Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson)

Dr. Monica Quartermaine (née Bard; previously Webber) is a fictional character on the popular ABC soap opera, General Hospital. She is a member of the wealthy Quartermaine family. Her various affairs and quarrels with her husband Dr. Alan Quartermaine were major stories on the show throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

In her time on the show, Monica has battled breast cancer, dealt with the loss of three children, her son Jason Morgan's amnesia and decision to become a mob enforcer, and various other conflicts. She is the owner of the Quartermaine mansion, which she often reminds her family of when they begin quarreling, which is an often occurrence in the Quartermaine quarters. She has been known to throw them out of her house.

In 2006, she only had rare appearances; however, new storylines developed in 2007 (an investigation into the murder of Rick Webber, the deaths of her husband Alan Quartermaine and daughter Emily Quartermaine), and she is being featured more prominently.

With the departure of actress Rachel Ames as Audrey Hardy, Monica is now the oldest regular character (in real time) currently appearing on General Hospital, having been introduced in 1977 (although recurring character Lesley Webber was introduced in 1972).

Off screen events
Monica grew up in an orphanage and was fostered by Dr. Gail Adamson Baldwin. However, Gail kicked Monica out after Monica slept with her husband. The two eventually reconciled and for years, Gail served as a mother figure to Monica.

Monica later had an affair with David Langton and gave birth to a daughter, Dawn, whom she gave up for adoption.

Monica was also raped, sometime before she arrived at General Hospital. She revealed this to Laura Spencer shortly after Laura had been raped.

Just prior to her arrival on GH, Monica had been engaged to Rick Webber. However, he had broke up with her and flew off to Africa where he became caught up in a civil war and was presumed dead. Monica turned to Jeff Webber, Rick's brother, for comfort and married him, not knowing that Rick was still alive.

On screen events
Monica arrived in Port Charles in 1977, having recently married Jeff Webber. Steve Hardy, who had been recently appointed as Chief of Staff at General Hospital, invited the couple to take part in his Mr. and Mrs. Intern Programme, believing that the couple had an idyllic marriage. However, the truth was that Monica had only married Jeff on the rebound. She was still deeply in love with Jeff's brother, Rick, who had been presumed dead in Africa. Thus, the marriage collapsed when Rick was revealed to be still alive and Monica cheated on Jeff with Rick, while Jeff cheated on Monica with Heather Grant. Jeff and Monica divorced in 1977.

Throughout this time, Rick had grown close to Lesley Faulkner and eventually married her. Monica was devastated, but soon began a romance with Dr. Alan Quartermaine, whom she married in 1978. Alan bought a mansion for Monica as a wedding present, and his family ended up living there as well. However, within a year of her second marriage, Monica once again fell into Rick's arms and the two had a one-night stand. Monica was pregnant and didn't know who the father was. Monica gave birth to a son, AJ Monica believed that Rick was the father and Rick and Lesley divorced so Rick and Monica could be together. Alan was enraged by this turn of events and made several attempts to kill Rick and Monica, but was thwarted at every attempt. Eventually, both Monica and Alan realized that AJ was indeed Alan's son and not Rick's. Monica attempted to hide this fact from Rick, but Alan eventually exposed the truth. Rick, disgusted with Monica's continued manipulations, left her and went back to Lesley. Monica felt that she had no other alternative but to stay with Alan.

Following their 'reconciliation', Monica refused to sleep with Alan and insisted on separate rooms. Alan grew frustrated and in 1981, he embarked on an affair with Susan Moore, who became pregnant and gave birth to Alan's son, Jason. In 1983, Susan was murdered and Alan fought Susan's cousin, Heather (the same Heather whom Jeff had cheated on Monica with seven years earlier) for custody of the baby. Susan was a niece of Alice Grant who was Heather's mother. Monica was not pleased at having her husband's illegitimate offspring in the house at first, but eventually grew to love Jason as if he were her own. She later legally adopted him as well.

In 1986, Monica had an affair with Sean Donely, and kicked all the Quartermaines out of the Mansion. Alan concocted a bizarre scheme to frame Sean for his 'murder' and even went missing for several months as part of the plan. Eventually, Sean left Monica for Tiffany Hill, and Monica reluctantly reconciled with Alan and let the Quartermaines back into the mansion.

Monica went away to a spa resort and ended up sleeping with one of the workers there, a young man named Ward. To Monica's surprise, Ward turned out to be Ned Ashton, the son of her sister-in-law, Tracy Quartermaine, and thus, Alan's nephew. The two agreed to keep the affair a secret, but soon another secret of Monica's would come out. Monica's secret daughter, Dawn Winthrop turned up and began dating Ned. These two secrets proved at last to be the deathblow to Monica and Alan's marriage and the two divorced. Alan later married Lucy Coe in 1990.

Dawn was later murdered and Monica was devastated by her death. After Alan's marriage to Lucy also proved a disaster, Monica and Alan were drawn back together by their son A.J's rebellious behavior. In 1991, the two remarried and the next three years of their marriage were relatively calm, although Alan's friendship with Rhonda Wexler did give Monica some cause for concern.

Monica's life was changed forever when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994. Monica became despondent and began pushing Alan away, though Alan fought hard to give Monica the support she needed. During this time, Monica befriended Paige Bowen, a fellow sufferer of the disease. Monica was devastated when Paige died, but ended up adopting Paige's daughter, Emily. Finally, Monica went into remission, but she and Alan were drifting further and further apart.

By 1996, AJ's alcoholism, which had been developing for several years, culminated in family tragedy when he and Jason were in a serious car accident. AJ escaped relatively unhurt, but Jason was left with amnesia and brain damage. The family's attempts to make Jason remember alienated him from the family and he eventually rejected all of them including Monica in favor of working for local mob boss, Sonny Corinthos. As a result of all the tragedy in her life, Monica separated from Alan and longed to make herself feel better. Monica embarked on an affair with Dr. Pierce Dorman, which predictably ended in disaster when Dorman made false allegations of sexual harassment against Monica. In court, Dorman's lawyers brought up Monica's past indiscretions, including her affair with Ned and ended up winning the case. Monica was fired from General Hospital as a result. On top of this, Monica had to deal with both AJ's alcoholism and Emily's drug addiction. Monica snapped and kidnapped Dorman, and threatened to give him a lobotomy. Only Jason's intervention stopped her from doing so. Eventually though, Monica was vindicated when Dorman was murdered and revealed to have been a drug dealer.

More family drama ensued in 1998 when Carly Roberts claimed that her son Michael was Jason's. Monica's father-in-law, Edward Quartermaine, wanted to gain custody of Michael and thus Jason, who had been growing close to the Quartermaines was alienated from the family once again. Eventually, it was revealed that Jason was covering for Carly and that he was not Michael's father, but rather AJ's. During this time, Alan had become addicted to painkillers, which caused another brief estrangement between Alan and Monica.

Alan and Monica eventually reconciled and in 2001, they decided to renew their vows only for Skye Chandler to turn up and claim that she was Alan's daughter. While Monica and Skye clashed at first, they eventually established a cordial relationship and Monica even allowed Skye to stay at the mansion after Tracy revealed that she wasn't Alan's daughter after all. Alan and Monica stayed stable for several years, even as drama occurred amongst their children. AJ lost custody of Michael to Carly and her new husband Sonny Corinthos, while Emily was temporarily paralyzed in an accident and later diagnosed with breast cancer.

In 2005, AJ faked his death as part of a complicated plot to frame his ex-wife, Courtney Matthews, for murder and eventually kidnap his son Michael. Alan and Monica blamed each other for failing to show AJ enough love and attention and once again a rift began in their marriage. When AJ turned up alive and was subsequently murdered, Alan and Monica separated. Monica also believed that she had witnessed Michael kill AJ and helped in the cover up, though eventually it was revealed that her grandson was not to blame. Monica and Alan eventually patched up their differences and decided to remain married.

As of 2006, Monica spends most of her time at the hospital, or being amused by the various dramas that have been occurring in her family. Recently, she was alarmed when Emily began a relationship with Sonny, but the two have since broken up.

In February 2007, Monica was devastated by the death of Alan.

In August 2007, Monica was shocked to find out that Jason had a one night stand with Elizabeth Spencer during Jason's trial for the murder of Lorenzo Alcazar and wondered if Elizabeth's son was fathered by Jason. Edward, Monica, and Alice all cornered Lulu Spencer and asked her who Jake's father was. Lulu lied and told them Lucky was and Monica was crushed.

In November 2007, Monica was devastated by the death of Emily and blamed Jason for her death.

Monica operated on Luke Spencer and nearly lost him.

Monica threw herself into her work in order to forget about her grief over Emily's death. She called Jason names and insulted him whenever she saw him and refused to listen to Edward's pleas for her to realize that Jason is not responsible for his sister's death and is her only child left. She would not have anything to do with him.

In January 2008, Monica was held hostage along with Edward at General Hospital after a man named Joe threatened to blow up the lobby if his pregnant wife did not receive medical care. Jason showed up and Joe asked him who he was. Monica lashed out and told Joe he was a hitman who got everyone around him killed. Joe grabbed Monica and told Jason he would blow her up if he did not behave. Jason convinced him to release his mother and Joe grabbed Sam McCall and threatened to kill her instead. Monica helped Doctor Kelly Lee take care of Joe's pregnant wife. Jason figured out that Joe's bomb was fake and saved everyone by ripping it off Joe. Edward was ecstatic and congratulated Jason for saving everyone but Monica refused to thank him and walked away. Jason later saw her playing with Jake.

Monica has started to drink alcohol in order to help her deal with her pain. Her drinking has led to her being sued for medical malpractice by her said sister-in-law Tracy Quartermaine after a botched surgery that she performed on her husband Luke Spencer. The malpractice suit is intended by Tracy so that Monica will take the time to mourn her losses and to avoid the similarities of the situation in the future.

On January 28, 2008, Tracy and Monica got into a fight in the General Hospital ward elevator, in which both ladies experienced a compromising situation.

It has been revealed that Monica is the one that hit Sam McCall on the Hit and Run.

Jason had Damian Spinelli look at the surveillance cameras to see who hit Sam and Spinelli found it had been Monica. Jason went to see Monica and confronted her about her drinking problem and Sam's hit and run. Monica blamed him for her grief and her drinking problem because his job had cost her Alan, AJ, and Emily. She told him to turn her in because he had taken everything else from her. Jason told Sam that Monica was the one to hit her instead of Elizabeth, and Sam said she would not press charges or seek revenge on his mother because she would let him do that to her. Monica was shocked after Nikolas told her he planned to make a new program at General Hospital in honor of Emily's memory. Jason told Elizabeth that she did not hit Monica and confessed to her that he wanted to tell her about Jake. But Elizabeth adamantly refused to let him, and begged him not to tell her.

Monica was in another car accident while driving under the influence and was rushed to General Hospital. Epiphany Johnson called Jason and told him what happened to his mother. Jason went to see her and told her that she had to go into rehab for her drinking problem or he would turn her in to the police for Sam's hit and run to save others and herself from her grief. Monica apologized to Jason for the way she treated him over the past few months and told him she accepted him for who he was, he was her son, and she loved him. Jason told he would help her and promised to be a better son in the future. He warned Claudia Zacchara to stay away from his mother and hired his lawyer Diane Miller to defend Monica. Monica let Luke, Tracy, and Lulu move back into the mansion and told Sam's mother Alexis Davis that she was the one who hit Sam.

Monica was put on trial and pleaded guilty to Sam's hit and run and driving while under the influence. Alexis and Diane had agreed to a plea bargain for Monica to be put into rehab and serve six months of community service but the judge disagreed with them and intended to throw the book at Monica. Sam, who had always been good friends with Monica, and Nikolas Cassadine spoke up on Monica's behalf and the judge finally agreed to the plea bargain.

Jason went to see Monica while she was in rehab and told her that Michael had been shot. Monica was devastated but she comforted Jason after he broke down and told him that he no one had any idea about what their choices may cause anyone. She made it clear she did not blame him and pleaded with him to forgive himself like she forgave him. As of recently, Monica is not in Port Charles and remains off-air. It is not likely that Dr. Bard-Quartermaine will return any time soon.

Jason, again went to see Monica to tell her he had taken over the mob for Sonny to save Morgan. She was happy he was doing it to save Morgan's life but was also devastated. Tracy went to see Monica, to ask for her advice on Lulu and Johnny Zacchara. She told Tracy not to make the same mistakes she did with Jason and to fight to keep Lulu away from Johnny. Monica also told Tracy that in a couple of weeks she will be ready to get back to work.

Jason went to see Monica right before she was released from rehab and told her he would not be able to see her anymore because of how dangerous he is to be around. Monica told him she planned to get through her addiction one day at a time and urged him to leave the mob once and for all because Sonny was not who he thought he was and unworthy of his loyalty. Scott Baldwin threatened to have Edward, Tracy, Alice, and Monica arrested as accessories for aiding and abetting Lulu since she was on the run with Johnny but none of them took it seriously as soon as Monica returned to the Quartermaine Mansion. Monica was furious with Edward, Tracy, and Alice after she discovered that they got rid of all the alcohol in the house and replaced it with water and told them to never do it again.

Monica is now concerned about Lulu Spencer's mental health and is trying to support her and refused to help Edward get out of jury duty.

In November 2008, Monica Quartermaine resumed position as Chief of Staff at General Hospital. This was the result of Edward and daughter Tracy plotting and working their magic on the board of directors at General Hospital.

On Christmas Eve 2008, Monica received a 'magic' pair of reading glasses from 'Santa Clause' through Spinelli. When she put them on, she could see and hear and talk to Alan.

On January 29, 2009 Monica, along with the rest of the operation room 2's surgical staff, were infected with an airborne toxin that Earl Braggs had placed into his stomach. She was taken to the ICU at Mercy, but was quickly released. Monica immediately took to newcomer Rebecca Shaw, and shared with her her own breast cancer struggle.

Monica has been a key player in the reconstruction efforts for General Hospital, which is scheduled to re-open on April 23.