The return is one of the most widely reported in the genre's history, with newspapers such as the Associated Press and New York Daily News featuring the story.

In the June 29, 2009 issue of ABC Soaps in Depth magazine, head writer Charles Pratt, Jr. confirmed they had written Greenlee to remain alive, but that Budig would be making no immediate plans to return to the show.

[12] When producers at All My Children were looking for a new villainess to wreak havoc in fictional town Pine Valley, they created character Greenlee Smythe, inspired by the likes of Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) and Kendall Hart (Sarah Michelle Gellar).

Judy Blye Wilson, AMC casting director told me that Greenlee was a bad girl who comes to Pine Valley and causes trouble.

[13] Wilson felt that Budig brought a special mix of qualities to the table, detailing that "she has this unique way of playing the bad girl, if you will, but making her very likable".

[13] When describing the feeling of portraying a vixen, Budig also used the word fun; she cited her kinship with the character and how it differs from her role on Guiding Light.

New head writers of the series, James Harmon Brown and Barbara Esensten, in their interview with TV Guide, stated that they helped Singh get into the role by "writing specifically" for her.

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Budig again departed from the role of Greenlee in March 2009; she cited the difficulty of her bicoastal lifestyle with husband Bob Guiney as her reason for the exit.

All My Children new head writer Charles Pratt, Jr. said to ABC Soaps in Depth, "I have great belief that someday, at some point, Greenlee will want to come back, and we'll be primed and ready for her".

said a note on a MySpace page claiming affiliation with Singh's fan club:[15]She was given a week to leave quietly and told that Rebecca was coming back.

When asked of Singh, Budig praised her work but seemed aware of how the writers had altered Greenlee's character and of the audience's dissatisfaction with the change; in response to this, she hinted that this issue would not be the case with her return.

Singh commented on her departure in the subsequent issue of Soap Opera Digest; she said she did not know who the person claiming affiliation with her fan club was but that the information provided was mostly accurate.

When Ryan steals $3 million from his internet company, Greenlee covers for him, by borrowing the money from loan shark Wade Randall.

When she learns that Ryan took the money to help Gillian rescue Jake Martin from war-torn Chechnya, she turns him in to the police cuts her ties with him.

After Erica is cleared of murder charges, Greenlee attempts to help Leo get his mother, Vanessa Bennett, out of his life.

Leo is embroiled in the case to find Vanessa's missing drug money and has charges of tampering with evidence against him that prohibit him from leaving town.

One of Vanessa's supposed alternate personalities reveals to them the coordinates of the missing money, which turns out to be all worthless stocks, and Leo becomes free to take Greenlee to Paris.

Greenlee cannot come to grips with life without Leo and wants to kill herself on multiple occasions, but she is able to go on with the help and support of her brother-in-law, David Hayward.

Enlisting the partnership of Simone Torres, Kendall Hart, Liza Colby, and Mia Saunders, she creates Fusion Cosmetics.

Additionally, because of her antics at the trial, Greenlee has only succeeded in making Kendall the prime suspect in the murder and herself a social outcast and an object of hatred for most of Pine Valley, both of which she had not counted on.

Though they seek treatment, her erratic behavior continues, culminating in her nearly falling off the roof of the Fusion building while imagining a trapeze act.

Braden had fled town years earlier to avoid being charged with the rape of Jackson Montgomery's sister, Christine, and Ryan vowed to find him.

She also learns that Kendall's new husband Zach Slater was responsible for a power outage the left her eggs not viable for implantation, and decides to sue for custody of the resulting child, Spike.

Zach sends Aidan on a mission to Darfur to rescue a doctor, who turns out to be Jake Martin, again trapped in a war torn country.

During Jesse Hubbard and Angie Baxter's wedding, Greenlee finds out from her father about Aidan and Kendall's one-night stand.

In November 2009, Ryan discovers Greenlee's medical records on David's computer, who claims he was using them for research into Amanda Dillon's pregnancy.

Greenlee realizes she needs to pull out the big guns to win back the company she created and loves like a child.

Greenlee plants documents that frame Erica for stealing money from the Miranda House to pay for her new line of Fusion products.

On the day of their wedding, Amanda comes over and gives Greenlee gifts from Kendall, such as the first fusion lipstick ever made, and more, Madison North decides to go to work.

Following the pregnancy mess, he and Greenlee exchange teary vows with Emma, Spike and Jackson Montgomery celebrating this joyous moment with them.