Stephanie is known as a strong woman who acts decisively and sometimes also controversially, to protect her children and her marriage to the famed fashion designer Eric Forrester.

The determination to overprotect her children stems as a result the abuse Stephanie suffered as a child at the hands of her father John Douglas.

Stephanie had a long-standing rivalry with Brooke Logan, who at first was a serious competitor for Eric's love, and later was involved with her two sons Ridge and Thorne.

She had also rivalries with other women that were competitors for Eric's love, such as Margo Lynley, Beth Logan, Sheila Carter, Sally Spectra, Maggie Forrester, Lauren Fenmore, Jackie Marone and Donna Logan, but with some of them, she also developed friendships (like Brooke, Sally, Maggie, Lauren and Jackie).

[1][2] Stephanie's lung cancer diagnosis played a central role in the series, and the character died of the disease on November 26, 2012.

The producers then contacted Hayes' former Days co-star, Susan Flannery, and she eventually won the role.

[4] Jane Elliot had been contacted by producer Gail Kobe for the Stephanie role, but lost to Flannery at the behest of creator William J.

During a 2012 interview with TV Guide, Bradley Bell announced that Stephanie's character would die of cancer.

On February 9, 2018, Flannery returned for a cameo as the voice of Stephanie on Brooke and Ridge's wedding day.

[10] On December 15, 2023, Flannery returned for a cameo as a ghost appearing by her husband, Eric Forrester’s hospital bed Bradley Bell said that Stephanie: "has always been a woman of great strength and character.

[12] Stephanie then created a goofy bucket list; Bell said that this was all a part of her denial, and wanting to focus on something else other than her cancer.

[11] In a second-level to the story, Stephanie meets a young woman, Dayzee Leigh (Kristolyn Lloyd) who gives her a new lease on life, and convinces her to undergo treatment.

[11][13] Dayzee lived on skid row in Los Angeles; Stephanie wanted to survive her cancer to advocate for poverty after learning more about it.

[12] During an interview with TV Guide in February 2011, she explained: When word first got out at CBS, a lot of people came over from The Young and the Restless — which shoots just across the hall from us — and they were saying, "Susan, are you really leaving the show?

Eventually her husband Eric Forrester became interested in other women such as Margo Lynley and his former college love, Beth Logan.

It was revealed she was visiting a comatose brain damaged girl; It was Angela, the daughter Stephanie had, who she said died at birth.

Morgan escaped after Ridge rescued Taylor and Steffy, but showed up as a clown for a Forrester kiddie party.

Stephanie paid off a doctor and faked a heart attack to manipulate Ridge into returning to Taylor.

The ploy worked, but when Brooke uncovered it, the entire Forrester family turned their backs on Stephanie.

Stephanie enacted her revenge on Eric and Donna via a webcast titled The Logan Chronicles at Spencer Publications by working with Bill Spencer, Jr. Bill eventually took over Forrester Creations obeying his father's final wishes to avenge Stephanie.

Eric let Stephanie stay at the Forrester mansion, where she encountered Donna's mother, Beth, who was suffering from the latter stages of Alzheimer's disease.

Despite the desperate pleas of her family and friends, Stephanie refused to accept treatment; she decided instead that she would like to enjoy her final days.

On November 26, 2012, Stephanie died of cancer lakeside at Big Bear cabin after asking Brooke to sing her to sleep in her arms.

In 2022, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Stephanie first on his ranked list of The Bold and the Beautiful’s Best of the Best Characters Ever, commenting "Never in the history of daytime television, much less the history of The Bold and the Beautiful, has any character stung quite as hard as three-time Emmy winner Susan Flannery’s queen bee.

Eric can hang whomever’s portrait he wants in the living room, but for our money, that space now and always shall belong to his first wife.

"[14] In 2024, Mason from included Stephanie in his list of the worst mothers in American soap operas, calling her a "domineering mama" who would "grizzly lie to son Thorne that she loves all her kids equally — even though we all know that Ridge was her favorite.

"[15] Mason also placed Stephanie sixth on his ranked list of Soaps' 40 Most Iconic Characters of All Time, writing, "Beware the queen bee's sting!

From 1987–2012, Susan Flannery packed a punch — often literally — as the domineering matriarch of the fashion-forward Forrester family".