AS THE WORLD TURNS' Maddie has been taking a little heat from Luke and Noah fans across the Internet for being the spoiler in a very unusual love triangle, but her portrayer, Alexandra Chando, is quick to point out that Noah's clueless beard hasn't exactly had an easy time of it.

"She was still trying to get over Casey and just started this new relationship," reminds Chando. "So it's been really hard for her."

Unfortunately, waving Casey off to the state pen was the least of what Maddie's been through in the last 12 months. Take a look at some of this Oakdale teen's tough times.

1. Maddie sent first love Casey off to prison after he revealed he had a secret gambling problem and broke into Crash just to cover his debts.

2. Although Casey wanted her to have a normal life and go to college, when new guy Noah begged her to stay in town, she gave up a scholarship to her dream school, Wesleyan. Since her brother Henry and his girlfriend Vienna just lost all their money, she's going to have to work just to attend "prestigious" Oakdale U.

3. She clubbed Casey's psycho brother Adam over the head, helped Gwen bury the body, was haunted by the secret, and then was summarily stalked and attacked by Adam when he turned up not-so-dead and wanting revenge.

4. She was stalked by the Oakdale slasher, turning her life into one big horror movie. Not only did all her schoolmates think she was the killer, but she then discovered it was her wack-a-doodle older sister, Eve.

5. And why did Eve kill all of Maddie's teen companions and try to off Maddie, too? Because she was jealous of Maddie and her husband Louis' relationship. That "relationship" was Louis brutally raping Maddie one night when she still lived in Chicago. Maddie repressed the memory until last year.

6. She thought she'd try a nice outing this summer to Branson, Mo., with Gwen, Will, Luke and Noah, but it wound up being less than idyllic when Gwen's nutty double, Cleo, tied up Will and tried to kill nemeses Gwen and Jade. All Maddie got was a lousy T-shirt and a lousy round in the sack with Noah.

7. She's on the verge of discovering that her sweet, new boyfriend is in the closet and flaming with passion for her good friend, Luke. (That certainly explains the less-than-thrilling first time they had sex.)

"Luke wants to treat himself right, and treat Noah right because he knows how hard coming out is, and treat Maddie right, because it's not fair what Noah's doing to Maddie," weighs in Van Hansis (Luke). "Luke knows that. I hope it doesn't turn into Luke against Maddie, because it really shouldn't!"

Not after the year Maddie's had!