Simone is the free-spirited younger daughter of T.C. and Eve Russell. All her life she has been held up against her older sister Whitney and found lacking by both her parents. The moment she met Chad Russell, she had a tremendous crush on him, defending him when Whitney would degrade him. Simone spent a lot of time helping Chad find his parents, and it was only a matter of time before she fell in love with him. She wasn't sure if he could ever return her feelings until he swore to her one day that he loved her. Simone was over the moon, but accepted it when Chad said they couldn't date because she was 'too young'. Time went by, but just as Simone was beginning to doubt Chad's feelings, he told her again that he loved her at the Crane estate. Shortly after that, she witness Chad in an embrace with her sister, and the shock of seeing the man she loved (who swore she loved her) kissing her sister sent her running out into the street where she was struck by a car.

Simone ended up in a coma, but soon came out of it. She had completely forgotten what she saw before the accident, and was still happily in love with Chad. When her parents gave them permission to date and Chad officially proclaimed himself as her boyfriend, Simone was over the moon. The only cloud was her sister, Whitney. Simone just couldn't understand why Whitney kept flirting with Chad. After all, Chad was supposed to be HER boyfriend. It was only after Simone discovered the two of them together that the truth came out...Chad had never meant it when he told her he loved her, and was only pretending to be her boyfriend. To add insult to injury, both T.C. and Eve were too busy comforting Whitney to even look at Simone. Simone still hasn't gotten over the pain of being betrayed by her sister and the man who was pretending to be her boyfriend, and was truly devastated when she learned they were engaged.

Since her breakup with Chad, Simone has been on the sidelines, watching Kay try to manipulate Miguel. She also formed a romantic alliance with John Hastings, although it was seldom seen on-screen. She re-emerged after Kay's accident, trying to comfort her friend, even though all Kay could talk about was how much she hated Charity. When Simone learned that her ex-boyfriend Chad was really her half-brother, she was devastated and, like Whitney, turned against her mother. It wasn't long before she was turning to her half-aunt Liz for comfort. Simone disappeared from the canvas for a time before reappearing and revealing to her family that she was a lesbian. She and Paloma soon teamed up to try to save Jessica from a life of prostitution while Simone tried to get her family to accept her sexuality as well as her relationship with Rae.

After she and Paloma uncovered an unusual symbol in a series of paintings, they went to Rome to investigate, where they soon found themselves trying to save Jessica from Spike yet again.