Gender & Pronouns: Male, he/him
Date of Birth: November 20, 1980 (38)
Place of Birth: Madrid, Spain
Neighborhood: Crystal Cove
Length of Residency: 30 years
Occupation: Owner of the Balboa Bay Resort
Face Claim: Justin Hartley
TRIGGERS: Murder / Physical Abuse / Substance of Abuse
As the firstborn of Trevor and Marianne Wells, there were always going to be a lot of expectations placed on Chris. Not only in regards to the running of the family’s hotel, the Balboa Bay Resort, which was opened by Chris’ grandfather, Cyrus Wells, but in the family’s social standing as well. The Wells were one of Newport Beach’s founding families all those years ago and had made a name for themselves as always rubbing shoulders with the town’s elite. They weren’t exactly famous for anything, but just about anyone who was anyone knew who they were. Cyrus Wells became such a prominent business owner and member of the town that it was said the mayor didn’t make any big decisions without running it by him first. What many in the town didn’t know though was that while Cyrus was well-liked and respected throughout the community, his own family was terrified of him. Cyrus was so controlling and cared so very much about the family’s appearance, that he couldn’t stand when his own family couldn’t meet his impossible standards. With a father prone to angry outbursts and who punished his family with his sharp tongue, Trevor Wells grew up knowing full well the consequences for not being the perfect son. His mother, sadly, passed away from a heart attack when Trevor was just 13 years old and after that he never experienced any sort of warmth or affection from his father. A method of parenting that Trevor carried forward when he had his own family.
After a childhood filled with verbal abuse anytime he didn’t live up to the expectations placed upon him by his father, Trevor became obsessed with carrying the family name forward. When he finally took over the hotel from his father, it became the only thing he seemed to care about. A fact that didn’t escape his wife Marianne or his son Chris. However, Trevor took his aggression a step further than his father. He would drown the pressure he felt in alcohol and in drunken rages would brutally beat his wife, and occasionally Christopher as well. One dark night when Chris was 14, his father came home angrier and drunker than usual. As usual, he immediately sent Chris to his room and then laid into Marianne. After an hour of overhearing his mother begging and pleading his father to stop, Chris finally couldn’t take it anymore. He threw open his bedroom door and ran downstairs, ready to try and fight his father off, only to find his father bent over his mother’s lifeless body. Not truly in control of himself, or even realizing what he was doing, Trevor had strangled his own wife. Weeks later when the case finally made it to court, fourteen-year-old Chris was forced to testify against his own father.
After that, the hotel and Chris were both turned over to his father’s only brother. The rest of Chris’ childhood, if he could even be called a child after seeing his father kill his mother, was a bit of a blur. Andrew Wells definitely wasn’t as cruel, obsessive, or prone to getting drunk as his brother, but he definitely wasn’t a warm caregiver to Chris. When Chris graduated high school, he went to New York City to study business and after getting his master of science in business administration degree, he returned to Newport Beach, ready to take his place as the new owner of the Balboa Bay Resort. He’s been back for over 10 years now, and while he is desperate to never be like his father, his anxiety and borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder have created a bit of an alcohol and prescription pill problem for him. The hotel and its’ success are his life and he has a hard time creating any sort of boundaries when it comes to business.
Positive: Determined | Good-hearted | Loyal
Negative: Analytical | Apprehensive | Obsessive
Chris is very close to actually having OCD. He’s obsessively neat and needs everything around him to be neat in order to be able to function well. At least when it comes to work. And since work literally spills over into most everything in his life, so does his OCD like tendencies. He’s that person who will walk into a meeting with someone and start straightening things on their desk because he can’t focus with a mess around him. He tries not to be a total asshole about it, but his brain somehow can’t help but focus on the small things around him.
He absolutely hates coffee. Which is awkward because Chris averages about three hours of sleep a night due to his complete lack of boundaries when it comes to his work. Instead, he drinks energy drinks. He knows they’re trash for his system, but he needs something to keep him going. He stocks them in the fridge at his house, in his office, and even keeps a cooler in his car for them. It’s definitely not the classiest look, but he doesn’t have time to sit down long enough and get a IV full of bee pollen or whatever the latest craze is in the energy scene.
Chris’ favorite form of escape is surfing. He’s surfed since he was a kid and it’s always been one of the only places he’s ok with being out of control. Despite being extremely good at it, he always acknowledges that while he’s out on his board, he is completely at the mercy of the sea. It’s the place where he’s ok with letting go, relinquishing control, and just going with the flow. Literally. He doesn’t get around to doing it as often as he would like these days, but he still loves it.
Christopher Wells is portrayed by Becca.