Parents: Cassidy Solomon and Drake Draper

Relationships: Duke Summerfield, Blake Distefano, Benji Rydell

Appearances: Season 5 & 6

Who’d Play Her: Rachel Melvin

The Girl Who Turned Jealousy Into a Weapon: Summer Solomon was the daughter of celebrated film and television actress Cassidy Solomon. Raised amid Hollywood privilege and accustomed to the dramatic behavior of the adults around her, Summer became part of the volatile younger circle that included Benji Rydell, Blake Distefano, Duke Summerfield, Sierra Merteuil, and Jeff Branigan.

Summer’s life was permanently changed when Cassidy joined the Sunset Studios production of House of Palms in Acapulco. During the cartel attack on the cast and crew, Cassidy was brutally murdered along with director Eric Autumn and a security guard. Her death left Summer without her mother and added another private trauma to the glamorous but unstable world in which she had been raised.

Summer had been romantically involved with Duke, but their relationship was complicated by her affair with drug dealer Jeff Branigan. Duke regarded the betrayal as a humiliation and enlisted his old boarding-school friend Benji to help him take revenge. What Duke did not know was that Summer had also slept with Benji during one of Benji’s emotional breakdowns, creating another secret capable of destroying their friendship.

Summer eventually developed genuine feelings for Benji, even though he remained obsessed with Sierra. Hoping to provoke his jealousy, she began using Blake as a romantic pawn. Blake’s interest gave Summer the attention she wanted while allowing her to watch for any sign that Benji cared whom she dated.

When Sierra returned to Los Angeles with Hunt Roberts, Benji’s attention immediately shifted back to her. Hurt and frustrated, Summer confronted Benji in the pool house. He began seducing her but stopped when the encounter reminded him of Sierra. The rejection made it unmistakably clear that, no matter what had happened between them, Summer would never occupy the place Sierra held in Benji’s life.

Duke later learned that Benji had slept with Summer and quietly turned against the friend he believed had betrayed him. At Magnum Rainer’s twentieth birthday party, Duke encouraged Summer to do whatever was necessary to keep Benji and Sierra apart. Summer responded by falsely claiming that Benji had tried to attack her. Blake believed her and punched Benji, further isolating him from one of his closest friends.

Summer’s actions became even more dangerous later that night. She slipped a drug supplied by Jeff into Sierra’s drink. Sierra suffered a terrifying reaction and ran screaming into the street. When Benji learned that Jeff had provided the drug, he attacked him. During the struggle, Jeff was struck and killed by a speeding car as Benji attempted to push Sierra out of danger.

The tragedy exposed how casually Summer had treated other people’s safety. Her jealousy of Sierra and desire to manipulate Benji had helped create a chain of events that ended in Jeff’s death and placed Sierra in grave danger. Yet Summer was not the only person using the situation for revenge. Duke had encouraged her false accusation because he wanted to punish Benji, while Jeff had supplied the drug without concern for what it might do.

Cassidy’s murder had already taught Summer how suddenly love and security could be taken away, but grief did not make her more cautious. Instead, she often responded to rejection with manipulation, spectacle, and cruelty. She inherited her mother’s dramatic instincts, but expressed them within a younger and more reckless social world.

Summer wanted Benji to choose her, but every attempt to force his attention only revealed how little control she truly had over him. By pretending Benji had attacked her and drugging the woman he loved, Summer crossed the line from jealous rival to active participant in the violence consuming their circle.