title character is showered with blood) and to Eric and Donna's well-known habit of using honey during sex play. All this—along Eric's use of illegal immigrants as employees—gives Bill Spencer, Jr., the previously unknown illegitimate son of Eric's old rival Bill Spencer, the chance to take over the company. Bill's various efforts fail, until the Forresters are 30 minutes late on their bank loan. Bill pressures the banker to foreclose and sell him the company. The Forresters are furious, but Eric vows to win the company back. Yet it is Ridge's daughter, Steffy, who is able to outsmart and blackmail Bill into selling the company back to the clan. Eric, Stephanie, Ridge and Taylor Hayes (Steffy's mother) end up as equal co-owners of the company. Eric objects when Donna hosts a talk show called The Catwalk, which is owned by Spencer Publications. Especially objectionable is how close this brings her to the Spencer employee, Justin Barber, Donna's ex-boyfriend and the father of Marcus. Their marriage is further strained after Stephanie has a fight with then leaves Donna's mother, Beth, who due to advance alzheimers and being alone falls into and drowns in the Forrester swimming pool. Donna wants to press charges, but Eric refuses to let her. Donna realizes how strong the ties are between Eric and his ex-wife, and this realization leads to their divorce. When Stephanie proves to have stage-four cancer, Eric's love for her bubbles to the surface, and the two reunite. Ridge's son, Thomas (by Taylor), wants to make his mark on the fashion industry with a new line called Taboo, which he promotes via scandal: he surprises Brooke on the runway with a kiss. His purpose is to exploit the public's fascination with his stepmother's pseudo-incestuous romances (with Ridge, Nick, Thorne and Eric), but Taylor worries that Thomas is genuinely attracted to Brooke. Eric supports the line, which leads to a clash with Ridge, who vehemently objects to it. At one point, Eric confesses to Ridge that he feels Taboo is payback: Thomas is doing to his father what Ridge did to his. Eric however, discounts the fact that Brooke was first Ridge's sweetheart, fiancée and almost the mother of his children after she had three miscarriages and fails to see that he should not have dated one of his son's ex-fiancées, let alone marry her. The relationship between Eric and Stephanie falls into crisis