TESS'S PRE-NASH HISTORY


NOTE: Viewers didn't learn of Tess's existance until late 2004/early 2005, when "Jessica" began acting strangely and eventually revealed herself to be an alternate personality. So the information covered in the first paragraph, about how Tess was "born," viewers were told happened sometime in the 1980s.


When Jessica was a little girl, her mother, Victoria Lord, split into her alternate personality, Niki Smith, unbeknownst to Jessica and her other family members. When Niki would go out to bars, she would sometimes take Jessica with her to avoid anyone at Llanfair finding out that she'd left Jessica there on her own. At one of these bars, Jessica was molested. To deal with the trauma, she developed her own split personality, Tess.

For most of Jessica's life, Tess stayed dormant. However, in 2004, Jessica had a particularly difficult year as she was caught up in a war between her boyfriend Antonio Vega and his newfound brother, Tico Santi, whom Jessica ended up marrying and who also nearly killed her. The trauma not only of escaping Tico but also seeing his own untimely end at the hands of Cristian Vega caused Tess to emerge. Tess then wasted no time in harassing the oblivious Jessica, leaving Jessica notes to make her think that she had a stalker and causing trouble in Jessica's relationship with Antonio. Tess also began spending her nights moonlighting in bars and sleeping with various men.

Jessica remained unaware of Tess's existance until one day, during a bitter court battle between Antonio and RJ Gannon, Jessica heard Tess's voice in her head and realized she was suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder. Tess quickly took control and began looking for ways to help RJ win custody of Antonio's daughter Jamie. She even went as far as snooping in RJ's apartment for information on Antonio. After Tess inadvertently started a fire in the apartment, Jessica emerged and saved Jamie. Jessica considered warning her loved ones about Tess but ultimately decided against it, fearing that the news could harm Antonio's chances to get custody of Jamie and also affect Viki's own current health battles. Instead, Jessica secretly enlisted the help of psychiatrist Dr. Jamison, and the two practiced hypnosis to get to the bottom of Jessica's disorder.

However, this plan did not work -- Tess continued to regularly emerge to cause trouble for Jessica's family members. After Jessica's uncle Todd discovered the truth, he tried to force Tess to come clean to Viki, but all Tess did was verbally abuse Viki to the point where Viki had a heart attack. Jessica managed to take back control and checked herself into a mental hospital with Todd's support. She lied to Viki and Antonio that she needed "time away to think."

But at the mental hospital, Tess continued to taunt Jessica with the secret that caused their split. Jessica could not deal with the strain, and Tess reemerged and managed to escape to New York City, where she met Nash Brennan.

To read about Tess and Jessica's interaction with Nash, click here.