Hotchkiss family

The Hotchkiss family is a wealthy family living in the fictional town of Harmony on NBC/DirecTV's soap opera Passions. The Hotchkiss family is not one of the four main families on the show.

Family members

Jonathan Hotchkiss

Jonathan Hotchkiss is the never-seen father of Gwen Winthrop, the ex-husband of Rebecca Crane, and the son of the late #Mrs. Hotchkiss. Jonathan married Rebecca for her money in the 1970s after she seduced him from girlfriends Clarissa Morton and Carroline [ Clarissa Morton was a school mate of Rebecca's. Her backstory can be found in Hidden Passions. It is unknown what fate befell Carroline. [http://www.soapoperafan.com/passions/misc/characters.html] ] , and, much to Jonathan's dismay, they had only one child, a daughter named Gwen; Jonathan had wanted a son and made no secret of that fact. Jonathan and Rebecca eventually divorced in 2001, leaving the formerly strapped-for-cash businessman very wealthy as his wife was forced to hand over her family fortune in order to get out of the marriage. Though Jonathan was disappointed not to have a son, he still loved his daughter and set up a Swiss bank account for her in case of emergency; Gwen also clearly held a level of love and respect for her father, too, considering that she named her son in his honor.

According to comments by Rebecca in 2005 and Gwen in 2008, Jonathan is also a crossdresser.

Ethan Winthrop

Gwen Hotchkiss Winthrop

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Winthrop (née Hotchkiss; born in 1975) is the wife of Ethan Winthrop and the daughter of Jonathan and Rebecca Hotchkiss. Gwen and Ethan met at a boarding school mixer when they were twelve and began dating; they later became engaged in 1999. Ethan broke off their engagement the day before their 2000 wedding, however, leaving her for her supposed friend, Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald. Gwen was furious and sent a letter to "Daily Private Lives", a tabloid, exposing Ethan's true paternity and framing Theresa. After Theresa's lies became too much for Ethan, they broke up, and Ethan and Gwen reunited. Ethan was again about to leave Gwen for Theresa when Gwen discovered that she was pregnant, and though she told Ethan not to propose because of the baby, they were married in December 2002. The couple's daughter, Sarah, was stillborn in October 2003, however, and the two were devastated.

Ethan and Gwen remained together until January 2007, despite Ethan's continuing attraction to Theresa and the birth of Ethan and Theresa's daughter, Jane, in December 2004. Gwen finally left Ethan when she found him in bed with Theresa, however; while away, she discovered that, despite being supposedly barren, she was pregnant with Ethan's child. She gave birth to a son, Jonathan, in May 2007, and finalized her divorce from Ethan in July. However, when Ethan was poisoned, Gwen realized that she was still in love with him; Gwen introduced Ethan to his son and began blackmailing Theresa, threatening to have her entire family killed if she told Ethan that Little Ethan is also his son. Because she failed to inform him about Jonathan before finalizing their divorce, the divorce is null and void, and they are still married.

Jane Winthrop

Jane Winthrop (born December 2, 2004) is the daughter and youngest child of Ethan Winthrop and Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald and the former stepdaughter of Gwen Winthrop. Jane was conceived in May 2004 when her mother, who believed that she had miscarried Ethan and Gwen's child and was desperate to successfully act as their surrogate so that she could trade their child for her own son, Little Ethan, whom the Winthrops had adopted, drugged and seduced Ethan. Theresa soon found that she had never miscarried and was pregnant with twins — one child hers and Ethan's, the other Ethan and Gwen's — but eventually became unable to carry both children to term. The weaker twin, a son Ethan and Gwen planned to name Nathan, was aborted in November 2004, and Jane was born fourteen weeks prematurely in December.

Gwen, who had been rendered infertile following the stillbirth of her daughter, Sarah, in October 2003, was devastated to discover that Jane was not biologically her daughter. Ethan and Gwen sued for custody of Jane, however, and won; for the first two years of her life, Jane knew Gwen as her mother. Ethan and Gwen separated in January 2007, however, and Gwen was legally unable to keep custody of Jane, who began living with Ethan and Theresa.

Jonathan Winthrop

Jonathan Winthrop (born May 11, 2007) is the son and youngest child of Ethan and Gwen Winthrop, born during his parents' separation. Gwen brought her son to Harmony and introduced him to his father on September 7, 2007. Ethan was thrilled to have a son, but began to realize that the baby was ill. Jonathan eventually went into liver failure and required a partial liver transplant. His older half-sister, Jane, was a match, but had an ear infection and could not be operated on. Jane was the only known donor, as all of Jonathan's other relatives tested negative as a match — all except Little Ethan, who, beknownst only to Gwen and Little Ethan's mother, Theresa, is Ethan's son and Jonathan's half-brother. Gwen deluded herself into believing that Jonathan would be fine without a donor and refused to let Theresa tell Ethan that Little Ethan could be a match, so Theresa secretly had Little Ethan's liver donated anyway. The transplant was a success, and Jonathan made a full recovery.

arah Winthrop

Sarah Winthrop (stillborn October 7, 2003) was the firstborn child and daughter of Ethan Winthrop and his wife, Gwen. Ethan and Gwen were married in December 2002 after Gwen learned that she was pregnant, and the couple flew to Los Angeles in mid-2003; Gwen had been having a difficult pregnancy, and the couple hoped that a specialist there would be able to help them.

Gwen was in the hospital when she saw footage on the local news of Ethan making out with his ex-fiancé, Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald. Gwen was horrified and left the hospital against doctors' orders in order to confront her husband, but instead of finding Ethan, she found Theresa. The two women found themselves in a physical altercation that left Gwen unconscious by the pool. Gwen was rushed to the hospital, where Ethan was forced to chose between the life of his wife and unborn child; he eventually told doctors to save his wife, and the couple's daughter was stillborn. Grief-stricken, they had their little girl posthumously baptized as Sarah and returned to Harmony to bury their baby.

Former family members and extended family

Mrs. Hotchkiss

"unnamed" Hotchkiss is the late mother of Jonathan Hotchkiss and grandmother of Gwen Winthrop. She lived to be ninety-seven years old, and her daily care eventually fell to her careless daughter-in-law, Rebecca.

Rebecca Hotchkiss Crane

"Hidden Passions"

In the novel "Hidden Passions" Rebecca's mother's name was Pamela Osburn. However, the show (which has never mentioned Rebecca's mother's name) states that Rebecca came from a long line of Osborn women.

Family tree

Jonathan Hotchkiss

m. Rebecca (divorced 2001):c. Gwendolyn "Gwen" Hotchkiss (born 1975)::m. "unknown man" (married 2001)::m. Ethan Winthrop (2002 — 2008; invalid):::c. Sarah Winthrop (2003; stillborn):::c. "unnamed" (2004; medical abortion):::c. Jonathan Winthrop (born 2007)

Note: the letter "m" indicates a marriage, "a" an affair, "r" a rape, and "c" a child resulting from one of those unions.

References and footnotes