25 Years Later, ‘All My Children’ Star Eden Riegel Looks Back at Bianca’s Coming Out Storyline (Exclusive)

ALL MY CHILDREN, from left: Eden Riegel, Agnes Nixon, Susan Lucci, 1990s, 1970-2011. ph: — Robert Milazzo/American Broadcasting Company /Courtesy Everett Collection

The late Agnes Nixon changed hearts and minds through her storylines on All My Children. One of her most compelling tales was Bianca (Eden Riegel) coming out as a lesbian to her mother, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci), on the Dec. 22, 2000, episode of the show.

In honor of Pride Month, ReMIND magazine chatted with Riegel, who won a Daytime Emmy for her role as Bianca, about the groundbreaking storyline and working with a daytime legend.

“It was one of [Agnes’] last acts,” Riegel recalls of the storyline, which began 25 years ago when Bianca came home to Pine Valley and agonized over coming out to her mom. The actress recalls AMC creator Nixon insisting on no interference from suits as she told this important story. “She said, ‘No notes! No notes!’” Riegel shares. “This was a passion project for her.”

Instead of bringing on new characters and a new family to tell her story, Nixon opted to tell it with Erica and Bianca — two characters the audience already knew and loved. “[Agnes] wanted to make sure that the character who came out would be somebody that couldn’t just be quietly written off,” Riegel says. “Agnes was a genius.”

ALL MY CHILDREN, Eden Riegel, Alexa Havins, (Season 35, airs week of 09/23/04), 1970-2011.

Heidi Gutman/ABC/Courtesy: Everett Collection

Riegel says that initially, she didn’t know that Bianca was going to come out or was gay. “I knew that there was a lot of angst involved [in her storyline], but no, I booked the part and then they brought me into [executive producer] Jean Dadario Burke’s office, and the head writer was there too,” Riegel recollects. “They needed to make sure that I would be OK with this. By that I mean, would I be OK with [possibly] receiving hate mail or being pigeonholed into [certain roles]. They didn’t even know my personal beliefs.”

Riegel, whose older sister, Tatiana, is gay, was unfazed by the story direction for Bianca. “They told me Bianca was going to come out as gay,” Riegel recalls with a smile. “I sat there and I waited for them to tell me what the ‘big thing’ was because I was, like, ‘OK! What’s next?’ I didn’t see what the big deal was. But I could tell how serious they were taking it and they were clearly invested.”

It wasn’t long before the enormity of the story set in with Riegel. “I got the picture pretty fast that I also needed to approach it with a similar level of investment and humanity,” she says, “because I was being put into the minds of people who possibly had never met another gay person in their life.”

Riegel consulted with her sister and came to the realization that Bianca “was just like every other character I’ve ever played. I just need to relate to her as a human being and tell her story.”

A big part of the story was Erica’s acceptance of her daughter, who she loved deeply. “No parent wants his or her child to have a difficult life,” Riegel points out. “There was a conflict because [Erica] was trying to protect her.” Erica went from wanting to set her daughter up on a date with O-Town singer Ashley Angel to accepting who she was.

All My Children made daytime history when Bianca and her girlfriend Reese (Tamara Baun) wed in 2009.

In addition to her 2005 Daytime Emmy win for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for playing Bianca, Riegel has received two recent nominations at the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards in the category of Outstanding Voice Directing for an Animated Series for the series The Ghost and Molly McGee and Amphibia.