*It is noteworthy to mention that Gina and Summer referred to their parents as being dead years before Phyllis popped up in Santa Barbara.

It wasn't until Gina's brother, Mack Blake, came to town in 1989 that Gina was revealed to have lied about her mother being dead. Mack frequently compared Gina to their mother, which annoyed Gina to no end. Weeks later, eccentric Phyllis Blake made her first on-screen appearance, blowing into town after years of not being in touch with her children. She stayed with Gina and her adopted son, Brandon, in the Lockridge mansion. Amusingly enough, she had a problem admitting that she was old enough to be Brandon's grandmother. For her part, Gina resented Phyllis because of their troubled past, including the part about Lily.

Nevertheless, Phyllis was determined to help Gina get what she wanted out of life. For that reason, Phyllis stirred up major trouble in the love triangle between Gina, district attorney Ethan Asher and his wife Laura. It all began when Phyllis manoeuvred Ethan into offering her a job as his secretary. Then, despite Gina's objections, Phyllis set out to destroy Ethan and Laura's marriage. She snooped through files at work and became aware that Laura was Leo Mitchell's killer. She unnerved Laura with an anonymous blackmail note over Leo's death. When Gina caught wind of this, she forced Phyllis to stop blackmailing Laura.

As 1990 began, Phyllis was hurt when she overheard Mack and Gina arguing over who she should live with. Feeling unwanted, Phyllis left town for a while and stayed with a con-man buddy named Cy Agnew. Then, she let her whereabouts "slip" to Brandon and let Gina convince her to come home. Meaning well, Phyllis sneakingly used Gina's insurance money to invest in one of Cy's doomed schemes. Unfortunately, Laura Asher set fire to Gina's mansion, causing it to burn down. As if the fire wasn't bad enough, Gina learned that Phyllis had caused her insurance to be cancelled for non-payment. They were now broke. As a result, Phyllis and Gina moved in with Mack and took jobs at Howie's Diner.

A few months later, Phyllis was concerned when Gina seemed to go blind. She even offered Gina one of her eyes. Ultimately, she realized that Gina was faking her blindness. Phyllis then became involved in Gina's secret plan to switch C.C. Capwell's paintings with the forgeries she had found in the Capwell/Lockridge tunnel. Mother and daughter switched paintings for weeks, but the plan backfired when C.C. learned what they were doing.

After Mack left town, Phyllis wasn't seen again for weeks. Her next appearance was when Gina prepared to marry her ex-husband Keith Timmons in Las Vegas. Phyllis couldn't stand Keith and was happy when Gina called off the wedding.