Douglas North Williams LeClair was born via artificial insemination in 1976 to Doug Williams and Rebecca North. Doug, hoping to give his young daughter Hope a sibling, decided to have a woman be his surrogate. That woman was Rebecca, his housekeeper, although Doug never knew she was the one who carried his child. Rebecca claimed that the baby's father was her boyfriend, Johnny Collins. Johnny and Rebecca broke up after Johnny found out the true situation with the baby and her friend Robert LeClair stepped in, marrying the pregnant Rebecca in July 1976. Robert hoped Rebecca would grow to love him. Doug and Julie soon reconciled and hoped to have children, so Doug felt no need to have a child via a surrogate (who was still anonymous). Rebecca was now able to keep the baby. Robert was present at the birth of the boy that year. Robert named Dougie after his best friend, Doug. After his birth, Rebecca received a note from Johnny and it was clear she still loved him. Rebecca went to Japan to be with Johnny. When Rebecca died two years after leaving Salem, they contacted Dougie's legal father, Robert. Robert flew to Japan to claim custody of his son and took him to Paris to live with his sister because he felt Dougie would need a maternal influence. At that point, Dougie was renamed Charles.