Bold and Beautiful’s Ridge Forrester and Taylor Hayes: Their Decades of Romantic Drama

The on-again/off-again love story of Taylor Hayes (Rebecca Budig) and Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) has played out for over three decades (and multiple portrayers) on Bold and Beautiful. Over the course of their relationship, they’ve welcomed three children and endured a boatload of drama, not to mention heartache — most of it Taylor’s, and much of it due to Ridge’s ping-ponging between Taylor and Brooke Logan. Here’s a look back at “Tridge’s” long and complicated romance.

In The Beginning

Ridge and Taylor first met in 1990 when his wife, Caroline Spencer Forrester, was dying of leukemia and became one of Taylor’s patients. Before passing, Caroline asked both Brooke and Taylor to look after her soon-to-be widowed husband. Taylor obliged, counseling Ridge through his grief, and feelings soon developed between them.

Taylor’s louse of an ex-husband, Blake Hayes, arrived in town in 1991, determined to win her back. He attempted to use Caroline’s twin sister, Karen, to drive a wedge between Taylor and Ridge. Then he showed Taylor footage of Ridge and Brooke, who was then married to Eric, having sex at Forrester Creations. A crushed Taylor fled to St. Thomas. Ridge rushed after her, declared his love, and proposed on the beach. Taylor accepted.

Taylor and Ridge exchanged vows later that year in Los Angeles, blissfully unaware of the storm cloud headed their way. But shortly after Ridge returned from his honeymoon with Taylor, Brooke informed him that she was pregnant and that the baby was his (which she believed was true at the time).

Three’s A Crowd

At year’s end, Brooke gave birth to a baby girl, who she named Bridget. It took some years for the truth to come out, but eventually, Eric, not Ridge, proved to be Bridget’s biological father. Taylor did her best to cope with Brooke’s constant presence in her marriage, particularly after Brooke took a controlling interest at Forrester Creations, and devoted herself to counseling Dr. James Warwick.

In 1994, an earthquake struck the Forresters’ Big Bear Cabin while Taylor was there with James. Believing they were doomed, Taylor made love to James, who was a virgin and had expressed that he didn’t want to die one. Taylor then embarked on a business trip to the Middle East, and her plane went down. Ridge mourned her presumed death, but moved on and soon married Brooke.

However, Taylor was far from dead — but she was suffering from amnesia. Prince Omar fell in love with Taylor, who he called Laila. Taylor’s memory returned, but after Omar arranged for her to witness an intimate moment between Ridge and Brooke, she agreed to become Omar’s wife. By the time Taylor made her way back to Los Angeles, Ridge was blind; he’d been in an explosion at Forrester. She altered her appearance, donned a British accent, and began looking after him anonymously.

In 1995, Taylor revealed herself to Ridge, whose eyesight had returned. Although Omar followed and announced that he and Taylor were married, it turned out that Taylor was still legally Ridge’s wife. Sadly for Taylor, Ridge opted to remain with Brooke, and Taylor entered into a brief romance with Eric.

In 1997, things hit a snag for Ridge and Brooke when Ridge wrongly believed Brooke was cheating on him with Grant Chambers. Feeling betrayed, he proposed to Taylor. Upon learning the true reason Ridge had asked her to marry him, Taylor got drunk and accidentally set herself on fire. Thorne, Ridge’s smitten brother, helped her through her recovery. When Taylor discovered she was expecting Ridge’s baby, Thorne convinced her to let everyone believe he was the father.

Brooke and Thorne did everything they could to stop Taylor from coming clean, but in 1998, Taylor resolved to tell Ridge the truth — on the day that Ridge and Brooke were set to remarry. Unfortunately, her efforts were derailed when she went into labor and delivered her son en route in Thorne’s car! She named the boy Thomas, after the island on which Ridge had proposed to her. When she told Ridge that the baby was his, Ridge annulled his marriage to Brooke, and he and Taylor tied the knot once again.

Try, Try Again

The first challenge to Ridge and Taylor’s new union came when Dr. Pierce Peterson fell for Taylor. Brooke conspired with Pierce’s assistant, Bailey, to get Taylor to spurn Ridge in favor of Pierce. However, when Brooke discovered that Bailey was using hypnosis to manipulate Taylor’s emotions, she bailed on the plan and Pierce deprogrammed Taylor.

In 1999, while Ridge and Taylor were expecting twins, Taylor contracted tuberculosis. Determined to protect her babies, she refused medical treatment. Although things were touch and go and she nearly died, Taylor survived and gave birth to daughters Steffy and Phoebe.

The duo’s marriage was challenged by the 2000 arrival of Morgan DeWitt, an old flame of Ridge’s who was determined to have his baby. To that end, she forged an email from Taylor to Ridge consenting to her husband siring a child with Morgan. Morgan got pregnant, but miscarried after a tussle with Taylor, causing her to become even more unhinged. She faked baby Steffy’s death via shark attack and kidnapped Taylor before being arrested in 2001.

Brooke’s presence in Ridge and Taylor’s lives continued to be a sore spot for Taylor, who participated in an ultimately failed scheme to get Brooke to leave the country. Then, in 2002, Taylor got shot in a struggle with Sheila Carter and seemingly died in Ridge’s arms. In truth, Prince Omar had faked Taylor’s death and carted her away! Taylor found her way back to the land of the living in 2005; Ridge and the children were overjoyed.

Stephanie pretended to be ill and claimed that her dying wish was to see Ridge and Taylor reunite, prompting the couple to renew their vows. Their relationship fell apart in 2006 and a depressed Taylor developed a drinking problem. She nearly married Thorne (despite lying to him about her role in the death of his wife, Darla), then did tie the knot with Nick Marone, Ridge’s half brother, in 2007. They welcomed a son, Jack Marone, via in vitro fertilization — and after the baby was born, it proved to be Brooke’s biological child (but that’s a whole other story!).

Lies, All Lies

Taylor and Ridge butted heads over her next romantic entanglement, which was with Rick (who was not only Ridge’s much younger sibling but had also dated Phoebe, Ridge and Taylor’s daughter) — but such matters seemed like small potatoes when Phoebe was killed in a 2008 car accident, devastating Ridge and Taylor.

Ridge and Taylor were poised to remarry in 2009 when Brooke stopped the wedding (arriving via horseback, no less!). Ridge remarried Brooke, and Taylor walked down the aisle with Whipple “Whip” Jones in 2010. They divorced the following year when Taylor admitted she was still in love with Ridge. She and Ridge reconciled — but only because Ridge had been manipulated by Stephanie and Thomas into believing that Brooke had slept with Thomas! At the wedding, Stephanie and Thomas confessed to the lie, and Ridge called off the nuptials, leaving Taylor heartbroken once again.

Ridge ended up marrying Brooke again in the fall of 2012, but they quickly split and he settled down in Paris. Taylor, meanwhile, had briefly renewed her relationship with Thorne, then got involved with Eric Forrester following Stephanie’s death from lung cancer. When that romance fizzled in 2013, Taylor headed to Europe.

You Can Go Home Again

Both Ridge and Taylor eventually returned to Los Angeles. Ridge had a succession of romantic entanglements, namely a failed marriage to Caroline Spencer (his late wife’s niece and namesake) and a broken engagement to Brooke’s sister Katie, before finding his way back to Brooke. Taylor, meanwhile, came close to marrying Thorne and dated Dr. Reese Buckingham, who turned out to be a criminal. In 2019, she told Ridge she still loved him, but he rejected her overtures.

After some time away, Taylor came back to L.A. in 2021, confessing to Steffy that she still loved Ridge. Ridge left Brooke in 2022 because she had shared a kiss with Deacon, but they reconciled, only to split again when Thomas made it look like Brooke had sicced Child Protective Services on him. Ridge promptly swore that he was done with Brooke for good and got back together with Taylor. The two were poised to wed when Thomas’s underhanded actions came to light, derailing the nuptials. Ridge was outraged when he found out that Taylor knew Brooke was innocent of Thomas’s charges and had kept mum.

Brooke and Ridge reunited (yes, again) in 2024. After some time in Europe, Taylor headed back to Los Angeles, and Ridge supported her through her diagnosis of Broken Heart Syndrome, triggered by emotional trauma (for which Ridge felt responsible). When Ridge and Brooke’s relationship went south (yes, again), Ridge sought solace with Taylor and in 2025, they got engaged. However, he couldn’t quite shake the Brooke bug, and during an overseas jaunt to Italy, Ridge realized he was still in love with Ms. Logan and raced to stop her from getting engaged again to Nick. After she fell off Nick’s boat, Ridge rescued her and kissed her passionately. He vowed never to take her for granted again and to “make this right” — which don’t sound like the actions or words of a man truly committed to Taylor…