Occupation: Private Nurse

Relationships: Brett Armstrong

Appearances: Season 2

Who’d Play Her: Amanda Righetti

The Nurse Who Played Both Sides: Gwen Hardisty became James Blackthorne’s private nurse after risky brain surgery left him confined to a wheelchair. Outwardly attentive and professional, she was secretly involved with James’s son-in-law, Brett Armstrong, who had assumed control of Sunset Studios during James’s recovery. Fearing that James would reclaim the company once he regained the use of his legs, Brett enlisted Gwen to help keep him physically dependent.

At Brett’s direction, Gwen administered muscle relaxers that gradually left James weak, listless, and unable to recover. Their arrangement was complicated by a passionate affair, which they concealed from Brett’s wife, Miranda. Gwen believed Brett’s promises that he would eventually leave Miranda and build a life with her, allowing her feelings for him to cloud both her judgment and her responsibilities as James’s nurse.

The deception nearly turned fatal when James became increasingly debilitated and suffered a violent fall down the stairs. Hospital tests revealed that he had been chemically sedated. Gwen initially denied knowing how the drugs had entered his system, but privately confronted Brett for placing James’s life in danger and using her to do it. Brett insisted that he had never intended to seriously harm James and managed to persuade Gwen to continue protecting him.

Their affair took another turn when Gwen discovered that she was pregnant with Brett’s child. Brett pretended to be delighted and assured her that he would leave Miranda when the time was right. Gwen clung to his promises, convinced that the pregnancy would finally force him to choose her.

After James recovered and regained the use of his legs, Gwen’s position within the household became even more precarious. She suffered a miscarriage and was devastated when Brett suggested that ending the pregnancy might have been best. Unwilling to identify the father, Gwen received sympathy from James and Brooke, who allowed her to remain in the mansion as baby Michael’s nanny.

Behind their backs, Gwen began blackmailing Brett. She demanded money in exchange for keeping quiet about their affair, the pregnancy, and his role in drugging James. Brett realized that one payment would never be enough and decided to eliminate the threat permanently.

Brett arranged for her to be kidnapped and returned to Paraguay, where she had apparently escaped before completing a prison sentence. Gwen vanished from Los Angeles as abruptly as she had entered the Blackthornes’ lives, stripped of the leverage she believed would protect her.

Gwen began as Brett’s willing accomplice, sacrificing a vulnerable patient for the promise of money, love, and a future with him. When she finally recognized that Brett had used her, she attempted to use their secrets against him. She underestimated how far he would go to protect himself, becoming yet another woman discarded once she stopped being useful.