Helen Taylor (Hidden Family Secrets)

Helen Taylor (Blanche Baker) is the main villainess from the 2018 Lifetime film, Hidden Family Secrets (alternately titled, My Daughter Vanished; airdate November 30, 2018).

Backstory[]

Helen Taylor is the mother of Scott Taylor, who was her only child with her husband, Owen Taylor. The family's backstory revealed that Scott's childhood was an abusive one; Owen regularly abused Scott, while Helen turned a blind eye and allowed the abuse to happen. Owen later died of a heart attack, leaving Helen to raise and control Scott on her own.

In adulthood, Scott met and married Melanie, and they had a child of their own, a daughter named Gabby. Helen developed intense hatred for Melanie, as she accused her of keeping Scott away from her; in actuality, Scott wanted nothing to do with his unstable mother.

Events[]

In the film's events, the family went on a boating trip, which turned tragic when Scott fell from his boat after Gabby sped up, resulting in Scott accidentally being killed. Melanie covered for Gabby and stated that she drove after Scott was fished out of the water, and as for Helen, she appeared briefly at her son's funeral. Scott's death increased her immense bitterness towards Melanie, as she blamed her daughter-in-law for her only child's death. The demented villainess decided to plot her revenge on Melanie, using Gabby as the central point of her plan. It was six months later that Gabby made contact with Helen, leaving Gabby excited to finally truly get to know her paternal grandmother for the first time.

Helen acted welcoming and sweet to Gabby, though she slowly began her evil plan once she noticed that Gabby had a cellphone. She took the phone and intentionally dropped it in the water, claiming that her arthritis was acting up, and she took the battery out of her land phone in her cabin home. She also drugged Gabby while preparing her lunch, and once Gabby felt the effects, the deranged Helen placed her in Scott's old bedroom. Helen later appeared at Melanie's home and inserted herself in Melanie's search for Gabby, while also cryptically boasting about having Gabby all along.

Gabby eventually escaped the house after realizing what her evil grandmother was up to, and later went to a neighbor's house. The female neighbor noticed that Gabby was out of sorts, but she was approached by Helen, who acted worried about Gabby and was thankful that she was found. The villainess thwarted her neighbor's plans to call 911 by struggling for the phone and shoving her down on the ground, causing the woman's head to strike the concrete and kill her. Helen took Gabby back to her home, where she revealed her hatred of Melanie and accused her of intentionally killing Scott just to spite her. Gabby stated that her father's death was an accident and that she, not Melanie, caused the accident, after which Helen became very cold and distant to Gabby, stating that she doesn't know who she is.

Reveal and Arrest[]

Once Melanie and her brother, Steve, reached the cabin, the evil Helen escaped with Gabby and went to Melanie's home, where she placed her inside the bathtub. She later drugged Gabby and filled the tub with water in an attempt to drown her, after which she sat in the living room and started singing. Once Melanie and Steve returned to their home, Helen attacked the latter with a fireplace poker and confronted the former, accusing her of taking Scott from her. Melanie revealed the truth: Scott wanted to get away from Helen because she allowed Owen to abuse him, a claim Helen repeatedly denied by claiming that she had been protecting Scott.

The villainess stated that she was killing Gabby to make Melanie suffer the loss of her only child, just like Helen did, but it was at that moment that Steve demanded to know what she did with Gabby. Helen laughed and stated that they were too late, but Steve and Melanie managed to rescue Gabby. Later on, Helen was shown in handcuffs with police and paramedics present, and it was at that moment that Helen feigned dementia and asked about Gabby, while pretending not to know what she had done, which angered Melanie. Helen was later arrested and taken into custody.