Chloe Richards
Chloe Richards (1995-1999; 2005)
Kristy Wright
Episodes: 1723–1733; 1745–1753; 1823–2677; 3989–4001; 4065
Parents: Max & Maureen Richards
Foster Parent: Irene Roberts
Foster Siblings: Selina Roberts & Joey Rainbow
Marital Status: James Fraser (1999, divorced)
Children: Olivia Fraser-Richards
Occupation: Law firm worker
Chloe was first seen when Jack asked to work with her on a school project. And she agreed, prompting a relationship with Jack much to her father’s displeasure. Max Richards, could not handle the idea of his daughter dating Jack because he was mixed race. Chloe ended up running away from home to find her mother in Western Australia because her father had started beating her.
She returned to Summer Bay after her mother rejected her, only to find her father gone and Jack going out with Sally. All on her own and with nowhere to stay, Chloe was taken in by Irene at the beach house and remained living with her, Selina Roberts and Joey Rainbow. Irene became like a mum to Chloe and later made it official by fostering her.
Being brought up by her father, moving from town to town and from school to school, Chloe had always been a loner. Shy and lacking in self confidence, Chloe tended to try just a little too hard to fit in and be liked. Constantly chattering non-stop, she used to drive people mad. Growing up, Chloe’s father had been at the centre of her world and unable to let go of him easily, Chloe set off in search of him, only to arrive back in Summer Bay dependent on drugs. She didn’t tell anyone about her drug addiction and returned to school, only to find out she would have to repeat Year 11.
Curtis and Chloe become good friends after talking about the shortcomings of failing in school and decided to repeat the year together. After a very traumatic period, Chloe’s life began to improve, with Donald Fisher praising her for her attitude and performance in class.
Curtis could not understand why Chloe was acting strangely, until she decided to confide in him that she was taking drugs because her mother used them. While out walking the two of them climbed a water tower which looked out over Summer Bay. Curtis nearly fell off the edge but Chloe managed to grab his hand and save him from certain death.
Chloe impressed Alf with her fake, drug-induced enthusiasm for school. In order to fund her drug addiction she asked Irene for money to buy textbooks and kept saying her Study Grant still hadn’t come through. Affected by drugs, Chloe wrote an essay which didn’t make sense and when their teacher, Steven found a small bag of white substance on the classroom floor, Donald confronted Chloe, confused by her strange essay. She lied to Donald about having any involvement but Curtis didn’t believe her and broke off their relationship.
The Summer Bay drug dealer turned out to be Joanne Brennan, the school secretary, who accused Chloe of dobbing her in and Donald of sexual harassment. Chloe was forced to admit to Selina that she had been using drugs and that Joanne made up the sexual harassment story to take the heat off what she was really doing. Sgt Hale questioned Donald and Chloe at the school but she chickened out of giving evidence against Joanne, because that would incriminate her.
Chloe continue to pull the wool over Curtis’s eyes about drugs but he saw Joanne hand her more drugs outside the Surf Club. Irene was furious to find out about Chloe’s involvement but fortunately no charges were brought against her and she began to get over her drug addiction.
As Chloe began to get her life back on track she and Curtis began to rebuild their relationship. However Donald Fisher kept telling Chloe that she was wasting her time hanging around with Curtis because he as a bad influence on her studies. After being told by Donald that she could top the New South Wales HSC results in History, Chloe applied for a scholarship. When she went for a college interview though she was rejected because of a blackening reference from Donald, which mentioned the drug problems she had.
On hearing the news that Chloe was not accepted, Irene had a go at Donald in the school corridor in front of some of his students. After Chloe had a go at Donald, he claimed that he did it to give her an honest start. Despite pressure from Af and Donald, Curtis refused to give up on her and encouraged her to continue with her HSC.
After taking the car behind Irene’s back Chloe and Selina broke down in the middle of nowhere. The car ended up being towed away to a stolen car yard run by Jesse and his mates. Trapped in the broken down car, Chloe and Selina were saved by Jesse, who decided to defect from the gang. Before they left the scene Chloe noticed that Donald’s car, which had been stolen, was in the yard. Realising that Jesse was a car thief, Chloe hassled Selina for deciding to go out common criminal.
Chloe encouraged Curtis to pursue a career as a professional surfer but blamed herself when he nearly died after not taking his insulin injections in order to be a a better surfer. With her relationship going well, her home life settled and her HSC well on track Chloe’s life was to hit a major hurdle when she attended a party with Curtis and Selina, who ended up leaving early. When the party finished Chloe walked home along the beach alone and was raped.
Irene awoke early to hear Chloe showering in the middle of the night, thinking nothing was wrong she went back to bed. A distraught Chloe the following morning took her pretty dress she had been wearing the night before out from under the bed where she had hidden it and put it in a bag and flung it in the bin. When Irene walked into the room giving, her a fright, a still traumatised Chloe went for another shower.
Later on that night while Marilyn and Irene had been trying to find out what was up with Chloe, they encouraged her to eat some fruit. But when Chloe approached the fruit bowl, she noticed her bangle lying there which she had obviously lost during the attack. She then freaked out crying ”he brought it back, he knows where I live” and ran to her room.
When Irene explained that Shannon brought the bangle round after having found it on the beach and recognising it as Chloe’s, Chloe broke down and admitted what had happened. Irene encouraged her to contact the police. Still traumatised by what had happened, Chloe’s relationship with Curtis suffered and they broke up. Chloe began seeing her counsellor Brad Cooper and found some relief when the police arrested a man they believed had raped her and her father Max shot him dead.
Believing she was safe Chloe agreed to go away with Brad to a secluded cabin but whilst leafing through some tapes in his car, she discovered that he was the man who had attacked her. Terrified she tried to escape from him only to find the ground littered with traps. As he chased her through the woods he got his foot caught in one of the traps and as he lay there injured, Chloe left him suffering. She was rescued and Brad was arrested but the nightmare still wasn’t over as she began receiving threatening notes and came home one day to find the house littered with traps.
It was at this time Lachlan Fraser a Doctor at the hospital was having things hard and on the rebound from Shannon and he and Chloe slept together. Both of them agreed not to carry the relationship any further but he was still a great support to her as Brad terrorised her.
She kissed Jesse while he was with Selina and when Selina found out and refused to speak to either oif them, Chloe and Jesse began dating. Chloe and Jesse’s relationship didn’t last though because he was still really in love with Selina and he ended up getting back with her. Chloe though was pregnant and everyone assumed the baby was Jesse’s but Selina guessed that it was really Lachie’s and eventually Lachlan found out the truth. Lachie then had to break the news to his mother Diana, who wasn’t particularly pleased to learn he was having a child with a schoolgirl that he wasn’t actually dating.
As they began spending time together, Lachie did end up developing feelings for Chloe but when he broached the subject she told him she didn’t feel the same way. In fact, she was being blackmailed by Diana, who had learned that she had a drug problem in the past and threatened to reveal it if she didn’t stay away from Lachie. Having realised what was going on, Irene Roberts recorded Diana explaining the deal and then played the tape to Lachie, who angrily ordered Diana out of their lives.
Lachie and Chloe finally formalised their relationship, but she wasn’t too happy about the idea of joining him in the shared house. Fortunately, around that time Travis and Rebecca, his new wife were asked by Pippa to look after the caravan park so Lachie and Chloe took over their old flat.
Chloe’s labour was quite a traumatic one and their first two calls to the Doctor were passed off as false alarms. The next day Lachie called Irene round to help calm her and they set off for a walk along the beach where her waters promptly broke. Rescued by Tom they headed home and with Chloe deciding against a water birth at the last minute, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, who she and Lachie named Olivia.
However, only a few weeks later Lachie was diagnosed with a tumor in the brain. He had surgery to remove it which appeared to be successful but afterwards suffered a Haemorrage that left him in a coma. Although he recovered consciousness a few days later, the experience had left him brain damaged and unable to move or communicate properly. He became severely depressed in the aftermath and his condition was not helped by Diana re-entering his life and disagreeing with Chloe over treatment. He ended up accepting Chloe’s offer for her to look after him at home but on his first day back he fell over on top of her, leaving both of them trapped. Not wanting their relationship to degenerate further, he accepted Diana’s offer to leave for The States for treatment.
Although Lachie’s rehabilitation saw his movement and speech improve, the damage to his brain caused a personality change and he soon lost all interest in reuniting with Chloe and Olivia. When Chloe made the trip to the States to see him she was horrified to find him in the arms of another woman, whom he later married. Some months later, Chloe and his friends in Summer Bay received the news that he had died from a second haemorrhage.
Lachlan’s doctor brother James came to support Chloe and Olivia during this difficult time, and they soon became romantically involved. They later married despite a last minute hitch where James became convinced she still loved Lachie. She showed him her locket round her neck which contained a picture of him, not Lachie and the wedding went ahead.
Their marriage was not a success though and the spectre of Lachie still loomed over themwith Chloe finally admitting she still loved him before departing the bay for a new life with Olivia.
Chloe returned in June 2005 to stay with Irene in order to escape her abusive boyfriend Troy Bradley. She revealed that she had met Troy while living in the city and that he was a colleague at the law firm. She also revealed that she is now a lawyer and has not seen Diana in over 2 years.
She sought comfort in old boyfriend Jesse McGregor but Troy eventually tracked her down and began stalking her, and an unfortunate Jesse ended up being a victim of Troy’s violent attack. Chloe then contacted the police and Constable Fitzgerald assured her they will find him.
However Chloe ended up fighting for her safety when she finally came face-to-face with Troy. He was later arrested and Olivia joined her in the bay. She attended Alf Stewart’s 60th birthday party and spent an enjoyable night chatting and dancing with Jesse until he finally asked her out, but Chloe rejected him apologising for giving him the wrong signals and said she wasn’t ready for another relationship, causing Jesse to leave the party early.
Shortly after Troy turned up, claiming the police had let him out on bail and that he just wanted to talk. Chloe said she didn’t want to but he refused to leave and was ejected by Will but fired a parting line that, ”If I can’t have you, no one will” leaving Chloe shaken.
While Chloe was driving home from the party with Alf, Martha, Ric and Kim he car was run off the road by an on-coming driver on the wrong side of the road. As Ric and Alf helped try to free Martha and Kim, a seemingly okay Chloe called for help.
They were all taken to hospital for treatment with Martha looking like the possible fatality, Ric, Alf and Kim were all relatively minor injuries, and at the time of the accident Chloe had suffered only a broken wrist.
At the hospital while chatting to friends and relatives Chloe bought up the subject of someone deliberately running them off the road and Alf agree that that was what had happened. Chloe blameds herself for Martha’s injuries after the accident because she was driving but Alf assured her that if it was anyone’s fault it was his for moving her.
Chloe was scheduled to have an operation to repair the damage on her arm the following morning, but tragically suffered an embolism in hospital which had floated away from her fractured arm and blocked her lung causing her to die suddenly with Irene by her side.
Profile thanks to Lesleyann08.