Uhm, no. Vanessa and Alexandra did not compete against each other. After the very early days of their introduction, the Chamberlains did not rock the power structure at Spaulding. There was a very brief period (prior to Alex's arrival) where Henry, Van and Quint controlled a majority of stock (Quint had independently bought stocks Diane Ballard controlled after her death) , and one of Alex's first moves was to get the Spauldings back into the lead. She and Warren Andrews found out that Vanessa's name was on papers admitting to getting a kickback if they got Alan to buy a company, Jocelyn Electronics. Both Henry and Vanessa were in on the scheme and they ended up blackmailing Alan into it with the knowledge of his affair with Rita. But when Vanessa realized that Quint was her half brother, she tried to ruin Quint and Henry's growing friendship (Quint had not told Henry he was his son) by altering the papers (removing Henry's name) and leaving it on Alan's desk, to make it look like Quint was trying to ruin her. Quint immediately caught on to her scheme and threatened to tell Henry what she'd done, trying to blackmail him out of Henry's life. Van knew that was a line she could not cross, and she quickly backed off, telling Henry she'd altered the documents in an effort to keep Henry's name in the clear. Alan fired her from Spaulding, and she was made to pay Spaulding back the $2million she and Henry had gained. It (along with being blackmailed by her own PI) effectively wiped her out financially, which led to her to look to marriage with Billy (Henry had promised her a half-million when she got married, the same amount he'd given Quint on his marriage to Nola).
At the time, Vanessa was pregnant with Bill (and due to marital problems was out of the country). Alex implied that the SEC would start up an investigation and Van could wind up in jail. Henry and Quint signed over theirs and Vanessa's stocks and Henry was temporarily out of the company.
There was a point when Phillip was looking to oust Alan from the company in '87 when Van and Alan were engaged where it could've come down to Henry choosing between Van and Spaulding, but that fizzled when Vanessa dumped Alan and went to Venezuela to look after Billy.
When Roger was making moves on Spaulding, he engineered Vanessa's firing (he tape recorded her giving Billy a tip that Roger was sending over inspectors to the warehouse that Billy was making into a homeless shelter without the necessary permits.) Alex refused to back Vanessa, and Henry almost went to the papers to spill Spaulding secrets in a fit. Van talked him out of it.
Van and Alex were always civil to each other, and Alex eventually brings Van back to Spaulding, and when Bev leaves, Alex turns over the running of Spaulding to Vanessa. Some of Bev's last scenes are with Maeve.
I agree, it would've been an interesting situation, but Henry never would've gone against Vanessa. They are one of the best father/daughter duos in soaps.
By
P.J. ·
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