Roxanne Louise Lipschitz Balsom popped up in Llanview in November 2001 as Jessica Buchanan's long-lost mother. She had raised Natalie and was thrilled to find out that rich heiress Jess was her daughter. Roxanne hoped to get money out of Jessica and when she realized all of Jessica's money was Natalie's now, she wanted nothing to do with Jess. Allison Perkins, who had switched Jessica with Viki Buchanan's real daughter Natalie, appeared at Roxanne's house on Christmas Eve and convinced her that they could still get money out of Jess by having Roxy fake a genetic illness. Roxy went along with Allison's plan and told Jessica that she was sick and Jess might have it too, hoping that Jessica would give her money for the very expensive treatments. Roxy planned to split the cash with Allison. However, the plan failed and Roxy's ultimate secret was exposed: she had never given birth to Jessica, who it turned out was Viki's biological daughter by Mitch Lawrence. Facing jail time, Roxy got a reprieve when she took a deal to hand over some of her late husband's papers.

In Las Vegas, Roxy ended up running into her former lover, Max Holden, who was in Vegas and drinking heavily. Roxy was a hard partier and helped Max guzzle away his troubles. The next morning Max woke up in bed with Roxy and, to his horror, saw matching wedding bands. Roxy had tricked him into a quickie marriage with prenup, and even had a video of the whole thing. In the sober light of day, Max despised the trashy, slovenly, pathetic Roxy, and he went out of his way to be cruel to her in hopes that she would divorce him. His and Al's various attacks on her spirit went nowhere, but suddenly luck was on Max's side when Roxy up and vanished one day. She tried calling him, but he hung up on her each time, feeling only slight pangs of remorse. A few days later Max found out that Roxy had been held hostage and nearly killed by Allison Perkins, but he was more interested in keeping Roxy out of the way a bit longer in order to claim abandonment and win a fast divorce with fortune intact. He showered love on his bride and tried to keep her away from the courthouse long enough to win his freedom. But Roxy showed up and exposed his lies, and Judge Fitzwater gave her the opportunity to dump Max and take everything he owned. To everyone's surprise, Roxy chose Max over the cash. Max continued to shun Roxy, even making a deal with old enemy Asa to help Asa escape his sham marriage to Rae if Asa would do the same with Roxy. Max tracked down Roxy in Philadelphia, assuming she was cheating with Asa. Instead, she was visiting her vile, hateful mother, who passed up no opportunity to make Roxy feel like garbage. Max stunned both himself and Roxy by barging into the room to defend her. Max realized that he was falling in love with Roxy and called off the deal with Asa. But Rae had already figured out the plan and manipulated Roxy on every level, even flinging herself on Max so Roxy would catch them in a compromising position. Roxy's heart was shattered and she could no longer trust Max. In spite of his fervent pleas, Roxy divorced him and was awarded everything he owned. With that money, Roxy was able to buy her own hair salon, Foxy Roxy's Hair Haven.

Being a lover of all things gambling, Roxy wasted away all her money and ended up in financial trouble. She owed a bookie $10,000 and didn't know where to turn. Nigel, one of her only friends, sold his coin collection and loaned her the money to pay off the bookie. Roxy then went to Atlantic City to pay her loan but gambled away the $10,000. She returned home in even more trouble. Rex and Roxy then worked up a plan to hire an arsonist to burn down Foxy Roxy's for insurance money. Having terrible luck, the arsonist left the gasoline cans out in visible sight. Becoming paranoid, Roxy had the arsonist move the gasoline cans to the Love Center in order to hide them. Roxy and Rex ultimately were caught in their scheme to burn down the salon. The DA was lenient with them both and they were sentenced to community service at the Love Center. Throughout this ordeal, Roxy and Nigel continued to grow closer in their friendship. Nigel even quit his job as Asa's butler in order to be with her. In the end, Nigel gave up his deed to the Angel Square Hotel to Roxy and went back to work for Asa. Roxy then started to manage the Angel Square Hotel as well as work at Foxy Roxy's Hair Haven.

Roxy began to get nervous when Rex started asking questions about the identity of his father, after learning from his Aunt Corinne that Walter Balsom probably wasn't his real father. Roxy lied that Charlie Banks was Rex's father and convinced Charlie to go along with the lie, arguing that the truth would devastate Rex. The lie was exposed when Charlie was revealed to actually be the father of Jared Banks. Rex told Roxy he would never forgive her. When Rex learned he was Shane Morasco's father, and Shane wanted nothing to do with him, Rex turned to Roxy for comfort.

In February 2009, Rex was stunned when DNA tests performed on David Vickers, the presumed son of Asa Buchanan, showed that David was Rex's father! It turned out that the tests were wrong, but not before Roxy confirmed to Rex that David was his father. When Rex confronted Roxy for lying once again about his father, Roxy broke down and admitted to Rex that his father was dead, and that she had killed him! Rex was grateful for finally knowing the truth, unaware that Roxy was lying yet again to protect the identity of Rex's true father, who she said was walking around town and closer than anyone realized. Roxy went to a nearby long-term care facility and confronted a seemingly comatose person in a hospital bed, telling this unseen person that she had lied to their son once again to keep the truth of Rex's father from him. When Shane was diagnosed with leukemia, Roxy returned to the facility to get a sample from the person to see if the person could be a bone marrow donor. Gigi's sister Stacy Morasco followed Roxy to the facility and quickly discerned that the person in the bed was Rex's supposedly dead father. When Stacy came face to face with the person, she was shocked by what she saw. She wrote down the patient's name so she could find out exactly why Roxy wanted to keep the truth from Rex.

Roxy took the sample from Rex's father to hospital lab technician Kyle Lewis for testing, saying that the donor wished to remain anonymous (or, in typical Roxy speak, "androgynous"). When it turned out that that the mystery donor was a match, Kyle told Roxy that the donor could remain anonymous. But Roxy knew that Rex wouldn't rest until he found out who saved his son's life. When Stacy overheard that the mystery person was a match, she threatened to expose Roxy's secret unless Roxy let everyone think that Stacy was the real donor. Roxy agreed, knowing that the truth about Rex's father would be devastating. Roxy soon realized she was dealing with a whole new level of manipulation when Stacy forced Gigi to break up with Rex in order to get the bone marrow for Shane, even though Stacy wasn't the donor at all. Roxy hated lying to her family, especially since it was tearing Rex and Gigi apart, but she continued the charade. Roxy and Kyle went to the long-term care facility and harvested the bone marrow from Rex's father, then Roxy switched out Stacy's bag of donated blood for the blood from the real donor before Dr. Michael McBain collected it for Shane's transfusion. The switch went off without a hitch, although Stacy's ex-boyfriend Schuyler Joplin saw Stacy throw away her bag of blood and retrieved it.

After Shane's successful operation, a drunken Roxy returned to the long-term care facility and told Rex's comatose father that she wouldn't need to see him anymore. Suddenly, the man reached up his arm and tried to choke Roxy. Roxy managed to break free and told a nurse that the man tried to attack her, but the nurse wrote Roxy off as a drunk, saying that the patient was brain-dead. Roxy later returned, this time armed with a manual for disconnecting the patient's life support system. She successfully shut off the machines, pulled the covers over Rex's father's head and then rushed out of the room. Later, Roxy was at the diner when she got a call from the nurse, saying that the patient she frequently visited had died of natural causes. Roxy breathed a sigh of relief, not realizing that Rex's father was very much alive and that the nurse was only doing what Rex's father had told her to do.

Kyle Lewis blackmailed Roxy into giving him a free room at the hotel, threatening to expose her secret if she didn't comply. While drinking at Rodi's, Roxy got to talking to Schuyler about Stacy and nearly let it slip that Stacy wasn't the one who donated her blood to save Shane. Schuyler could tell that Roxy was hiding something, and told Gigi that Stacy had obviously blackmailed Roxy just like she had blackmailed Gigi. Gigi and Schuyler had figured out that Stacy was not Shane's donor, but Gigi couldn't get Roxy to open up about what Stacy was holding over her head.

Natalie and Jared learned from Kyle that he had drawn extra blood from the stem cell donor and given it to Roxy. But when they arrived at Roxy's hair salon, they found Roxy on the floor and the blood gone, stolen by a nurse from the clinic where the donor had been. After Rex and Gigi traced the blood to Stacy and managed to trick her into revealing where the blood had been stored, Rex confronted his mother about her role in Stacy's evil plot. Roxy admitted that the real stem cells came from Rex's biological father and that she had killed him after drawing his blood. Rex cut off all ties with Roxy.

Roxy eventually warmed to Kyle, especially after learning that he was pining after a guy whose picture he kept in his wallet. Kyle admitted to Roxy that he and Oliver dated in college but that he had gone back into the closet because he was scared about what his parents and everyone else would think if they knew he was gay. When Roxy let it slip to Oliver that she knew his secret, Oliver confronted Kyle and the two ended up in a passionate kiss that was witnessed by Cristian.

In November 2009, Roxy's lies caught up with her when Rex received a copy of his birth certificate from his Aunt Corinne, and the document named Mitch Laurence as Rex's father. Even worse, Mitch had just resurfaced very much alive in California and was responsible for a chain of events that culminated in the death of Natalie's husband, Jared Banks. Roxy couldn't believe that Mitch was alive, saying she had pulled the plug on him at the Boutet Clinic, and avoided Rex's questions about how he was conceived. Roxy avoided Mitch, but Rex was forced to confront his father when he tried to abduct Stacy Morasco, who was carrying what everyone believed was Rex's unborn child. As Stacy delivered the baby, a girl named Sierra Rose, Rex and Roxy both learned that Schuyler Joplin was the actual father. When Stacy died in a freak accident, Gigi decided to raise her niece but Schuyler was awarded temporary custody. Roxy then told Gigi that she knew what it was like to almost lose a child, revealing that Rex was very sick when he was born. Allison Perkins, Mitch's devoted disciple, had delivered the baby and taken him to be treated before returning him.

Later, Roxy was shocked to walk into her hair salon and find Allison there with Sierra. Allison tied Roxy up at Kyle's apartment in the Angel Square Hotel, and then revealed to Roxy a secret involving her son that was so shocking, it rendered Roxy speechless. Allison told Roxy that her baby with Mitch had died, and that she had replaced the baby with Rex, who had been abandoned by his parents and brought to the hospital. But it turned out that Allison was lying to Roxy just to torment her: Roxy and Mitch's baby hadn't died -- he was actually Schuyler Joplin! Allison had switched Roxy's ill baby with the healthy newborn, but when the ill child recovered it was too late to reverse the switch, so Allison told her sister Leah that she had given birth to the baby but didn't want it and asked her sister to raise the baby. After Allison was incarcerated at Statesville Prison, Roxy confronted her about her dead baby and Allison stunned her with the news that her baby was actually Schuyler Joplin. Schuyler was facing legal troubles after holding Gigi hostage and shooting Bo Buchanan and Roxy told her newfound son that she would stand by him. Schuyler declared his guilt in court, however, meaning he would be going directly to jail. Schuyler said goodbye to Sierra, who as it turned out actually was Oliver Fish's daughter from his own one-night stand with Stacy. Roxy walked with Schuyler as far as the guards would let her, sending her son off to jail just after discovering him after all these years.

Roxy supported Rex's decision to look for his true biological parents and was happy when Rex thought he had discovered the truth, that he was the product of an affair between a Native American woman named Lili and a white man named Rick. The woman was dead and Rex was unable to locate the man. When a woman from Clint and Charlie's past named Echo DiSavoy came to town, Roxy allowed her to stay for free at the Angel Square Hotel in exchange for Echo taking glamour shots of Roxy. During a photo session, Roxy explained about Rex's parents and Echo remarked how the story didn't make sense, especially since Rex wasn't half-Native American. Eventually Echo admitted the truth to Rex that she was his biological mother. A DNA test named Charlie as Rex's father. When Roxy learned the truth, she demanded that Echo pay her for the room and then threw her out when Echo said she didn't have any money.

In January 2011, Roxy showed up at the hospital to see Natalie's baby and learned from Natalie that Marty had kidnapped her and held her at gunpoint until she was forced to help deliver the baby. Roxy went to give Marty a piece of her mind but Marty head-butted Roxy and broke free from the restraints that were keeping her in place. Marty nearly kidnapped Natalie's baby, thinking it was hers, until John intervened. Roxy was found unconscious in Marty's bed and was relieved when Rex came to check up on her. Rex explained that Roxy would always be his mother, even if Echo was his mother biologically.

In May 2011, Roxy rushed to Natalie's bedside after learning that Natalie had been pushed off the roof of the Angel Square Hotel by Marty. Marty had disappeared with Natalie's baby, Liam, and Natalie had no memory of what had transpired on the roof. Roxy brought in psychic Delphina, who assured Natalie that the baby was safe. Roxy found a tape recorder in the park, unaware that the tape contained Marty's confession that she had switched Liam's paternity results to show Brody as the father and not John. Liam was found unharmed, and Roxy forgot about the tape recorder.

Roxy paid Gigi a visit in June 2011 and was stunned to learn that Gigi and Rex were about to be married by a justice of the peace. Roxy convinced Gigi to let her be the matron of honor, and Roxy gave Gigi the tape recorder so she had "something old, borrowed and new." Gigi failed to show up at the courthouse, and Rex found her unconscious in a vacant home after a prank by Jack Manning and his friends went awry. Gigi was declared brain dead, and Roxy comforted a stunned Rex and Shane.

After Todd was exposed as his twin brother, Victor Lord Jr., and subsequently murdered, Echo feared that Rex had pulled the trigger. She told Roxy that the gun from the Buchanan safe had been fired and could be the murder weapon, so Roxy quickly hid it inside her stuffed porcupine, Morris, which she was trying to sell. When Rex found out what his mothers had done, he assured them that he hadn't killed Victor Jr. It later turned out that Shane had fired the gun for practice before confronting Jack, and a ballistics test proved that the gun wasn't used to kill Victor.

Roxy then turned her attention to getting John and Natalie back together, which proved more difficult after Natalie and Brody moved in together. Roxy confronted John and tried to get him to admit that he still loved Natalie. John at first denied it, but later admitted that he loved Natalie but felt it was too late to change things. Natalie accepted Brody's marriage proposal after hearing only part of Roxy and John's conversation. Roxy tried to get Natalie to change her mind, but the stubborn redhead refused. Roxy nearly objected during the wedding but Rex convinced her to let it go. But then the wedding came to an abrupt halt anyway when Tina produced DNA evidence proving that Liam was John's son and Brody admitted that he had known for months. Roxy encouraged Natalie to go to John, which she did. John accepted Liam as his son but Natalie and John continued to keep each other at arm's length until Natalie finally told John how angry she was that he didn't stop her from marrying Brody.

Roxy was devastated when she learned that her favorite soap opera, Fraternity Row, was being cancelled after 43 years on the air. She launched a Save Our Stories campaign and pleaded with Clint to purchase the show, but he refused. She then convinced David to guest star on the show, since he had become a somewhat famous movie actor. But when Roxy and David got to the studio, they discovered that the show had already filmed its last scenes. Roxy was suspicious when Rex announced that Gigi hadn't died after all (it was her wicked sister, Stacy, who had succumbed to the carbon monoxide poisoning after having plastic surgery to take over Gigi's life). But when Gigi said how horrible it was that Fraternity Row had been cancelled, Roxy knew that Rex's true love was back. Roxy watched as Rex and Gigi finally exchanged vows on New Year's Eve and became husband and wife. Then she was heartbroken when Rex and Gigi announced that they were moving to London so Shane could attend a prestigious art school. Roxy bid them a tearful farewell and then said goodbye to her show, which went off the air in January 2012.