Brooke English
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Brooke English is a character in the television soap opera All My Children. A resident of Pine Valley, she is played by Julia Barr.
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Brooke, the wild teenager.
Brooke Allison English arrived in 1976 in Pine Valley where she moved into her aunt, Phoebe English Wallingford's mansion. She then began seeing both Dan Kennicott as well as her old flame, Benny Sago. Brooke was almost sent home by Phoebe until Benny intervened and blackmailed her.
Brooke and Erica's exes.
Her interest in the two men soon withered when she met Tom Cudahy, a football star. Unfortunately, the equally wild Erica Kane had her eyes on him and eventually got Tom to marry her. The long-standing rivalry between the two women was born and still continues to this day.
Heartbroken, Brooke then took up with Dan Kennicott again, whom was also seeing Devon Shepard. Faking paralysis at the time, Phoebe caught Brooke with Dan and in her disgust, threatened to kick her niece out again. Brooke got the upper-hand, however, when she discovered her aunt's own lies and deceit and once again, blackmailed her aunt into letting her stay.
Dan broke off things with Devon so he could fully commit himself to Brooke but the latter was sleeping with Erica's half-brother, Mark Dalton on the side. When Dan found out about the affair, he left town. Mark made things worse for Brooke when he made it explicitly clear to her that their relationship was just about sex. Feeling depressed, Brooke had an affair with con artist, Eddie Dorrance. He died soon after and Brooke learned she was carrying his child. She decided to terminate the pregnancy.
Brooke once again got involved with Tom Cudahy, whom was now separated from Erica. When the latter returned to Pine Valley after an unsuccessful attempt at an acting career, Tom was persuaded by Erica to give their marriage another try. Erica's compulsive lying drove Tom to file for divorce and in time, Brooke and Tom got engaged. They would wed soon after.
Motherhood, tragedy and more run-ins with La Kane
Brooke then began a job as a reporter and discovered that her mother (or so she believed at the time), Peg English, was in actuality code-named Cobra, the leader of an international drug cartel. She then fell pregnant again and left her husband when she found out that he had slept with Erica in a drunk daze the night before the latter was to marry Adam Chandler. Tom failed in an attempt to legally prove Brooke was an unfit mother, even before the baby was born. Meanwhile, Brooke had gotten close to Mark Dalton again and Mark was there with her the night she gave birth to her firstborn, Laura Cudahy. Brooke got engaged for the second time soon after.
Now a rising TV anchorwoman, Brooke was sent to prison for refusing to reveal a source in a municipal scandal she exposed. After being released from jail, she and Mark attended a party where a henchman of the corrupt judge she exposed tried to shoot them. Erica's then fiancé, Mike Roy, took the bullet instead. Brooke and Mark soon drifted apart because she was career-driven and occupied with her newborn, Laura. Mark's drug abuse didn't help matters, either. The two parted and Mark opted to leave town. Brooke's fling with stuntman, Giles St. Clair, would be brief as she was to find her way back to another old flame once more.
Unfortunately, external factors soon wormed their way into Brooke and Tom's new start causing strains on the relationship. The two decided they were better off as friends and parted amicably. Around this time, Brooke discovered her biological mother was a homeless woman named Jane Dobrin.
Brooke then met wealthy Adam Chandler (one of Erica's ex-husbands) who became quickly enamoured with Brooke. Equally in love with Adam, the two wed. Her happiness was marred by a horrible tragedy, however. Tom's love interest at the time, Barbara Montgomery, was engrossed with work while babysitting Laura. She let little Laura out to play with a friend but the child was killed by a drunk driver as she was crossing the street. Brooke was utterly devastated and to this day, still mourns her daughter's passing. Barbara's torment over her guilt effectively destroyed her relationship with Tom eventually as well.
Adam's promises of love and honour soon came to naught however when Brooke found out he was having an affair with young Dixie Cooney, in an attempt to sire an heir when he found out that Brooke would apparently not be able to bear any more children. Dixie did become pregnant and give birth Adam's only son, Adam "J.R." Chandler Jr. but the affair cost him his marriage. After the divorce, Brooke began working with Tad Martin. They developed a friendship and after Tad (who had fallen in love with Dixie and married her after the latter's divorce from Adam) divorced Dixie, Brooke slept with him. After his apparent death off a bridge in 1990, Brooke discovered she was pregnant!
She then attempted a relationship with Jack Montgomery, leading her to clash one-on-one with Erica Kane again. Brooke almost lost her unborn child when she and Jack were hit by drunk driver, Arlene Vaughan but her second child, James Edward "Jamie" Martin came into the world as a healthy baby. Eventually, Jack and Brooke parted ways as friends after Erica's scheming helped Brooke to see that he still cared deeply for Erica. After previously telling everyone that her pregnancy was a result of artificial insemination (to protect Dixie with whom Tad had reconciled with before his "death"), Brooke also went public with the fact that Jamie was Tad's son.
Three failed marriages and an ectopic pregnancy.
Brooke then had a torrid affair with Edmund Grey. His hot and cold behaviour left her angry and his continuing obsession with discovering his parentage and birthright further strained ties between them. Things effectively ended when Tad returned to Pine Valley. Desperately wanting to be a good father to Jamie, Tad married Brooke.
Tad and Dixie's love could never be denied and the two started their own affair. He started lying to Brooke about his whereabouts and since Edmund was still deeply in love with Brooke, he told her about Tad's dalliances with his ex-wife in an attempt to break up Brooke's marriage. The latter remained resolute in her choice to stay married to Tad, however. Brooke then became pregnant again although this time, tragedy would strike again. The pregnancy was ectopic and termination was necessary to save her life. Realizing that Tad would never love her the way he so passionately was with Dixie, she ended their marriage.
Adopting Laura and standing trial for murder
Laura Kirk, a homeless teen, came into Brooke's life when she publicly accused Brooke at the Woman of the Year ceremony of not doing enough to help the cause of the homeless. Brooke was deeply affected and promised Laura that she would work harder to help. In doing so, she also developed a bond with Laura. On the romantic front, Adam would woo Brooke back into his arms but still deeply scarred by their marriage, she guarded herself and stayed noticeably distant as she was convinced he would revert back to his old ways. When he and Liza Colby cooked up a scheme to lure Brooke and Tad back to them, Brooke realized that she wasn't invested enough in Adam to put up with everything he had to offer.
Brooke would then start seeing Pierce Riley in 1996 who lived in a campsite in the woods with Laura and ex-con Janet Green. Janet, in retaliation, would attempt to steal Brooke's identity when Pierce and Brooke started dating (Janet had feelings for Pierce) but her scheme didn't amount too much. Brooke would also take Laura in to her home and adopt her.
Pierce was a very troubled man who suffered disturbing flashbacks from his past involving gunshots and a woman from his past. When he painfully confessed that he may have shot the woman in his flashbacks, Brooke urged him to seek help and leant her support when he was undergoing therapy. Under hypnosis, he remembered that he and Christina (the woman) had a daughter in Central America named Amelia. He also remembered that a soldier had forced him to choose to either kill Christina or Amelia and that the soldier had shot Christina by pulling the trigger of the gun in Pierce's hands. Pierce suffered a breakdown after that and Brooke promised to look for Amelia. Shortly after, though, Christina showed up very much alive and the two left Pine Valley to look for Amelia.
Whilst returning from a business trip in New York City with Edmund, Maria Santos Grey (his wife) and their baby daughter, Maddie Grey, the plane malfunctioned, exploded and crashed. Though Brooke tried desperately to save Maria's life, the latter chose for Brooke to save Maddie instead. Maria's body was never found and she was presumed dead, much to Edmund's devastation. Searching fervently for the truth to the plane crash, Brooke met a man who helped her through the ordeal of the plane crash (he was also a survivor) and his name was Jim Thomasen.
Laura was shocked when she discovered her mother was seeing Jim. The two shared a secret past as Jim had taken lewd photographs of Laura as a teenager. The latter had posed for the pictures because she needed the money to help care for her sick mother, Terry Kirk. Laura discovered that the pictures were all over the Internet and she was kidnapped by Ricky, the man she had posed with in the pictures. Brooke would find the pictures thanks to a tip-off and receive a ransom note demanding that the police were not to be notified about Laura's disappearance. She obeyed and told Jim she would drop the money herself. Jim made himself look like a hero when he saved Laura from Ricky. Though she told Brooke that she knew Ricky, the former didn't tell her mother that Jim had been the photographer after declaring a truce with him to keep it a secret between themselves.
Brooke would make headway in her ongoing investigation into the plane crash of Flight 149 and found evidence that linked Jim to the plane explosion. She also found out about his past as a child pornographer and that he was responsible for Laura's photos. She confronted him and shot and killed him when Jim threatened to go after her son, Jamie.
Indicted with a murder charge and convinced that she wouldn't win the trial, Brooke went on the run with Jamie but with much prodding and convincing by her ex, Tad Martin, she came home to Pine Valley to stand trial. With much help and secret maneuvering by Tad, Brooke's lawyers managed to get an acquittal from the jury. Laura then left town to study in China and Brooke dated Dimitri Marick. It didn't amount into anything, however, as Erica put a stop to things with her jibes (Dimitri was another one of Erica's ex-lovers).
Family, Marriages and Romantic Entanglements
- Ed English and Jane Dobrin (parents)
- Peg English (stepmother)
- Phoebe English Wallingford (deceased) and Langley Wallingford (aunt & uncle)
- Dr. Charles Tyler II (deceased), Lincoln Tyler and Anne Tyler Martin (deceased) (cousins)
- Chuck Tyler and Elizabeth Martin (deceased) (2nd cousins)
- Palmer John Cortlandt (deceased) (3rd cousin)
Children
- Laura Cudahy (with Tom Cudahy)(deceased)
- James Edward "Jamie" Martin(with Tad Martin)
- Laura Kirk English (adopted) (biological daughter of the late Terry Kirk)
Marriages
Current marital status: Single
Marriages:
- Tom Cudahy (divorced)
- Adam Chandler (divorced)
- Tad Martin (divorced)
- Edmund Grey (invalid - unknowingly bigamous; deceased)Template:SoapChar