When Dazzler moved from New York City to Los Angeles, she effectively severed contact with most former associates. Including her agent Harry Osgood. With no active music-related contracts and being relatively unknown in the West Coast of the United States, Alison had to settle for odd jobs. Her considerable athletic skills helped Ali find employment as a training instructor in the Los Angeles Health and Racquet Club. It was a meeting place for several prestigious locals. Among her students was Eric Beale.  
 
Eric wasted no time in trying to woo his trainer. Attempting to impress her with his wealth and hinting at helping advance her career. She was turned off by his pushy manners and arrogance. She got the impression he was used to having his way and did not take no for an answer. She was right. Following her initial rejection, Eric simply bought the Club and introduced himself as her new boss. He offered her a promotion to assistant manager and revealed he did a check on her past activities. Having discovered her singing aspirations , Eric hinted at helping her restart her singing career. But first she would have to join him for dinner. A rather frustrated Alison both rejected the offer and gave him a subtle warning. She handed him the 120-pound barbell used for her personal training regime. he couldn't even lift it. A clear advice not to mess with her. He was left quite fascinated with her.  
 
That night, Dazzler make her Los Angeles debut in a nightclub. With Eric in attendance. He was impressed by her fantastic voice. But bewildered by the glowing light emanating from her body. Everyone assumed it was part of the special effects. But Eric was knowledgeable concerning said effects and still couldn't figure the source of the light. The audience enjoyed the show. But the press attended it to ask Ali about her rumored romance with aging actor  Roman Nekoboh, a man she did know but hardly tolerated. As photographer were taking pictures, the light from their flashbulbs was blinding everyone. Eric still had eyes only for Dazzler and noticed another curious detail, she took all that light with no visible discomfort. Not even blinking. How was that possible? 
  
Roman was indeed planning to woo Dazzler. Once a big name in Hollywood, the actor hadn't performed in a film for several years. His finances had been depleted by his playboy lifestyle. He thought a young co-star like Ali would allow him to make a successful comeback. Reluctant at first to date the older man, Alison was soon dazzled by his carefree ways and extravagant lifestyle. They were soon media darlings. Everyone was talking about their next film. Secretly though, Roman was having trouble finding financial backers for his would-be film. The press had uncovered connections between Dazzler and the X-Men, a New York-based mutant group. They even had pictures of her with the mutants. The connection scaring the money men away. A problem that would allow Eric to take over this film project.  
 
Eric soon arranged a meeting with Roman's business manager. Offering to finance the film at the price of dictating his own contract turns. Roman was delighted. Alison much less so. But went along with it for a time. She at first enjoyed the hedonistic lifestyle of a star. Until she noticed disturbing elements of her new self. Lack of exercise had let her led her one powerful-muscles become flabby and she had gained some weight. She was drinking more alcohol than she ever used to and had picked a smoking habit. She didn't like the image staring back at her mirror. Her self-reflective moment was cut short when Roman brought about the latest headlines. He had personally outed her as a mutant, expecting the revelation to generate better publicity. The very script of the film was the struggles of a mutant to find acceptance. Naturally neither Roman nor Eric bothered to ask her opinion on the subject.  
 
Her next press conference was arranged to be a public demonstration of her light powers ... while wearing a bikini. The audience and the press were initially  impressed by her physical charms. But the amount of energy absorbed by Dazzler during the demonstration allowed her to produce more light than ever before. Signing like a small star, to the point of NASA taking notice. Everyone became terrified that she could kill them at a moment's notice. Almost everyone run away from her. Roman was there to re-assure her. But he was apprehensive himself. Eric was there and thanked Roman for his services.  
 
Alison decided to adopt a take-charge attitude to her relationship with Roman, the film project and now recurrent attacks by mutant-haters. The film was completed on schedule despite personal set-backs and proved a brilliant piece of cinematography. But before its release, Alison had to meet with Eric again. He had a few announcements to make. Her relationship with Roman was over. One of his terms for financing the film left Roman obliged to tour the world for the next few years. Any communication between him and Alison was a deal-breaker, forbidden under terms of contract. Anyway Roman was nothing but his puppet for quite a while. Eric was the one who uncovered Dazzler's mutant status, the one who found out the nature of her powers, the one who outed her secret to the world. The film was set to fail from the start. Also under terms of contract, Eric had the right to not release this unpopular venture to cinemas. In fact he gave orders to have all copies of the film destroyed.  
 
Dazzler thought Eric just lost of fortune just in order to humiliate her. Eric soon assured her this was not the case. His insurance company would pay most of the damages and the rest could help him get a tax deduction. Roman was also a valuable asset. Currently nearly worthless and unpopular, a few reparations to his image would make him a new cash cow for Eric. This left the matter of what use Eric had for Dazzler.  He had a new  contract for her as well. Under its severe terms, Eric would effectively own her. Not for sex, just business. Her film was indeed quite good and could have a delayed release. He had kept around a single copy, just in case. By then Eric would have improved her public image and the film would catapult her to instant stardom. Dazzler could become "the biggest female box-office attraction in history". Besides, good publicity for the mutants might stem the ongoing anti-mutant paranoia. All Dazzler had to do was sign the contract and let Eric handle her life. 
    
Alison pretended to sign the contract. Fighting back her tears as Eric gloated. He took a look at her "signature" ... to find out it was simply an insult for him. She refused to sign any contract. She punched him across the jaw and proceeded to destroy the last copy of the film herself. Eric was stunned. He claimed this single copy was worth hundreds of millions. Dazzler however made sure that the film would bring neither of them fame or money. She then said her goodbyes and exited Eric's office.  
 
With her career ending, Dazzler would next resurface as part of Alexander Flynn's Gladiators. But Eric's obsession with her was for from over. He resurfaced in " Uncanny X-Men" #259. The Beale studio had went bankrupt and its assets sold at an auction. Freddie Stanachek, an old friend of Dazzler, had bought a number of items. He was surprised to find among them another copy of Dazzler's lost film. Or at least raw footage of it. Fred soon claimed to have the exclusive rights of it and tried to have the film completed, printed, distributed and advertised. But he had problem with generating interest for   a film whose star was dead. Alison Blaire was rumored to have died quite a while ago. A determined Fred set out to confirm or disprove the rumors. Soon meeting with a living and breathing Alison at a nightclub of Venice, California. Fred help her return to prominence and the press seemed really interested. However all this news had Eric emerge from his self-isolation. 
 
Eric had grown more obsessed than ever with Dazzler, even after his own career ended. He lived in a room where every wall was covered with pictures of her. He rejoiced to find out that his object of obsession was still among the living. But resolved to kill her himself. In #260, Eric was revealed in all his fallen glory. The charming and arrogant businessman had become a middle-aged, overweight cocaine addict and would-be assassin. He wanted her to pay the price for leaving him, for failing to realize they were made for each other. He practiced on Dazzler mannequins, demonstrating practice with both guns and exotic weapons (such as shuriken). He also practiced some moves, particularly decapitation techniques.  
 
Eric wasted little time in locating Alison and performing his first attempt on her life, using a sniper rifle.Alison surfing at the time, his initial shots missed the moving target. She quickly located him and send a light attack towards him. His rifle exploded in his hands. A later attempt to follow her into a film studio, ended with Eric drafted as an extra in a Western film. He was bewildered enough at that to fail to protect himself from the protagonist in a fistfight scene. He again followed Dazzler to the make-up artists, just to find himself drafted as the French comical villain of another film project. He had more luck with finding Alison alone in a Malibu beach. He dressed as a cop and approached her from behind with a motorcycle. A sudden hit to the back of the head knocked her out.  
 
Alison awoke to find herself with tied hands in Eric's room. His rants quickly informed her that the guy hated her. But having lost much of her memories in an unrelated incident, she had no idea who he was supposed to be. She tried using her powers but found them too trained for an attack. She could move her feet enough to deliver a kick to his face. But he was still approaching her with his sword. Ready for a decapitation. Realizing he was beyond reasoning, Dazzler used her powers in a different way. She emitted light in soothing colors, gentle tones, calmly and slowly. Calm for the first time in years, Eric broke down crying. Alison assured him it was only the first step down the road of recovering his sanity. He has not been seen since.