When Ashley discovered that she was pregnant with Victor's baby but also learned that his wife Nikki was dying, she didn't want Victor to leave his ill spouse for her and her baby so she chose to have an abortion. A subsequent nervous breakdown resulted in Ashley being cared for by Dr. Stephen Lassiter, a man whom she would later marry. Alas, their union was short-lived. Stephen's unstable former patient, Leanna Randolph, stalked Ashley and tried to kill her with a poisonous lei while Ash and Stephen honeymooned in Hawaii. Ironically, another of Stephen's unbalanced patients ended up killing him. Ashley found comfort in the arms of her former brother-in-law Brad Carlton, but shocked everyone when she impulsively wed Victor, now divorced from Nikki. Her stepdaughter Victoria, who wanted her parents to re-marry, sorely tested Ashley's new marriage. In time, Victor fell in love with Nikki again and he and Ashley split.

The fragrance expert would go on to have other romances with mysterious photographer Alex Bladeson, widower doctor Kurt Costner and hunky novelist Cole Howard, to whom she was briefly married.

When Ashley returned from a cruise and revealed she was pregnant, many believed a mystery man named Christian was the dad. In reality, Ashley had stolen Victor's specimen from his spiteful ex-wife Diane Jenkins so that she could have the baby of the man she always loved.

Ashley wed Brad, who adopted Abby. The couple's happiness didn't last long, however, because Ashley found herself battling breast cancer. She survived but was devastated to learn that her best friend and doctor, Olivia Winters, had an affair with an estranged Brad while she was ill. Ashley and Brad reconciled and she became pregnant with his son. Tragedy struck when Ash was driving out to the Newman ranch to confront Victor over a business situation and was involved in a car accident. Ashley survived but her and Brad's son, whom they named Robert, did not. Olivia told a devastated Ash that she would likely never be able to have another baby.

Abby saw a video that her ill mother made for her in which Ashley stated that Victor fathered the little girl. Before Ashley could tell Victor he was a father once more, Abby innocently informed the mogul that he was her "other daddy!" Soon, Ashley informed Brad that she wanted a divorce and then proclaimed her love to Victor, now happily re-married to Nikki. Ash was shocked and devastated when Victor told her he wasn't going to leave Nikki.

Next, Ashley began seeing two men, who couldn't be more different from each other: upstanding private eye Paul Williams and nefarious con man Tom Fisher. Ashley conspired with Michael Baldwin to set up Tom, who was threatening her father's wife, Gloria.

Ashley faced another series of blows when John (who went to his grave unaware that he was not Ash's biological father) was sentenced to jail for killing Tom and her new product "Glo Again by Ashley Abbott" may have caused the death of a Jabot customer. Her father's death drew her closer to her brother Jack, although she suspected Jack had been complicit in the sudden appearance of a handwritten, jailhouse will which left Gloria penniless. Ashley and Jack (whom she's been at odds with on and off over the years) are united in their intense dislike of Gloria.

Ashley left town for awhile and lived in Los Angeles, working with Forrester Creations where she had brief romantic trysts with Rick Forrester and Ridge Forrester before moving on to troubled Storm Logan. Storm had shot Stephanie Forrester and when Ashley found out about it, she tried to break it off. Storm showed up with a gun and tried to explain his state of mind. His sister Katie rushed over to reason with him and tried to get the gun away from him, accidently shooting herself in the process. When Storm learned that Katie would need a heart transplant he killed himself and his heart was given to Katie.

Nikki was very worried about her ex husband Victor after the death of his young wife Sabrina and tried to reach out to him while he grieved but her turned her away, blaming her marriage to David Chow as the reason that Sabrina and her unborn child died (a mob hit killed David Chow and Sabrina was in the car with him). When it looked like Victor had turned suicidal, Nikki turned to her old rival Ashley, convinced that only she could breakthrough to him. Ashley flew to Paris where Victor had been spotted and tracked down her old flame. He soon found comfort in Ashley's arms and agreed to return to Genoa City to reunite with family friends. Ashley followed with teen Abby in tow and moved in with the business mogul.

Ashley quickly teamed up with her brothers, Jack and Billy, with the approval of her sister Traci, to bring Jabot back to it's former glory. Meanwhile, Victor went to work on finding justice. Adam aka Victor Jr. and Victor's chief nemesis, Jack Abbott had teamed up during Victor's absence and forged a phony journal they claimed was Victor's that revealed Victor as the murderer of Walter, the mob guy who had David Chow killed and who was responsible for Sabrina's demise. Victor was exonerated and Adam was arrested with Jack seemingly in the clear. Meanwhile, Brad Carlton decided that since Sharon had separated from Jack, they might be able to finally be together. Phyllis, worried about the lingering feelings between Nick and Sharon, steered Brad to the Abbott cabin where Brad declared his love to Sharon. Sharon turned him away. While heading back to town, Brad heard cries for help and quickly rescued Noah Newman from an icy grave. Noah was rescued but Brad went missing. Traci and Colleen began to worry when Brad didn't show up for dinner. Colleen asked J.T. to help her find her father. Ashley and Abby were worried as well. Soon worry turned to despair with Brad's body was found in the same icy lake that he had rescued Noah from. Brad had been a good friend to Ashley and a good father figure to Abby for many years. Victor is less than sympathetic as he and Brad had been rivals and enemies for many years.