Babe Carey

Arabella "Babe" Carey is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.

The character was killed off on the October 23, 2008 episode of the show, after suffering injuries during a series of tornadoes, although she reappeared briefly on June 2 and 29, 2009, as a ghost.

In September 2011, Babe (Havins) briefly returned to Pine Valley as an apparition appearing to JR.

[2] The writers often had the character referred to as "Baby Doll" by her mother, Krystal Carey (Bobbie Eakes), and occasionally as "Bella" when speaking to Kevin Buchanan (Dan Gauthier) on One Life to Live.

In addition, the series displayed significant comparisons between her and legendary character Dixie Cooney.

When asked in 2006 by Soap Opera Weekly if difficult to be in "such constant" heavy stories, she stated, "We laugh at our scheduling producer because she always feels bad.

"[6] In early 2007, rumors circulated that Havins would not be renewing her contract as Babe Carey once it expired later in the year.

After her husband and All My Children co-star at the time, Justin Bruening, exited the show, the rumors gained momentum.

James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten, new head writers of the series, were reluctant to state whether or not Havins would be departing the soap opera.

We saw some little things in Sabine Singh (Greenlee), so we wrote for her accordingly, but you get into real trouble when you completely change the character for a recast.

Luckily, Jim and I don’t have any trouble separating the actor from a character because the latter is really paramount in our eyes.

[8] Havins portrayed Babe Carey for four years, but decided to leave to pursue other acting opportunities.

To her fans, she left a message of appreciation and content: Dear Friends, I just filmed my final scene as Arabella "Babe" Carey on All My Children.

Sitting in my dressing room, I have taken a moment to reflect on the past four years of my life both professionally and personally.

Baker said that she was treated with a warm welcome from the rest of the cast and Havins herself, and that this has made her feel at home while on set.

[13] Baker described working with Michael E. Knight (Tad Martin) and Eakes as a fun but somewhat intimidating experience.

[14] Baker revealed that in her spare time in between takes as the character, she managed to find something to keep entertained by.

[17] Within the series, when the two give birth to their children on the same night (Bianca to Miranda and Babe to Little Adam), their bond further endeared them to the audience.

Of the birth scenes, actress Eden Riegel, Bianca's portrayer, stated, "I had done so much research.

She sat in a room "full of pregnant Upper West Siders" and practiced breathing exercises.

Havins stated, "And for some reason I have always watched Maternity Ward on TLC and just to see it firsthand was great.

"[17] In early 2004, there were viewers who believed Bianca to be secretly in love with Babe and hoped Bianca and Babe's relationship would become sexually intimate; this was witnessed by fansites for the pairing, emails being sent to the ABC studio and message board postings.

AfterEllen.com, a website that focuses on the portrayal of lesbians and bisexual women in the media, eventually took notice and briefly commented:...fueled in part by a late summer episode showing Bianca and Babe in bed together (a ruse to trap Babe's husband), which spawned a whole new subset of fans rooting for a Bianca-Babe pairing.

However, once convinced by Krystal to keep Bianca's child as her own in order to save JR from heartbreak, she does as advised.

Described as "Babe's long-overdue confessional" and beginning of redemption, she confesses to Bianca the truth about their children.

[19] Havins and Riegel described what went into taping the moment Bianca discovers that her child is alive and Babe's deception.

To the point where several weeks before they gave me the script, our producer, Julie [Hanan Carruthers], sat us down and said to us, 'This is just so important.,'" added Havins.

I kept having to make myself laugh and leave set and play with my friends in the hair and makeup room and just sort of try to view the day as though it was just an average taping day because the last thing those scenes needed from my character's perspective was that sense of gravity, that feeling of, 'This is so important.'

"[19] Justin Bruening (Jamie Martin) and Jacob Young (JR) were the only other cast members in the episode.

In a 2007 interview with TV Guide, Havins seemed perplexed that a significant number of viewers had still not forgiven Babe for the baby switch, and felt that the character had been redeeming herself.

Bianca (Eden Riegel) and Babe's (Alexa Havins) ruse to fool JR left a group of viewers hoping that the scam would result in an actual romance between the two (2004).