With the discovery that Marilyn Chambers gave birth to a secret child back in 1995, the connection between Marilyn from Home and Away and newcomer Heather has been made clear.
Rising conflict has been seen in recent episodes between Heather, a new character, and Marilyn, one of Home and Away’s longest-running characters (Emily Symons) (Sofia Nolan).
Last month, Heather came to Summer Bay to study under Roo (Georgie Parker), but it soon became clear that she was really there for Marilyn.
As soon as Heather established herself, she moved into the RV park, started dating Nikau (Kawakawa Fox-Reo), and began her best efforts torment Marilyn.
It started with awkward looks and understated remarks and ended with Heather leaving Marilyn’s name on an envelope outside Summer Bay House that contained a baby photo and the words “Guess who?” written on the back.
Heather also admitted to Roo that she once had an affair with her boss and had to give up the child as a result. It was obvious from Marilyn’s expression to the audience that Heather’s story was actually Marilyn’s when she learned of Heather’s purported backstory.
This week’s earlier episode clarified that Heather was in fact Marilyn’s child. Heather pulled out a birth certificate, which showed that she was born in April 1995 to Timothy Frazer, a grazier, and Marilyn Chambers, a housekeeper.
In the Australian episode that aired tonight, Leah (Ada Nicodemou) and Roo, who had staged an intervention following a string of tense exchanges between Marilyn, Heather, and Nikau, nearly persuaded Marilyn that her concerns were all in her head.
Maz assured Leah that she continued to take her medication, but when Leah questioned whether it might need to be reviewed, Marilyn said it might be worth a shot. She even consented to apologize to Heather because she was now convinced that she might have been at fault.
Marilyn, however, was persuaded by Heather’s subsequent action that Heather was actually targeting her and that there was nothing erroneous with her mental state.
Marilyn was sound asleep on the sofa when Heather broke into Summer Bay House in the middle of the night.
She entered the kitchen covertly, opened a bottle of wine, poured the contents into a glass, and set it on the coffee table in front of Maz. Marilyn received the baby picture in her arms as well.
Marilyn was discovered in this manner by Roo the following morning, exactly as Heather had intended. As a result, her closest friend now believed that Marilyn had turned to alcohol to help her with her problems.
Later, Heather asked Marilyn in the diner, “How are you feeling this morning? You slept well, right? Maz was told in no uncertain terms that she had created the precarious situation.
Marilyn at last told Leah the truth after realizing she could no longer keep it a secret (Ada Nicodemou).
She admitted to keeping a long-kept secret for the past 27 years: that when she was younger, she had an affair with Tim, her boss, which resulted in a child.
When I was very young and embarked on a cross-country trip with my boyfriend, things didn’t work out, and we broke up.
It wasn’t easy for me at the time, and I was very lonely, when I got a job as a housekeeper on a cattle station in the middle of nowhere. However, my boss treated me incredibly well, so I leaned on him. And I was young and stupid.
“I got pregnant. And I had a baby girl. And I think that Heather is my daughter.”
She admitted that, “not to John, not to anyone,” she had never previously spoken it aloud.
When she told Tim that she wanted to keep the baby, he told his wife. Marilyn was allowed to stay with them until the baby was born, and the couple remained together. Prior to the birth, everything appeared to be fine, but soon after, everything changed.
The couple insisted that they wanted to adopt Marilyn’s baby, that they could give her a better life. Marilyn, who was unemployed and had nowhere to live as well as no money, believed she was acting morally and that the baby would live a better life with her father in a stable environment.
Her daughter has grown up and is now looking for her 27 years later.
Maz was concerned about what Alf and Roo, her two oldest friends, would think when Leah tried to persuade Marilyn to open up to them.
“I’ve known them for most of my adult life and I’ve never said a word. If I told them, I don’t think they’d be able to look me in the eye.
Marilyn Chambers made her Summer Bay debut as Lance Smart’s girlfriend in 1989. (Peter Vroom). She took a three-month break from the bay in 1989 after declining Lance’s marriage proposal, but she soon returned and eventually started dating Phil Briant (Vince Martin).
She and Phil got engaged in 1992, and they also took Toni, Phil’s daughter, out of Summer Bay that year (Kathryn Dufty).
When Maz returned in 1995, we were told that she had left Summer Bay as soon as she learned Phil had been cheating on her and would soon be back. Upon her return, she sobbed as she revealed that Phil was in love with someone else in Alf’s storage area.
Now, this most recent information suggests that she left Summer Bay for a while after learning about Phil’s affair.
Instead, she started working at a cattle station where she got to know her boss well and eventually had an affair with him that gave birth to a child. After the baby was born, Marilyn finally made her way back to Summer Bay.
The fact that Marilyn has an adopted son named Jett (Will McDonald), which Heather discovered in the same episode, seemed to hurt her. How will Heather respond when they finally talk about her mother, whom she believes abandoned her, having a child of her own?
The episodes that will air the following week give the impression that the drama is far from over and that Marilyn and Heather still have a ways to go before they can start dating. Marilyn will be falsely accused of abuse on Tuesday’s episode, and Roo will accuse Marilyn of cyberbullying on Wednesday.
Thankfully, the mother and daughter will start trying to build a relationship by the end of the following week. The first episode of the triple bill that will air on next Thursday asks, “Marilyn and Heather stop pretending,” while the second episode’s teaser poses the question, “Will Heather give Marilyn a second chance?”
Will the pair finally get the chance to form a mother-daughter bond after 27 years apart?
