince him that he still loves her. Ethan would have remained clueless if Gwen had not shown up on the scene, and finally forced Ethan to realize that Theresa was actually in labor. With Ethan and Gwen's help, Theresa gave birth to a baby boy, just as the police burst in! They took Theresa back to the city, where they prepared to execute her. Ethan went to the governor's office, hoping that he could convince the governor to delay the execution in order for them to file an appeal, but Alistair had gotten there first.
Ethan watched the investigation with his lady love, Gwen Hotchkiss. She was there to comfort him throughout the entire event, but after Theresa's death, needed to know if Ethan wanted her, or the ghost of Theresa. Ethan assured her that it was her he wanted, and the two retired for an evening of love-making. Both were shocked when Theresa turned up alive, all part of Alistair's plot. Theresa immediately made a play for Ethan, despite her marriage and his commitment to Gwen, and at first he bought into it, until he realized that Theresa was using the baby to manipulate him.
Ethan was unaware of Theresa's continued manipulations, and was soon torn between her and Gwen. He was about to break up with Gwen and ask Theresa to marry him when they found out Gwen was pregnant. Although she planned to move to New York, after much thought and a talk with his father, Ethan realized his heart and his future lay with the mother of his child. He asked Gwen to marry him and began looking for a new job. He didn't realize that Theresa had ruined all his possible job opportunities in an effort to break up him and Gwen, so he ended up stuck working at Crane Industries until he is able to find someone who isn't afraid of the Crane name.
Ethan and Gwen finally decided to go to Los Angeles to see a specialist and to take a break from Theresa. Unfortunately, she was already out there. Ethan was initially able to resist her, until Theresa and Fox (unbeknownest to him and Whitney, their intended targets) launched a full-out attack to get the objects of their affections. Ethan couldn't forget the innocent young girl he still believed Theresa to be, and was drawn to her again, even though he made it clear that he was not leaving his wife or child, and told Theresa it was over. Unfortunately, Gwen had seen the two kissing on television, and came to the apartment to talk to Ethan.
After a confrontation with Theresa, Gwen was rushed to the hospital, where Ethan was told he had to choose between her and the baby. Theresa encouraged him to let Gwen die and to save the baby, as it was the Christian thing to do. Unable to forget how willing Theresa was to end her own baby's life, Ethan called her a heartless monster, and after much deliberation, decided to save Gwen...but the decision was taken out of his hands when the baby died. Although Theresa continued to try to manipulate her way close to him, Ethan told her he wanted nothing to do with her again, and promised Gwen that he would never let Theresa's manipulations cause him to go running to her side again.
Ethan and Gwen decided to go the surrogate root to have a baby, and were thrilled to find Heather, who seemed perfect. Unfortunately, the day that Heather was supposed to be implanted, she was kidnapped by Theresa, who had herself implanted with the eggs so she could blackmail Ethan and Gwen into giving her back her child. When they learned she was expecting twins, Ethan and Gwen were initially thrilled, until Ethan began remembering a night he thought he was with Gwen, and soon realized he had been raped by Theresa and one of the babies she was carrying belonged to the two of them. Despite his conviction that Theresa had drugged and raped him, Theresa claimed that their sex that night was consensual, leaving Ethan uncertain as to what actually happened, but as time went on he became more and more certain he did not consent to the sex.
After one child had to be aborted to save the life of the other, Ethan prayed that the baby girl Theresa carried was his child with Gwen. Unfortunately, Theresa announced her intentions to keep the child, and Ethan was forced to admit to a disbelieving Gwen that Theresa had been with him and that what she said might really be true. The baby inevitably turned out to be Theresa's, leaving Gwen devastated and Ethan distressed. After attempting to kill Theresa, Gwen went on the run with the baby. When they finally caught up to them, Ethan shocked Theresa by telling her that he had the charges against Gwen dropped and, in return for Theresa not re-filing, Ethan would not take the baby from her. After learning that Theresa had the charges reinstated in a bid to break up his marriage with Gwen, Ethan called Theresa on the carpet, furious with her. He made good on his threats, and he began a custody battle with Theresa as Gwen faced the judge for what she did.
Gwen and Ethan won temporary custody, and before long, Theresa's visitation was limited as she continued to scheme to get close to her daughter. The custody arrangement seemingly became permanent as Gwen and Ethan attempted numerous times to leave the country with Jane but Theresa, who married Alistair, blocked them at every turn, making it impossible for Ethan to get a job anywhere in her attempt to keep him close. Ethan confronted Theresa after finding proof that she had sabotaged his job prospects, only to be confronted with a proposition -- if he would agree to let her become his mistress, she would leave him be. She continued to try to get him to work at Crane, but Ethan finally decided to be a stay-at-home dad to Jane after Gwen got a good job. Ethan headed to Rome to protect Jessica after she took off, and while there, Theresa attempted to convince him again that Gwen had sent the truth about his paternity to the tabloids, claiming that tabloid editor J.T. Cornell, whom she had found in Rome, could prove it. Although J.T. claimed Gwen had sent the information, Ethan didn't believe him, as Theresa had just offered the man ten million dollars. But when Gwen showed up in Rome, he wanted answers from his wife as to why Theresa was so certain.
Education[]
- Choate Rosemary Hall Boarding School (1989-1993)
- Harvard University (1993-1997)
- Harvard Law (graduated 1999)
Crimes Committed[]
- Lit a fire on Dune Point
- Got into a fistfight with Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald [Dec 8, 2000]
- Along with Sam and Noah, got into a brawl with Spike [Arrested; Jul 18, 2005]
- Punched Chad Harris-Crane; which turned into a fistfight [Mar 20-21, 2006]
- Vandalized a Bermuda Hotel
- Misrepresented himself to hotel staff to get into Julian's room
Health and Vitals[]
- Caught in a tsunami [Aug 1, 2005]
- Ate drugged guacamole Theresa meant for Alistair and was put on a ventilator [Oct 28, 2005]
- Punched by Jared Casey [Jan 22, 2007]
- Ate poisoned strawberries Alistair meant for Theresa [Aug 24, 2007]
Trivia[]
- Ethan's zodiac sign is Pisces (March 9).
- Ethan is technically the only child of Sam and Ivy. He doesn't hav any full-blooded siblings and all of his brothers and sisters are half siblings both on his mother's side and his father's side.
- Ethan's paternity as Sam Bennett's son had been kept a secret for 25 years.