Celia Machado

**Cristal Carrington** (née **Flores**), born **Celia Machado**, is a main character on The CW's *Dynasty*. She is portrayed by Nathalie Kelley.

As a former employee at Carrington Atlantic, she developed a close relationship with and marries Blake Carrington, much to his daughter, Fallon's dismay.

Celia was murdered by both Claudia Blaisdel and Hank Sullivan. Claudia shot Celia in the abdomen and afterward, Hank set the house Celia was trapped in on fire. The Carringtons were unable to save Celia before she succumbed to her injuries and died.

## Biography

### Early Life

In 1983 ("Twenty-Three Skidoo"), Celia Machado was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Celia experienced an impoverished upbringing and was seemingly raised by her older sister, Iris. While deemed the "black sheep" of her family ("I Hardly Recognized You"), Celia formed a close bond with Iris' son, Sammy Jo, and the three resided with Iris' abusive boyfriend, Alejandro Raya. In 2005, Celia discovered that she was pregnant from an ex-boyfriend and decided to raise the baby on her own. Despite this, Alejandro was enraged to learn of Celia's pregnancy and the possibility of having to provide for another individual. Celia found Alejandro as his anger escalated to violence, and in an attempt to protect Iris, she lost the baby. Celia needed a doctor after the miscarriage, but they had no money. However, Alejandro was working with some shady people who had cash, so she and Iris set out to rob them. In the midst of grabbing the cash, Celia and Iris were discovered by Alejandro, who attacked Iris, once again. This time, Celia grabbed a knife and stabbed Alejandro in the back, which seemingly killed him. ("The Best Things in Life", "Rotten Things")

Celia started to have second thoughts about going on the run, but Iris insisted that it was too late now. They went over their plan: Iris would pick up Sammy Jo at school and Celia would meet them at the truck depot so that they could escape to Barquisimeto. Iris gave Celia half of the cash and insisted she not be late, as Iris' friend had to keep his route. She affirmed to Celia that this would be their fresh start, and with the cash they had, they could some day make it to the United States. However, Iris failed to make it to the truck depot on time, and Celia had to leave without her to avoid the incoming police. Celia never let go of the guilt she carried for leaving Iris behind, and for years she sent Iris extra money to get by as she remained in Venezuela. ("Guilt is for Insecure People") Unbeknownst to Celia, however, Iris let Celia alone because she wanted her gone, having still blamed her for Alejandro's death. ("Rotten Things")

Celia eventually made her way to Mexico where she volunteered in a hospital. There, she met and befriended a patient named Cristal Flores. Celia told Cristal about what she went through in Venezuela and her dream to go to the United States, so Cristal gave Celia her identity to start a new life, as she believed that hers was over. ("Ship of Vipers", "The Butler Did It") Celia made it to the United States where she was finally able to start over. In 2014, Celia, now Cristal, got a job at Carrington Atlantic, and over the next several years she worked her way up the company to being named Head of Public Relations. ("I Hardly Recognized You") At some point, Cristal got an IUD to prevent further pregnancies, traumatized by her past. ("Guilt is for Insecure People") During her time at Carrington Atlantic, Cristal worked with junior reporter, Rick Morales. ("Promises You Can't Keep") Her time at the company also led her to be introduced to head field engineer, Matthew Blaisdel, and the two entered an affair. Matthew's wife Claudia later suffered from a brain injury, however, and as a result, Matthew could not bring himself to leave Claudia to be with Cristal. Because of this, Cristal ended her affair with Matthew, and she later found herself romantically involved with her boss, CEO Blake Carrington. ("I Hardly Recognized You")

### Season 1

After dating Blake for four months, they became engaged, much to Blake's daughter, Fallon's dismay.

Now living with the Carringtons, Cristal has been dealing with the death of Matthew and also keeping her past a secret from Blake. The only person who knows about this is her nephew Sam. The incidents where her former lover died in an explosion and her manipulative step-daughter Fallon leaked her racy sex tape finally pushed Cristal over the edge. After the crazy fight that knocked over the Christmas tree when she attacks her sister, Cristal reveals the whole truth about why she keeps her past hidden with the help of Anders. After all this time has passed, she also realizes that Iris never cared that she was in danger. Celia then revealed that she killed Sam's father because he was so violent. She did it to defend her sister and her nephew. Heartbroken that she lied to Blake about her relationship with Matthew and revealing her real name is Celia, Cristal was full of regret.

Her past comes and bites her as she learns from Iris that Alejandro is alive, ready to take Sammy Jo back to Venezuela. When Alejandro's plan becomes history and Sam knowing the truth, Iris kidnaps Fallon and she is held hostage. Cristal tries to save Fallon by getting herself kidnapped, pushing Iris and burning Alejandro in which Fallon escapes but Cristal is held at gun point by her older sister Iris. Iris ties her up and the sisters have a conversation which ended up in Iris freeing Celia. The two went to stop Alejandro but Cristal hit him with a bag, fighting him off, dropping his

gun with the help of Iris. Cristal runs away and Alejandro catched and started chocking her. Cristal was fighting him off raising her hand for help and both fall on the ground. Cristal still being choked by Alejandro almost passes out, but Iris pulls the trigger, shoots and kills Alejandro. Later at the Carrington Manor, Cristal and Fallon explain how Alejandro was violent and Cristal covers up for Iris saying that she pulled the trigger instead of her sister, who left the scene after Cristal gave her some money. The case was dropped and everyone was safe except for Fallon's hair.

Celia was murdered by both Claudia Blaisdel and Hank Sullivan. Claudia shot Celia in the abdomen and afterward, Hank set the house Celia was trapped in on fire. The Carringtons were unable to save Celia before she succumbed to her injuries and died.

### Season 2

The "real" Cristal entered the Carrington's lives following the death of Celia, who Cristal was close with. Cristal helped Blake cope and comes to terms with Celia's death and the part of her life she kept hidden. Through this, Cristal formed a bond with Blake that soon turned romantic. In later seasons she is quite often mentioned as "OG Cristal" or "Fake Cristal". Fallon mentioned Blake had a mental breakdown after Celia died and couldn't risk him go back to Dark Blake

### Season 3

When Blake is on trial for murder and Fallon paints him in a negative light to the jurors, his lawyer, Mitchell, seeks to discredit and smear Fallon's name in the eye's of the court. While naming numerous attacks that Fallon has made against her father, Mitchell asks Fallon to confirm before the jury that she leaked her father's late wife's sex tape. ("The Sensational Blake Carrington Trial")

Fallon discovers that Cristal has been gifted a beautiful diamond necklace by Blake, which she deems to be a "Daddy did something very, very bad" gift. Fallon notes that she has seen it before--Alexis got a few, even "Fake Cristal" got one--and it means that Blake is hiding something. ("You Make Being a Priest Sound Like Something Bad")

### Season 5

When Cristal Carrington is kidnapped and replaced by a doppelgänger, Fallon discovers Rita trying on Celia's engagement ring. This confuses Fallon, who questions why Celia wasn't buried with the ring, but she admits that, all jokes aside, while Celia may have had bad instincts about pretty much everything, she had great taste in jewelry. ("Devoting All Of Her Energy to Hate")

## Trivia

* In the 1981 series, her name is spelled "Krystle", while in the 2017 version her name is spelled as "Cristal". This is due to The CW wanting to ensure her name was reflective of the character and actress’ Hispanic heritage and origin.
* Cristal Jennings is one of few characters to refer to Celia by her birth name.
	+ The others being her nephew Sam Jones, her sister Iris Machado and her sister's fiance Alejandro Raya
* Her friendship with Steven mirrors that of their relationship in the 1981 series.
* In "Dead Scratch", Cristal becomes Sam's stepmother-in-law due to their respective marriages to Blake and Steven Carrington.
* She and Joseph Anders are the only former main characters on Dynasty.
* Nathalie was 32 when she played Celia Machado, her character was 34/35, which means she was younger then her character 2/3 years.
* Cristal's main storylines of the season were: THE NEW COO,THE IDENTITY CRISIS, DARK PAST AND NEW STEP MOTHER.
* She is the first female to die in Dynasty in the episode order, chronologically being the third female after Evelyn Carrington and Trixie Tate.
* She and Fallon Carrington are the only main female characters of Season 1.

## Gallery

101 Promotional (15).jpegSome of Cristal's Season 1 Looks
## References

1. ↑ In "The Gospel According to Blake Carrington", Sam reveals that his grandmother gave him a cross-shaped earring before he left Venezuela, saying that it was a way for God to be looking after him.
2. ↑ Dynasty: “Dead Scratch”
3. ↑ Dead Scratch. *Dynasty*. Season 1. Episode 22. The CW.
4. ↑ Ship of Vipers. *Dynasty*. Season 2. Episode 2. The CW.