Benjamin "Ben" Boykewich is a fictional character on ABC Family original series, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. He is the son of Leo and the late Sarah Boykewich The character is portrayed by Kenny Baumann
Background[]
A kind-hearted 15 -year-old freshman, when the series starts, who plays the cymbals in the school band. He is also the boyfriend of Amy. He is very devoted to her and completely fixated on her. Ben is the heir of a wealthy meat company owned by his father Leo, who is known as The Sausage King. He plans to marry Amy and use his fortune to raise the baby with her. His father forces him to get a job in the family butcher shop rather than take for granted his father's wealth to aid Amy and her baby. He despises and even admits to being jealous of Ricky at first, but the two end up starting a friendship after agreeing to work together to help support Amy in raising the baby.
Storyline[]
Ben originally wished to date and have sex with Grace Bowman, but Alice informed him Grace was a Christian who would not have sex with anyone until she was married. Alice advised him to pursue Amy because she was smart, nice, a band geek, and might have been desperate enough to date him. Ben joined band as the cymbals player to meet Amy and asked her out to a school fundraiser. Amy agreed, and her friends suggest she have sex with him and try to pass the baby off as his. However, Ben and Amy quickly fall in love and develop a strong relationship, although they never have sex.
When Ben learns Amy is pregnant, he panics, believing he has managed to get her pregnant through kissing, and proposes to her. After Amy describes the circumstances, he decides he still loves her, leaves his proposal a standing offer, and offers to tell their parents the baby is his. He explains he wasn't angry because "by the time I knew [you were pregnant] I was already so in love with you that it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter then, it doesn’t matter now, it’s not gonna matter when we’re at our son’s wedding." After Amy's pregnancy becomes public, Ben is beaten up while trying to defend her honor against classmates who degrade her. He also helps to talk Amy out of abortion or adoption. He continuously states that he supports raising the child together, and eventually marries Amy in a local wedding chapel, although the marriage is invalid because the two were underage and used fake IDs. Ben and Ricky often clashed over their roles in the baby's and Amy's lives during Amy's pregnancy. Ben tells Amy that "I understand that you and Ricky are going to have to share the baby throughout the baby’s life, but I hope you understand that I have no intention of sharing you with Ricky".
When Amy refused to allow Ben at doctor's appointments, birthing classes, or the baby's birth and she started to meet with Ricky about the baby without informing Ben, Ben felt she had begun to have stronger feelings for Ricky than for him and broke up with Amy. Ben ignored Amy's phone calls and his father asked Amy to give Ben space when she visited his house. Ben later apologized to a furious Amy and agreed to give her time to think about giving their relationship another chance. The two have made up, and their relationship has returned to its original strength. In "Money for Nothing, Chicks for Free", Ricky agreed to allow Ben the role of father to the baby and husband/boyfriend to Amy because, unlike Ben, Ricky could not afford to pay child support or provide a comfortable life for Amy. However, Ben's father realizes Ben takes their financial well-being for granted and gives both Ricky and Ben jobs at his butcher shop. There, Ben and Ricky slowly come to respect each other, and in the hospital while waiting for Amy to give birth, Ben reaches out to Ricky in friendship. Ben tells Mr. Molina that "Ricky and I are going to make really good dads. And I'm not going to let Ricky get in my way again. We're going to be friends, Ricky and me. And even if he isn't capable of being my friend, I'm going to go with the saying, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer". In the second season, Amy tells him he has become more jealous of Ricky than ever. His jealousy results in a desire for sex with Amy, although she refuses due to a fear of becoming pregnant again. Ben went to Italy for the summer to work in his uncle's hotel. Amy wanted to go with him, but Ben didn't want her to. So after Amy is forced to attend summer school, Ben heads off to Italy alone. On the first day of grade ten, Ben and Amy talk about their relationship and Ben suggests that they do things together, and find things that they have in common, rather than fight about sex all the time. A couple of weeks after Ben returns to California, a mysterious postcard from Italy arrives. Ben asks his father if it mentioned anything about sex (as it is in Italian), and Leo says it doesn't. Betty and Leo both tell Ben not to tell anyone about what may have happened in Italy. Betty says that there are some things that a woman doesn't need to know. Ricky wants to know why Ben has given up on trying to have sex with Amy. Ricky thinks that Ben has given up trying because he has already had sex with someone while he was in Italy. Ricky tells Ben that he doesn't want him to break up with Amy. Ricky tells Ben that he needs to just get out of school, so Ben and Jack leave with him. Their absence causes the rest of the "gang" to ditch school as well. He loses his virginity to Adrian in the episode 'The Rhythm of Life.' In the beginning of the third season, Adrian tells Ben she is not pregnant. Ben also gets back together with Amy after both of them admitted they still loved each other. However, in the next episode Ben finds out that Adrian lied to him, and that she is actually pregnant with his baby. He tells his father, admitting his confusion that one part of him wishes that Adrian would have an abortion and thus eliminate the complication in their lives, and the other part of it doesn't want Adrian to abort his child. While Amy is away at a New York City music camp, Ben struggles with his feelings over Adrian's pregnancy, and clashes with his father over the best way to break the news to Amy. When Adrian decides she wants an abortion, part of Ben is relieved and he offers to go with her to the clinic, but she declines. Later, he realizes that she needs the support whether she knows it or not, and races to the clinic to be there for her, only to discover that she has decided at the last minute against the abortion and will have the baby. He accepts her decision, and they return to his home and tell their fathers, who have spent the day consoling each other. As news of Adrian's pregnancy begins to spread, Ben realizes, with a push from his dad, that he needs to tell Amy face-to-face what has happened, and he flies to New York. In a panic, he blurts out the news while standing on the street outside of a restaurant. Amy is upset and leaves him standing there.