Walter and Lillie Belle Barber had two daughters who were as different as night and day, and bitter rivals. Older sister Olivia could do no wrong. Younger sister Drucilla could do no right. Their mother, Lillie Belle, admitted many years later that Dru was an unwanted child, the result of husband Walter's drunken lust. It was no wonder that Dru ran away as a teenager and spent years on the streets racking up a criminal record.

Nathan Hastings, detective with the Paul Williams Detective Agency, had his pocket picked one day. He nabbed the culprit, who was the street-smart, wise-mouthed Drucilla. Because they had a lot in common, Nathan felt sorry for her and let her go. Nathan was also a high school dropout and also had a criminal past. Dru got desperate and called her Aunt Mamie Johnson, the Abbott maid. Mamie talked John Abbott into letting Dru live with Mamie in the Abbott servants' quarters. John took a liking to her, and got her a job in the Jabot mailroom.

Then Nathan caught a shoplifter while working security for Fenmore's Department Store--Drucilla again. Nathan ended up talking the judge into releasing Dru into his custody and took her in once he realized another thing they shared--Nathan was once illiterate too. Nathan taught Dru to read and be more ladylike, and eventually Dru fell in love with him. But lo and behold, Nathan had a girlfriend--Dr. Olivia Barber, Drucilla's "perfect" sister. The sisters were reunited, but it was obvious no love was lost between them. Nathan explained that his heart was with Olivia, but Dru plotted to win him away by seducing him. When that didn't work, she decided to impress him with her natural ability to dance. She convinced Aunt Mamie to pay for ballet lessons, and she blossomed under the tutelage of the famous former ballerina, Madame Estelle Chauvin. Olivia informed their parents of Dru's presence in Genoa City. They went to see Dru, but were rebuffed, so returned home.

Pushed by Olivia to produce her mystery "boyfriend," Drucilla talked Jabot executive trainee and Stanford MBA graduate, Neil Winters, into playing the part. Neil played it so well, he ended up falling in love with Olivia himself. Olivia realized what was going on, and countered by moving up her wedding date. Nathan and Olivia married with Dru as maid of honor. Dru and Neil commiserated, and ended up falling in love. It was obvious both couples were mismatched. The scholarly Olivia was married to the former criminal Nathan, and the former criminal Dru was with the sophisticated Neil Winters. Neil supported Dru in her rise to ballerina stardom. But she turned down a chance to tour with the ballet for a modeling career. Neil thought it was unforgivable to be giving up art for self-gratification and big money, so they broke up. Nathan and Paul exposed photographer Vinnie Russo, and Dru's "modeling career" turned out to be a porn scam. Lucky for Dru, though, she got noticed by fashion photographer Blade, and she and Blade went to work for Jabot. Jabot executive Jill Abbott fought the idea of unsophisticated Dru as their model, just as Dru was doing a nude centerfold for Sensuality Magazine. Jill caught her and destroyed the film.

Shortly after Nathan Jr., "Nate," was born to Liv and Nathan, Dru and Neil reconciled and became engaged. Then Dru's centerfold hit the newsstands. The magazine had published Dru's test shots. Dru was devastated, knowing what Neil's reaction would be, so she left town.

Dru returned to Genoa City some time later. She and Neil reconciled and were married at the Chancellor Estate. Shortly after, Lillie Belle left Walter and showed up in Genoa City. She stayed with Liv and Nathan, and drove a huge wedge between them with her bizarre behavior due to clinical depression. Dru tried to talk Lillie Belle into staying with her and Neil in hopes of giving Liv and Nathan space to repair their marriage. But as always, Dru's mother rebuffed her in favor of her chosen daughter, Olivia. Walter ended up claiming his wife and returning home with Lillie Belle in tow. Dru returned some time later and she and Neil were married at the Chancellor Estate.

Neil's black sheep half-brother, Malcolm, suddenly showed up in Genoa City, and was intent on patching up differences with Neil. Neil was convinced that Malcolm was only there to freeload, but Dru got Malcolm a job at Blade's photo studio, which helped convince Neil he was wrong about his brother. One night Dru was overmedicated and ended up making love with Malcolm, because she mistook him for Neil in her stupor. Mal had secretly loved Dru, but never thought she gave him a second look. His secret desires got the best of him that night when he thought she really wanted him. Dru soon found herself pregnant, and not knowing which Winters brother was the father, considered abortion. But when the doctor told Dru she had a condition that made it lucky she had conceived, and might never be able to again, she reconsidered. Dru and Mal decided the baby would remain Neil's no matter what, and only they and her sister Olivia would know the incident had ever happened.

After the birth of her baby, Lily, Dru signed a contract and returned to modeling, which took her away from home and infuriated Neil. Neil felt that unless a wife had a meaningful job, like being a doctor like Liv, her place was in the home. In his loneliness, he turned to the recently widowed Liv, who agreed with his Neanderthal ideas. When Dru told a reporter that she owed her career to her wonderful, understanding husband, Neil caved in and they reconciled. When Dru realized that Neil was actually bent on keeping Dru pregnant and unable to model, she started on the pill behind his back. Meanwhile, thanks mainly to Malcolm's bond with Nate since the death of his father, Malcolm, who had become a successful photographer, fell in love with Olivia and proposed. Neil discovered Dru's deception and moved out, determined to stay out of his wife and daughter's lives. Time passed and Dru and Neil reunited and split again and again thanks to Neil's beliefs conflicting with Dru's dreams. Dru finally took off with Lily for the runways of Paris and filed for divorce.

Several years later, Dru returned to Genoa City with Lily in tow, to donate bone marrow to save Olivia's life. Neil thought for sure they would once again reunite, but Dru set him straight that it was over for them. Since Olivia had managed to drive Malcolm out of her life by that time, the door was open for Dru and Malcolm to finally give love a shot. They became lovers with no strings and even brought up the subject of Lily's unknown paternity. When it was time for Dru to resume her modeling career, she sadly returned to Paris. Neither of them would admit their true feelings. Dru would have given up her career for Mal, but Mal respected her, so he would not ask her to do so. Malcolm ended up following her a short time later, but returned brokenhearted a month later, and said it just didn't work out.

Dru showed up at Neil's apartment in the summer of 2002 with the 14-year-old Lily, and claimed Lily needed her father to change her smart-mouth attitude. But Dru was surprised to find that Neil had quit his job, become an alcoholic, and was living with barmaid Serena in a seedy part of town. After hitting bottom, Neil, with the help of Serena, decided to dry out for his daughter's sake. But he ended up getting rolled by a guy named Juice. Juice went on to loot Neil's old apartment and found Dru, Lily, and Olivia, who fended him off smartly. Neil was convinced to check into rehab, and taking one day at a time, with a lesser job at Newman. Serena saw the writing on the wall, cleaned herself up, and kissed Neil goodbye.

Reuniting the family with Dru and Lily began looking good to Neil, so Dru and Lily moved in "for Lily's sake." At the same time, Dru's psychiatrist boyfriend, Wesley Carter, who followed her from Paris, proposed. Dru chose Neil and they became engaged. Never one to let an ex-boyfriend of Dru's go to waste, Olivia became engaged to Wes.

Dru went to work for Jabot. Newman Enterprises outbid Jabot to buy out Satine Cosmetics for Women of Color due to inside information that Dru let slip to Neil. Jabot decided to resurrect a similar shelved project of Ashley's, which Dru ended up naming Tuvia to compete, and Dru became their Spokesmodel. Payback was had when Dru found out that Newman was trying to woo Satine creator, Damon Porter, as their chemist for their newly named Safra line. She stole him away to work for Jabot during Ashley's maternity leave. Jabot was still hurting financially, but saw Tuvia as their savior, with a good reputation and fine product to put them back in the black. But Victor could not let Jabot win the war, so he blackmailed Michael Baldwin into paying off large retailers to give Satine the prime shelf space normally held by Jabot. Neil tried to ignore the rumors of Victor's dirty tricks, while Dru worked hard to help make Tuvia a success at Jabot.

Now 15 and still belligerent and mouthy, Lily spent most of her time on the Internet where she met Kevin Fisher. Her friends, Colleen and Sierra, talked her into meeting him, but were aghast when he turned out to be 25 years old. Lily fell head over heals for the manipulating Kevin, but her friends were convinced he was bad news and even interrupted what was to be Lily's first sexual encounter at Kevin's apartment. Lily broke off their friendship while Kevin took revenge on J.T. by trashing his place. After Kevin later talked Lily into sex to "prove their love," her girlfriends told Neil and Dru about it to help save Lily.

Neil stormed over to Kevin's apartment, and Lily escaped out a window and down the fire escape as Kevin let him in. Neil threatened the cowering Kevin that if he found out Kevin was messing with his daughter, Kevin would be charged with statutory rape, and Neil would kill the young man if he touched her again. Kevin took revenge on Colleen by trapping her in the walk-in cooler at Gina's and setting the restaurant on fire. Colleen survived, and Lily finally realized how dangerous Kevin was. Lily had to confess all to her parents, and, though luckily not pregnant or HIV-positive, she was diagnosed with chlamydia. It did bring her close to her parents again and she lost her attitude. Kevin was never charged with statutory rape because the police advised there was not enough evidence since his chlamydia had been cured prior to testing.

Dru and Neil were remarried in a lavish Japanese wedding on Ryukyu Islands, Japan, with Lily as maid of honor, Olivia as bridesmaid, and Jack Abbott as best man.

After Victor Newman was found guilty of corporate bribery, he temporarily stepped down as CEO of Newman Enterprises, and Neil was chosen Acting CEO. After using an untested synthetic hair straightener being developed by Jabot, Dru's hair fell out in clumps. Not long afterward, Dru quit her job at Jabot and went to work at Newman Enterprises for her husband, Neil.

Lily met troubled teen Devon, who was belligerent and just hung around watching and resenting the rich kids helping the neighborhood kids fix up the new Market Street Recreation Center. Lily's attempts to befriend him were rebuffed at every turn as Devon did not trust anyone -- especially an obviously rich kid. To get her off his back, he made up answers to her questions, and told her how he went to a school in the rich part of town and was part of a big happy family. Later, when Lily realized he was lying, Devon told her how he'd been shuttled from one group home to another since he was taken from his crackhead mother, and that his father was dead. He was living in a foster home, but was about to be kicked out for his behavior. Just as the bubbly and sweet Lily was finally getting through to Devon, and he started helping out and treating everyone better, his social worker, Lorena Davis, told him that there was no group home available so he'd have to be sent to a Level 12 facility, which sounded more like jail.

Drucilla got to know the boy and saw herself at that age. Remembering how she had gone down the wrong road until Nathan had rescued her and taught her to read, she wanted to give back by helping Devon in the same way. So Dru convinced Neil and Ms. Davis to allow them to be temporary foster parents. Devon was blossoming once he knew someone cared, and he and Lily became very close. During that time, Devon told Lily he'd seen his father only once hanging out in front of a convenience store.

Devon became part of the family, and learned table manners, read books, and such. Neil was hesitant, but Dru plotted to make the arrangement permanent, and was lying to Ms. Davis that Neil was on board with permanent fostering of Devon. When it was discovered that Neil knew nothing about it, Devon was to be sent to a Level 12 facility, but he ran away with Lily instead. Devon was found and Victor Newman, whose probation officer was also Ms. Davis, volunteered to take him until a group home could be found. Victor and Devon bunked together at the Rec Center in sleeping bags for a few weeks. The day Devon was to leave, Neil finally gave in and agreed to permanent foster care of Devon.

Three years after he was declared dead, Malcolm showed up in Genoa City, very much alive, sporting cornrows and a bad attitude. Malcolm was out for revenge against the brother who he thought stole his fiancée and left him for dead in Kenya. Malcolm explained that a family took him in and nursed him back to health, then he ended up having to take care of them. But he had returned mostly to see Nate again. Olivia was resentful that Malcolm didn't make himself known to Nate as soon as possible, and spare Nate the devastation of his death; Olivia decided to make Malcolm wait to reveal himself until Nate returned from boarding school at the end of semester. Until then, Malcolm took a job as a waiter, and was later named Manager at Crimson Lights, and Olivia convinced him to stay in her extra bedroom. Malcolm hadn't forgotten the possibility that Lily might be his daughter, so Dru had a paternity test done. Although Lily knew that Dru and Uncle Malcolm had once been an item and wondered, when it turned out that Malcolm really was Lily's father, they decided not to tell her or Neil the truth.

Devon's birthday came around, but no one remembered it. Disappointed, but unwilling to tell anyone but his friend Sierra, he skipped school and headed for the zoo. Later that night, when he was discovered missing, Sierra tipped them to check the zoo. Dru, Neil, Lily, and Malcolm found a terrified Devon marooned in the lion habitat, eye to eye with a lion! Malcolm climbed down into the pit and used skills apparently learned in Africa to distract the lion while Devon climbed out with Neil's help. Malcolm quickly followed. Lily and Devon brought around the SUV to pick them up, but Lily lost control when it skidded on the ice and struck Neil. Neil made up with Malcolm, and asked him to take care of his family in case he didn't make it through surgery. He relieved guilt from Devon and Lily, and said goodbye to Dru. In the waiting room, Lily blamed Devon, so when Mrs. Davis arrived, he asked be put into a group home. Dru intervened and assured Devon that families were all about love and forgiveness. Neil needed blood, and Lily wanted to donate, but Malcolm insisted he be the one. Devon helped Lily see that Malcolm needed to give back to his brother to mend the relationship, but Malcolm was really more interested in the possibility that Neil was not Lily's father. Neil came through the surgery fine.

Neil was disappointed when Victor named his son Nick CEO of Newman, and Neil became Chief Operating Officer and Right Hand to the CEO. When Nick let the power go to his head, cancelled Neil's pet projects, and refused Neil's advice, Neil quit his job at Newman. But when Nick felt threatened by the possible return of his sister, Victoria, he gave Dru her position of Director of the Cosmetics Division with the stipulation that Neil would return and would mentor her in the job. Dru came up with a new project called "Seasons," which would feature fragrances for each season of the year. Nick's last act was to fire Phyllis, who quit instead. Seasons was renamed "Beauty of Nature," with Sharon Newman becoming spokesperson. Drucilla accompanied Sharon on some of her personal appearances throughout the country.

Malcolm agreed to become the Jabot Photographer on the condition that Lily became the new Jabot teen model. Lily fell for Daniel Romalotti like a ton of bricks. Dru fought it at every turn because her nemesis, Phyllis Abbott, was his mother. But through a tragic turn of events [see Daniel Romalotti profile], Daniel was charged with vehicular manslaughter in the death of Cassie Newman. Lily couldn't be parted from her new love, so she talked Daniel into hiding out in the remote Abbott family playhouse. While the police, his mother, and a vengeful Nick Newman searched for Daniel, Lily was visiting him and delivering food to him right under their noses. Malcolm figured it out, and tried to get Lily to talk Daniel into giving himself up. But instead they ran away together in Lily's car.

The fugitives dumped the car in St. Louis with Nick Newman and Phyllis right on their heels. They turned up in Los Angeles, were camping on the beach and enjoying themselves, awaiting the return of Brendan, a musician friend of Daniel's father. Daniel began having dreams with flashes of the accident, and finally realized that it was not him, but Cassie driving the car. Meanwhile Brendan returned home to find Phyllis, Nick, and Neil waiting for him. Nick called in the police, and all went searching for the kids nearby. Phyllis discovered them dressed in fruit costumes and working on the beach to promote a beachfront café, but didn't realize it was them until they disappeared. Daniel talked Lily into going to the café where the three awaited them to claim their paychecks, and Neil was reunited with Lily.

Nick spotted Daniel watching, and chased and caught Daniel. Phyllis managed to stop Nick from beating up the kid. They turned the kids over to the police, and both were returned to Genoa City. Lily was out on bail, and Daniel went on trial for vehicular manslaughter, where Christine and Paul failed to prove that Cassie was driving the car. But in a last-minute save, Nick Newman turned over the evidence he'd been withholding - the clothes Cassie was wearing that fateful night. The boot she was wearing matched a piece of a heel found under the accelerator. The judge determined that Cassie was driving and let Daniel go free.

Lily's parents made a deal to send her away to boarding school in New Hampshire and for her to have no contact with Daniel, which got the D.A. to drop the charges against her. Lily and Daniel vowed their undying love and were torn apart at the airport. Lily's school strictly kept them from contacting each other until they began communicating as Romeo and Juliet via a study website. But they got caught and that was stopped too. Then Lily's parents made her write a letter to Daniel in which she dumped him, and Devon was asked to deliver it. Lily got a second letter to Devon that told Daniel that the first was a fake, but Devon kept it.

Since he was alone with Neil and Dru after Lily has left for boarding school, Devon tried to talk Yolanda into going into a free state rehab facility. She refused, but claimed she was off the drugs. So Devon took her home to the Winterses', let her clean up, and she left after stealing Neil's expensive watch. She used the watch to buy enough drugs to overdose, and was found unconscious in the park by Devon. Yolanda recovered and went into rehab. She went to live with the Winters family and was getting her act together, got a nice job in the Jabot mailroom, then blew it all by coming on to Neil. Neil shot her down, and Devon walked in on them, so Yolanda explained to Devon. He turned down her offer to leave with her, and she packed and left for her sister's in Seattle.

Lily arrived home for a long-weekend visit, and popped out of a present for Devon's 18th birthday. But all Lily was thinking about was finding Daniel. Once Lily informed Daniel of the deception, they let everyone believe they no longer cared about each other, and Lily was allowed to stay in town. Colleen helped them by faking a romance with Daniel but Lily and Daniel never stopped their affair. Eventually both sets of parents found out. Though Phyllis was more understanding, Neil and Dru were livid and threatened to notify the police that Lily had violated her probation. So Lily and Daniel eloped to Las Vegas and began living in the former Abbott children's playhouse on their estate thanks to Jack's generosity. Daniel got a part time job working in the mailroom at Newman Enterprises for the summer, and Lily worked at the Jabot boutique, after just finishing high school the summer after failing to graduate.

One day Lily overheard an argument between Phyllis and Dru and discovered the long-kept secret of her paternity. She was very upset and emailed Daniel about it, but accidentally sent it to "Dad" instead of "Daniel." She discovered her error and tried to intercept it, but in the end, Lily ended up telling Neil the truth -- that she was not his biological daughter, and that his brother Malcolm was her father. Neil blew up at Dru and never let her completely tell the story of how it happened. Neil and Dru separated, and Dru began living with the also-separated Sharon Newman at the Newman Ranch. Neil began seeing co-worker Carmen Mesta, who encouraged Neil's dream to own a jazz club, and found him a space which he bought, renovated, and named Indigo. Devon began working part-time as an intern at Newman Enterprises and attending GCU.

Daniel and Lily's young marital bliss was interrupted when Alex arrived back in town and began blackmailing Kevin and Daniel. He threatened to expose how he had helped them to pretend to attack Lily years before. Daniel told Jack and Phyllis about it, and both suggested he tell Lily the truth, which he finally did. Meanwhile Kevin and Gloria had come up with a scheme to get rid of Alex. They drugged Alex, and videotaped a faked a rape scene with the help of Jana. Once Alex saw the tape, he left town. But it was too late - Lily was understandably upset, believing she and Daniel had the perfect relationship with no secrets. She left him and moved back to her parents', who went back to hating Daniel. Not long afterward, Lily relented and asked Daniel to her graduation dinner, and they were reconciling, much to the disappointment of her parents, who tried to force her into a divorce.

Dru began following Carmen and Neil on their "business meetings" and observed them hugging and kissing. She was so enraged that she threatened Carmen and fought with Neil. When the time came for the NVP Retreats grand opening party, Dru showed up on the arm of a businessman named Edward and proceeded to pitch a drunken scene from which Neil carried her out of the room. Dru ended up tricking the maid into letting her into Carmen's room and Carmen and Neil discovered Dru cutting up Carmen's clothes. Carmen called the police and Dru landed in jail. Dru was sentenced to two years probation; 60 hours of community service; 60 hours of counseling; no communication via phone, written, or email; nor could Dru be within 500 feet of Carmen unless it was business-related and a third party was present. Dru continually violated the restraining order by confronting Carmen, so Dru was fired from Newman, but was later reinstated.

In the middle of the Winterses' marital problems, Devon went deaf after surviving meningitis. Dru and Neil reconciled, and the family bound together to support Devon by learning sign language and having their home equipped for the deaf. Devon was coping well considering he was a music major, but began looking into having a cochlear implant. His overprotective foster parents were smothering him, so he moved out to live with Lily and Daniel, but Jack Abbott ended up renting a house to all three to live together near the GCU campus. Neil gave Dru the job of decorating his jazz club Indigo and was hoping Devon would work there too.

Indigo's successful grand opening featured Aaron Neville with a sign language interpreter just for Devon. But afterward, Carmen turned up bludgeoned to death in the alley behind the club. Dru, Neil, Devon, and Lily all appeared before the Grand Jury to testify, and were among the murder suspects. But in a surprise turn of events, Devon was arrested for the murder of Carmen. While he was out on bail awaiting trial, his cochlear implant surgery was successful and he was able to hear again. Neil and Dru took this opportunity to legally adopt Devon once they heard that his mother was back on drugs. Three months later, Carmen's former lover, David Chow, showed up in Genoa City, hell-bent on getting Dru convicted for Carmen's murder after he received a copy of the video of Dru and Carmen's altercation.

After David hooked up with Leanna Love, the video was aired on TV, and all eyes are again pointed at Dru as the murderer. Chow was confronting Dru everywhere, even turning up at her apartment door just after Dru found her own clothes shredded like she had shredded Carmen's. Then Dru started seeing dead Carmen and ended up checked into the psych ward, though it turned out that Carmen's identical cousin, Inez, was in cahoots with Chow and was gaslighting Dru. After Jana Hawkes confessed to being the real killer, David and Inez appeared at Dru's competency hearing, vindicating her. However, she never revealed he was the one behind the gaslighting. Jana disappeared and both Dru and Devon were exonerated.

In April of 2007, Sharon told Drucilla Phyllis was blackmailing her over her affair with Brad Carlton. When Sharon and Phyllis began fighting on the edge of a cliff during an NVP photo shoot, Dru intervened. When all lost hold of the cell phone they were fighting over, they lost their balance and fell backward. Dru sailed off the cliff into the river below, and Sharon was left hanging onto the edge for her life. Phyllis tried to save her, but she lost her grip and Sharon also fell to the river below. Rescuers combed the area and found Sharon's lifeless body, but she was revived and lived. Dru was never found. Only the jacket she wore was found below the falls, so she was presumed dead.

A prayer vigil was held at Indigo, where family and friends shared memories. Olivia remembered what a precocious child Dru had been, and how she had showed her love for Liv when she donated needed bone marrow when Liv was on her deathbed. Sharon remembered Dru's brutal honesty and her one-of-kind hats. Devon recalled that before Dru came into his life, no one had ever believed in him, and how she forced him through her love to believe in himself. Lily said Dru was the kind of woman who did it all -- career and family, and was her role model. Neil believed Dru was still alive, declared that he was not going to give up looking for her, and called her loyal and passionate about life. For a while, Neil was turning back to the bottle in his despair over losing Dru, but he stopped for the sake of his children.

Neil died in his sleep from a stroke twelve years later. Oliva opined that Dru and Neil were finally together forever now.