| Brady and Theresa | |||||||||||||||
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| Eric Martsolf and Jen Lilley as Brady Black and Theresa Donavan | |||||||||||||||
| Days of our Lives | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Brady Black: Theresa Donovan: | ||||||||||||||
| Current status | Broken engagement | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2014; 2015-16; 2018-present | ||||||||||||||
| Created by | Gary Tomlin Christopher Whitesell | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Ken Corday, Lisa de Cazotte and Greg Meng | ||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||
| Fullname | Brady Victor Black Jeannie Theresa Donovan | ||||||||||||||
| Alias(es) | Thrady | ||||||||||||||
| Gender | Male, Female | ||||||||||||||
| Born | May 19, 1981 (Brady) September 3, 1990 (Theresa) | ||||||||||||||
| Age | Brady (36) Theresa (26) | ||||||||||||||
| Residence | Kiriakis Mansion, Salem, Illinois | ||||||||||||||
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Brady Victor Black and Jeannie Theresa Donovan are fictional characters and a former popular supercouple on the American daytime drama Days of Our Lives. Brady is portrayed by Eric Martsolf and Theresa is portrayed by Jen Lilley.
On internet message boards, the couple is often referred to by the portmanteau "Thrady" (for Theresa and Brady).
Casting and Music
Theresa Donovan
With the casting of Lilley, executive producer Ken Corday admits that seeing the actress' work on General Hospital helped with the casting of the actress in the role of Theresa. Upon Theresa's re-appearance on the canvas, she was characterized as the "bad girl". In an interview with MSN Entertainment on her role, Lilley spoke: "Part of me doesn't want to make excuses for her, because you can have horrible upbringing and make something positive of it. Some of the most amazing, well-grounded people have come from the wrong side of the tracks. Obviously, the Brady- family is a great family, but her dad Shane is a spy and I watched the episode where he leaves the kids with Marlena. Theresa was probably one, at most, so she didn't have a dad growing up, which is a formula for trouble. Typical psychological path for a girl like that is to look for love in the wrong places and look for a father figure in older guys." The role of Theresa has been described as "Sarcastic, calculating, mischievous" and "mysterious". Lilley also called her "such a badass".
For her casting, Lilley stated she originally went in for two roles, the roles of both Theresa and Jordan Ridgeway. At the time, she was hoping to book the "good girl" role; however for her second audition, was asked to amp it up to a more bad girl persona and concentrate on Theresa. She revealed: "I got to skip the first audition, which is called a pre-read and is an audition to audition. So then I auditioned with everyone else, and I got to do my screen test twice, which is very unusual. I was the only girl who got to do that, so I went first and last. The reason they had me do it twice is that I wore my hair curly, and I have a really young face, and they said that I looked too sweet and innocent and young with the curly hair. So they straightened my hair and had me do it again. On the second take, I knew that I had nothing to lose. I had already done a perfect first take, and they told me it wasn't going to get better than that so I could do whatever I wanted. I just did everything out of the box, and that's what got me the job. I mean I took the guy's shirt off in the scene! I told the actor that this is a character with no concept of personal space, so I asked him if it's ok if I touch him. He said that was fine and it was my screen test. So I took his shirt off and I threw some props at him at the end. I broke all the rules, and I think [the casting staff] thought, that is that character."
In April 2013, it was announced by Soap Opera Digest and several other sources that Jen Lilley joined the cast of Days of Our Lives in a newly created role with ties to the canvas. Due to the show's advanced filming schedule, Lilley began filming in the (then-unknown) role in March 2013. Lilley made her on-screen debut as Theresa on July 3, 2013.
In May 2016, Daytime Confidential reported that Lilley had quit the soap after three years. Lilley made her final appearance on November 18, 2016. On November 17, 2017, it was announced that Lilly would reprise the role of Theresa, beginning May 2018.
Brady Black
The character was initially played by Alex, Max and Dash Lucero from May 1992 to September 1994, and subsequently by Eric and Brandon Billings from October 1994 to July 1999. The character was then announced to be re-introduced as a teen with actor Kyle Lowder who debuted in August 2000.
In September 2005, it was announced that NBC has passed on renewing Lowder's contract with Days of our Lives. He last aired September 15, 2005. Lowder later went on to become the third adult actor to portray Rick Forrester on the CBS Daytime series The Bold and the Beautiful. Lowder first aired on the series in 2007, until he was let go from the CBS soap due to lack of story line.
In August 2008, it was announced that Brady would return to the series. Former Passions actor Eric Martsolf was cast to bring the character back to Salem. He first aired in the role on November 13, 2008.
Writing
Brady and Theresa have a very passionate and intense relationship that was wrought with dysfunction from the beginning. They share a love-hate relationship that has been on both extremes of the love and hate spectrum. Upon their first meeting, they shared a disliking of one another, but overtime a friendship formed and grew. Initially Theresa envied Brady's wealth and she went after him for all the wrong reasons, namely his money. But the more she got to know him, the more Theresa found that she has genuine feelings for Brady. Jen Lilley remarked in Soaps In Depth that Theresa was shocked when she began to realize the depth of her feelings for Brady.
Likewise, Brady was initially with Theresa to try and get over his ex, Kristen DiMera, but overtime he developed real feelings for Theresa. He let her into his life and he began to trust her. The couple has experienced several ups and downs in their relationship and despite their extreme dysfunction, the chemistry between Martsolf and Lilley causes members of the DAYS audience to root for them to make it work. Brady and Theresa's battles with their addictions to alcohol and hard drugs, respectively, added another layer of dysfunction to the relationship.
Brady and Theresa are both apart of prominent families in Salem. Brady's family was against his relationship with Theresa and they faced much ridicule and push back from others for trying to pursue a relationship. Theresa and Brady are currently experiencing a rough period in their relationship. As of now, Brady has kicked Theresa out of his life. Theresa has shown remorse for hurting Brady, but she is unsure of how to fix the relationship. She went to far extremes to keep Brady, which resulted in hurting him deeply and breaking his trust. It will take time to repair the damage they have done to each other. Despite the current pain, it's clear they still have feelings for each other underneath all the hurt.
Their dysfunctional relationship has garnered comparisons to some of Salem's other notorious dysfunctional romances, such as E.J. DiMera and Sami Brady.
Background
Jeannie Theresa Brady is the daughter of the legendary supercouple Shane Donovan and Kimberly Brady. She is of the Donovan family.
Brady Black is the son of John Black and Isabella Toscano and the stepson of Marlena Evans. He is of the Kiriakis family.
Together they have one child:
- Brady and Theresa's first biological child, Tate Black, was stolen as an embryo from his mother's womb by Kristen DiMera and given birth to in early 2015 before finally saved from her and returned to his parents.
Storylines
Brady and Theresa met at an AA meeting. Initially the two had a strong disliking for one another. They immediately butted heads, but soon their relationship turned flirtatious. Theresa could tell that Brady wasn't serious about AA, so the two would meet to drink together. Theresa was drawn to Brady and jealous of his rich lifestyle. Theresa is caught using Abigail Deveraux's ID to buy gifts from a drug store, by JJ Deveraux. JJ blackmails Theresa with a tape of her actions, in response to Theresa blackmailing him. Theresa blamed Brady for her lapse in judgement. She'd been so enamored with his wealth that she'd let her own guard down. However, this does not stop Theresa from pursuing a romantic relationship with Brady. Theresa turned her attention to Brady and she liked how the relationship bothered Maggie Kiriakis, Daniel Jonas and Jennifer Horton.
Theresa's feelings for Brady grew genuine and she turned down advances from another man in favor of focusing on wooing Brady. Brady used Theresa as a distraction as well. Daniel is slipped drugs before he goes into surgery and he and Jennifer both suspect Theresa. However, the true culprit was Liam Frazer. Theresa tried to do damage control, begging Brady to believe that she had nothing to do with what happened to Daniel. Brady said that he wanted to believe her, but if he found out otherwise, she'd be sorry. Brady agreed to help Jennifer find out what happened to Daniel. To do so, he told Theresa that he had to stop drinking and end their relationship and Theresa was crushed.
When the truth came out that Liam was responsible for everything that happened to Daniel and Jennifer, Brady and Theresa resumed their relationship. All of Brady's family disproved of his relationship with Theresa. Despite this, Brady spent more time with Theresa, engaging in heavy partying that included cocaine and the relationship turned sexual. Eventually, he told Theresa that he wanted more from their relationship. Theresa was thrilled because this meant her plan to get his money would be easier.
Brady and Theresa took a trip to Las Vegas. Brady drank heavily and Theresa had to carry him out of the casino. Brady was so drunk that he did not recall Theresa taking them to get married that night. As a passed-out Brady and Theresa flew home on the Titan jet, Theresa looked down at the new wedding rings on their hands. Theresa was thrilled that she had finally landed Brady for good.
Brady's father, John Black was furious when he learned of the marriage. John knew that Brady would get the marriage annulled once he sobered up and yelled at Theresa for being a disappointment to her family. Theresa told John that she would walk away from Brady for $1 million. However, John had been recording their whole conversation and got Theresa's attempted blackmail on tape. Theresa knew that John's tape would mean that Brady would get the annulment. So, she grabbed a fire poker from the fire place and struck John over the head.
John was knocked out cold and Theresa panicked. She dragged John's body over to a passed-out Brady, wiped her prints off the fire poker, and put the poker in Brady's hands. She then screamed for Henderson who called 911. Theresa lied and told the police that John was attacking Brady and Brady swung back in self defense. When Brady awoke in a hospital room, she told Brady the same story and he was horrified that he had hurt his father.
The hit over the head caused John to fall into a coma. Brady started going back to AA meetings and told Theresa that they needed to annul their marriage. He said that he needed to get his life back together. Brady tried to fly in doctors to look at John's case, but they all said that it was hopeless. When Kristen DiMera, Brady's ex-lover, returned to town, Brady returned to Theresa for comfort and to forget about Kristen. Theresa on the other hand, thought there was hope for a reunion between them. Kristen learns Theresa's secret and begins using this information to blackmail her. Kristen also brings to town a doctor with a new formula that would save John. The formula is successful and John wakes from his coma, leaving Theresa to worry that her secret would soon be exposed.
Theresa tries to cover her tracks, but Kristen discovers her secret and gets Theresa's confession on tape. John also begins to remember what happened that night. Everything blows up when Theresa goes to visit John in the hospital. They argue and John threatens to tell Brady that Theresa was the one who hit him with the fire poker, causing the coma. John didn't have to take his threat any further because Brady was right outside the door and overheard everything.
Kristen had also gotten a hold of Brady earlier and played the recording for him showing Theresa's guilt. Brady blows up at John and Theresa and doesn't want anything more to do with either of them. Theresa is devastated and argues with John and Marlena. She vows to make things right with Brady. Later, Theresa shares with Anne Milbauer that she believes Brady will take her back eventually because she is pregnant with Brady's child.
Kristen overheard Theresa sharing her news and flew into a jealous rage. She hires two goons to knock Theresa unconscious while she is walking home in the park. The goons take Theresa to a warehouse outfitted with gurneys and other medical supplies. When Theresa awakens in the warehouse, she is dressed in a hospital gown and a doctor approaches her with a needle. Before the doctor pokes her with the needle, Theresa expresses concern because she's pregnant and the doctor confirms that he is well aware of her pregnancy and sticks her anyways, rendering her unconscious again.
Later, Kristen arrives at the warehouse and is wheeled into the room on a gurney also wearing a hospital gown. The doctor asks Kristen if she is ready for the procedure, to which Kristen readily agrees. Kristen vows to get what is rightfully hers. The procedure begins and Brady and Theresa's embryo is transferred into Kristen's womb to be carried by Kristen, as she always wanted to have Brady's child. After the procedure, Kristen leaves town and evidence of Theresa's pregnancy is erased. Brady does not even believe Theresa when she eventually gets the chance to tell him she was pregnant.
Theresa is sure she is pregnant, and reminds Brady that they did not use protection the last two times they had sex. Theresa and Brady go to the hospital and her aunt Kayla Brady Johnson runs a pregnancy test. Theresa is shocked when the pregnancy test comes back negative and Brady blasts her for lying before telling her to stay out of his life. Theresa is confused because she was sure she was pregnant. She was indeed pregnant before, but the test came back negative because Kristen has already taken the embryo. Brady and Theresa decide to go their separate ways, though it's obvious they still have lingering feelings for each other. Theresa immediately tries to distract herself from the heartbreak of their ended relationship by jumping into a relationship with another man and taunting Brady about it.
When Melanie Jonas returns to town, she and Theresa hit it off, until they find out who the other is. Melanie immediately blasts Theresa for hurting her friends and a rivalry begins. The rivalry between the two women deepens when Melanie starts to date Brady. Theresa also moves on with a man named Clint, but that relationship is short-lived. Unbeknownst to Theresa, Clint was hired by Dr. Mandrake, the man who stole her and Brady's embryo on Kristen's orders, to keep an eye on her. Clint's main objective was to insure that Theresa didn't remember what happened the night her embryo was stolen. Despite Clint's efforts, Theresa starts to hyperventilate after seeing a mother and baby together in the town square, showing signs that her memory from that night is trying to break through.
Theresa and Brady try to move on from each other, but whenever they run into each other, they fight, demonstrating the depth of their unresolved feelings for each other. One night, a drunk Anne Milbauer spikes Brady's coffee with alcohol thinking it would be funny. When Anne tells Theresa, she is appalled, rushes to Brady and knocks the drink from his hand to keep him from drinking it and falling off the wagon. Brady overhears Theresa scolding Anne for her actions and sending her home. Brady then follows Theresa to the town square and thanks her for saving him, however he doesn't understand why she did it.
Theresa is shocked that he doesn't understand and explains that she wouldn't stand by and let someone sabotage him. She tells Brady that she understands now that he is truly an addict who struggles with substance abuse, unlike herself who could take it or leave it. Theresa again apologizes for what happened the night his father went into a coma and explains how that night changed her. Brady believes her, understands and wants to call a truce. The two visibly start to soften toward one another and there is a shift in their relationship. Theresa wants to start over as friends but a phone call from Daniel about Melanie ruins the mood. Theresa is hurt, even though she won't admit it and runs out on Brady. He follows her and tries to get her to stay so they can finish their conversation, but she insists that he forget what happened that night and leaves on the brink of tears.
Eventually, Melanie's snooping leads her to figure out that Theresa really was pregnant, and Kristen DiMera stole the embryo from Theresa's body, left town and gave birth to the child, naming it Christopher. Melanie, Brady and Theresa track down Kristen and save the baby. When Brady and Theresa are reunited with their son, they change his name to Tate. When Theresa moves into the Kiriakis mansion, tensions arise between her and Victor. She eventually expresses her interest in purchasing Basic Black and running it as her own fashion company, with financial backing from Maggie Horton. In the hopes of finding the right partner, she teams up with Kate Roberts and Nicole Walker to achieve the goal of purchasing Basic Black, with Kate and Nicole's business background and her own interest in fashion design. While in close quarters, Brady and Theresa share several instances of rekindling their romance, much to the chagrin of Victor, who eventually kicks her out of the mansion. As a result, Brady quits Titan and moves in with Theresa and Tate, in their own penthouse. However, they are forced to move back into the Kiriakis mansion when a vengeful Xander Cook escapes from prison, and nearly kills Theresa on the day she and Brady were supposed to be married.
On New Years Eve of 2015, Brady, his brother Eric, Jennifer Horton, and Daniel Jonas are involved in a tragic car accident due to Eric driving drunk. The accident leaves Daniel brain dead, and Brady in need of a heart transplant. With Maggie's permission, Daniel is taken off of life support and his heart is donated to Brady. Eric is later sent to prison for causing Daniel's death. Theresa helps Brady recover and stays by his side, bonding the two closer. In August 2016, Tate is kidnapped, but is later found and the kidnapper is revealed to be Kate Roberts, after Victor was accused of being the kidnapper.
Brady and Theresa are heartbreakingly forced apart in November 2016 when an old flame from Theresa's past arrives in town. When Theresa was 19, she took a trip down to Mexico and became involved with a drug lord's son named Mateo. Theresa grew out of her relationship with Mateo and left him, returning to the US. Years later, after Mateo's father died, he took his place and built and even stronger drug empire. Mateo never forgot about Theresa and obsessed over her. He tracked her down to Salem and demanded that she return with him to Mexico or he would kill everyone she loves. In order to protect Tate, Brady and her parents, Theresa saw no other option but to give into Mateo's demands. Theresa's parents, Shane Donovan and Kimberly Brady come to town to warn Theresa about Mateo and to protect her.
Theresa tells her parents that she plans to give into Mateo's demands and they try to talk her out of it, offering to set her, Brady, and Tate up in a safe location. But Theresa doesn't want to subject her family to a life on the run or put her parents in danger. Eventually after some convincing Shane and Kimberly agree to help Theresa with her plan. Theresa plans to convince Brady and everyone else that she went back to her old ways because she knew that breaking Brady's heart was the only thing that would keep him from coming after her. She tells Victor Kiriakis her true reason for leaving and while he is unable to help her, he is surprisingly supportive.
Theresa leaves Brady
