Julie Wendall was always vulnerable to two things: money and trouble. First seen as Duke Kramer's live-in girlfriend in Seattle, she encouraged him to work for a drug dealer because he wasn't making enough as a boxer. When he moved to Oakdale to be with his newfound father, John Dixon, Julie was only alone for a few months before John's wife, Lucinda Walsh, contacted her. Offering bribes and a makeover, all she wanted Julie to do was get Duke out of town. Julie, who had just lost custody of her kids and was in debt, agreed. Little did Lucinda know the monster she was creating. Julie arrived and seduced Duke, but quickly began a flirtation with teenage Andy Dixon, and then blackmailed Lucinda for $300 a month in exchange for her silence. Lucinda was amused by her spunk and agreed to pay her. John offered Julie a check to leave town, which she quickly ripped up. Julie even got Duke to have sex with her in John and Lucinda's bed.

Soon, Larry Wagner arrived in town and encouraged Julie to work with him in getting more money out of Lucinda. First, Julie had to take care of her promise to Lucinda. Calling Duke, she began sobbing hysterically, telling him to come right over or she'd kill herself. She claimed that she was pregnant. Duke made her get a sonogram, which revealed she had been pregnant for more than 2 months - longer than her stay in Oakdale. When she learned of the pregnancy, Lucinda decided to get Julie out of town. Duke walked in on Julie accepting the final check, and told Susan Stewart, who told John. John dumped Lucinda and Julie was dumped by Duke. She found refuge in Andy's bed, becoming his first lover. Julie was pregnant, alone, and needy, perfect for Andy's savior complex. He ignored the constant advice from friends and family to steer clear of the scheming Julie.

After a brief trip to Chicago to take care of "female problems", Julie returned, no longer pregnant. She hid out until Olivia Wycroft asked her to model. John, Duke and Lucinda were shocked to see "Little Miss Seattle" (John's nickname for her) working it on a runway. Duke forced Julie to tell Andy all of her misdeeds, but Andy didn't care. He moved into her basement apartment. Lisa, seeing herself in the young woman, gave Julie a job as hostess at Mona Lisa.

Julie caught the eye of Tonio Reyes, who lured her to his apartment, promising her fame and fortune, in exchange for sex. Andy would never have to know. Tonio helped her begin modeling for Veronica Leathers, and tried to seduce her while on a photo shoot in New York. Julie declined, swearing to Andy when she got back home that no harm was done, but eventually, Tonio forced her to choose between her career and her body. Julie chose her career, and they began an affair. The more she stayed out, the more Andy) drank. Julie offered to go away, but Andy told her she was his whole life. Eventually, she moved into her own apartment paid for by Tonio v , leaving Andy a farewell note and breaking his heart.

Happiness wasn't in the cards for Julie. As soon as she moved in, Tonio stopped telling her he loved her. A bitter Andy told her that Tonio wasn't going to make her the signature model for Veronica Leathers. Tonio admitted this was true, but only because she was an international model. Julie knew he was spending time with other women, and her jealousy led to resentment and anger. Having enough, she moved into Lisa's penthouse and began pursuing Caleb Snyder, since she'd seen him noticing her before. Tonio swore revenge. To everyone's shock, Caleb and Julie married in Las Vegas. Caleb's mother, Emma, tried to teach Julie to cook (she only managed to teach her fried chicken and Dutch potato salad, which was Caleb's favorite and remained Julie's specialty while she lived on the farm), and encouraged her to call her mother. Julie did, but Julie's mother couldn't care less. Cal Stricklyn offered to pay for a lawyer so Julie could fight for custody of her children, Pete and Jenny, but Julie said they were a part of her past.

After Julie didn't show up for a photo shoot in his bedroom, Tonio told Caleb about their affair. Julie admitted to a hurt Caleb that it was true, and, after much begging on her part, he forgave her because he was so in love with her. She was also trying to keep her steamy past with Linc Lafferty secret. Meanwhile, Julie's ex-husband Frank arrived in town with their kids. He didn't want Pete and Jenny anymore, and he tried to foist them off on an equally uncharitable Julie. Julie tried to pay Frank's mother Helen into taking them, and in retaliation, Frank began blackmailing Julie about Linc. Julie got the money from Tonio, who then mentioned her money problems to Caleb. Julie lied that she was using the money to pay for a lawyer for the custody battle. Caleb told Tonio off, and an angry Tonio stopped payment on Frank's check. Frank then told Caleb about Julie's past with Linc and her giving into his blackmail about that past. When Caleb learned that she'd refused custody of Pete and Jenny, Caleb finally had enough, and Julie was once again living in Lisa's penthouse.

One night, Julie ran into a very drunken Holden at the Mona Lisa. Knowing he couldn't drive, she let him stay at the penthouse. They were both lonely and in pain, and he mistook her for Lily. They made love. Caleb went to visit Julie to try to patch things up, and saw them the next morning. Knowing she had ruined her marriage for good, Julie left town after threatening to break her contract with Tonio if he didn't leave her alone. Soon after this, Frank showed up at her apartment while she was gone, making a call to sell Carolyn Crawford's journal, and was found dead later. One hectic part of Julie's past had been quieted, but her troubles were far from over.

Months passed. Andy was sharing a romantic night with new girlfriend, Courtney Baxter, when his doorbell rang. On the other side was a very pregnant Julie! Never having gotten over her, Andy welcomed her into his home, even paying her medical bills. Lucinda offered her money to stop Lily and Holden from marrying, but Julie took Lisa's advice and blackmailed Lucinda into staying quiet. Andy told Lucinda he was the baby's father, but Caleb (who had recently finalized his divorce from Julie) told Holden that the head of her modeling agency, Ron Gillette, was the daddy. When eight months pregnant, Julie tripped over a phone cord and had to be rushed to Park Forest Hospital. She ran into Meg, and pleaded with her not to tell Holden or Caleb. Soon after, she gave birth in Andy's apartment, helped by Andy and Iva Snyder. Julie signed over custody to Iva and left for New York. Lucinda, hoping to bribe Julie into telling Lily and Holden about the baby, forced Olivia Wycroft to hire Julie to model Simply Barbara's new fall line. On Lily and Holden's wedding day, Julie was outside the church, in a parked car and dressed in fur, but drove away, defeated.

Months later, Holden overheard John, Lucinda and Iva discussing his and Julie's conception of Aaron. Holden flew to NYC, where Julie confirmed the news and told him how many people in Oakdale already knew. After leaving her apartment, Holden was nearly beaten to death by muggers. He recovered physically, but suffered severe memory loss. Julie admitted to Lily that Holden and she were Aaron's parents, and that Lucinda had known of Holden's post-mugging whereabouts for months, without telling anyone.

In 1993, Caleb and Julie decided to remarry, with Caleb promising to curb his jealous streak. However, unbeknownst to Caleb, in spring 1994, Julie had rekindled her old modeling career for the past few months. Although Julie had promised Caleb that she'd quit modeling, while they were on their honeymoon in Italy and France, Julie was tempted by Franco Visconti to start modeling again. Keeping this hidden from Caleb, Julie told Caleb a lie that she was going out of town for final shoots for Kingsley-Malta and Veronica Leathers. Unfortunately, Julie couldn't resist and found herself having an affair with Franco. Somehow Julie was able to keep everything hidden from Caleb, until one day Emma was at Fashions Limited and found out from Lisa Grimaldi that Julie had re-started her modeling career. Emma, of course, told a very livid Caleb, and he and Julie had a series of fights with Caleb demanding that she quit modeling a. To appease her, Caleb got her a job at the Yacht Club. In the meantime, Julie's teenage son, Pete, was dumped off on her because of his bad behavior. Pete hated Caleb, and constantly baited him. Julie had no idea of how to control him. To make matters worse, her modeling career began faltering when she wouldn't put out for Ron Gillette. One night, she found a briefcase full of cash ($850,000) and kept it, going on wild spending sprees which confused and angered Caleb. Pete soon found what was left, and stole it. They shared the secret with no one, even after realizing the cash was hostage money Damian Grimaldi had lost en route to saving Lily from her kidnapper, Hans. A few months later, Damian and Lily realized that mother and son had stolen the hostage money, and Caleb was furious. Pete was sent away to military school in Seattle, and Julie was thrown off the farm.

Julie went to work at the Yacht Club as a waitress, her old stomping grounds of five years earlier and bonded with fellow waitress Carly Tenney. One day, she caught Carly in a lie. Not wanting her sweet facade unraveled to her sister, Rosanna Cabot, Carly bought Julie a one-way bus ticket to Seattle. Friendless and knowing she had burned her last bridge, Julie gladly passed the schemer crown onto the younger woman. Carly had also been manipulating Caleb, inadvertently causing him to realize he still loved Julie. Moments before the bus started, Caleb hopped on board, and the tumultuous duo reconciled and moved to Seattle together.

A few years later, Holden revealed that he had sent Aaron to live with Caleb and Julie, both of whom returned for his 1998 wedding to Lily. Julie posed for pictures with Andy, reminiscing about their good times together. Four years passed before the next mention of Julie's name. Teenaged Aaron ran away from home. Weeks later, Caleb arrived to reclaim him, and told Holden that Julie was staying out all the time, always at work or barhopping with girlfriends. He knew she was unsatisfied, but he didn't know why. Even counseling hadn't worked. Caleb decided Aaron would be happier in Oakdale, and returned to Seattle and his again-shaky union with Julie. In the spring of 2004, Aaron received horrifying news from Caleb--Julie was very ill. Aaron immediately went to her side and, after a week, called the Snyders informing them that Julie's diagnosis was grim--she had six months to one year to live. Fortunately, her condition improved greatly with her illness going into remission. Though Julie had another health scare a few years later, she turned out to be fine.