Her early appearances center on her love triangle with Chad Harris-Crane and her sister Whitney; the character later gains more prominence on the show through her experience coming out as a lesbian to her family, and her relationship with Rae Thomas.

Conceived by the soap's founder and head writer James E. Reilly, the role was portrayed by three actresses over the course of the show: Lena Cardwell (1999–2001), Chrystee Pharris (2001–2004), and Cathy Jenéen Doe (2004–2007).

The show's representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) topics, and Doe's performance as Simone, received a mixed response from critics; she was the principal actress during the storylines focusing on the character's sexuality.

Sheraton Kalouria, senior vice president of NBC's daytime programming,[1] described the show's color-blind casting as part of an effort to build a diverse pool of characters that best reflected the various ethnic and racial groups living in the United States.

[6] After leaving the show, Cardwell said she received a great deal of fan mail and that the experience "made [her] feel loved and appreciated.

[10] Doe was hired for the third and final re-casting after moving to Los Angeles from New York, where she was primarily offered the role of "a runaway teenager, a prostitute, a drug dealer".

[12] Daniel R. Coleridge of TV Guide described Simone's early behavior as "bitchy to her older sister, who was nothing but kind to her",[13] while Variety's Josef referred to the character as a "daredevil teen.

"[14] When assuming the role in 2001, Pharris said that her preparation consisted of consulting with her friends about Simone, Whitney, and Chad, and incorporating her own life experiences into her interpretation of the character.

During an interview about the storyline, he highlighted "sexual identity isn't a passing fancy" and "this is where [Simone] is...I can assure you we're not going to make light of this particular topic.

Simone's early storylines concentrate on her reluctant participation in her friend Kay Bennett's schemes to separate Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald from Charity Standish and her attraction to Chad-Harris Crane.

Simone acts primarily in a supporting role for these two characters' storylines, for instance advising Jessica to divorce her abusive husband Spike Lester and seek professional help for her drug addiction.

In December 2005, Eve, Julian, Liz, and T. C. find a video from Alistair Crane in which he claims to have hired Rae to seduce Simone and "turn" her into a lesbian.

She was identified as "a character who broke down some barriers for the depiction of lesbians on daytime TV and earned the show awards and accolades from civil rights groups" by a writer from Soaps.com.

[13] Simone's homosexuality was described as "the most real and moving story on the show" by Soapcentral's Brandi Pine, who found T. C.'s negative reaction to be a realistic portrayal of a parent's difficult in accepting his or her child's sexual orientation.

[17] Herndon L. Davis of Windy City Times felt the representation of Simone as daytime's first African-American lesbian was overshadowed by the show's poor portrayal of Vincent Clarkson.

[23] Rae's death following the reveal of Chad's affair with Vincent was heavily criticized by Mike Perigard of the Boston Herald, who believed that her removal was only written to maintain a low quota of gay characters on the show.