| Nicole Walker | |||||||||||||||
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| Arianne Zucker as Nicole Walker | |||||||||||||||
| Days of our Lives | |||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Arianne Zucker | ||||||||||||||
| Current status | Former; Recurring (Returning) | ||||||||||||||
| Duration | 1998–2006, 2008–2018 | ||||||||||||||
| First appearance | February 27, 1998 | ||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | October 22, 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| Cause/reason | Presumed dead in an explosion | ||||||||||||||
| Created by | Sally Sussman Morina | ||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Ken Corday and Tom Langan (1998) Ken Corday and Edward J. Scott (2008) | ||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||
| Fullname | Nicole Stella Walker | ||||||||||||||
| Alias(es) | Misty Circle Mary Smith Mary Bridget Smith | ||||||||||||||
| Gender | Female | ||||||||||||||
| Died | October 22, 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| Cause of death | Killed in an explosion | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Businesswoman Former Journalist Former Secretary Former Campaign manager Editor-in-chief Former Model Former Waitress Former Pornographic actress | ||||||||||||||
| Residence | Room 5367 The Salem Inn, Salem, Illinois | ||||||||||||||
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Nicole Stella Walker (formerly Roberts, Kiriakis, and DiMera) is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. She was introduced in 1998 by head writer Sally Sussman Morina, and executive producer Ken Corday. Actress Arianne Zucker has portrayed the character since her introduction to the series in 1998. Zucker took a short, two-year break from 2006-2008 when she returned to the series again in the same role.
Many of Nicole's story lines have often focused on treachery, death, and love, with the character being portrayed as always in pursuit of finding true love and having the family she never had as a child growing up. The character is the daughter of Fay Walker and Paul Mendez. During her childhood, Nicole was a victim of child sexual abuse at the hands of her father, Paul, who forced her to do pornography in her adolescence under the name Avery Maria Walker". little brother.
The character came to Salem as a small town waitress, but almost immediately started getting involved with the major families that the show revolved around. While once being seen as a scheming gold-digger, Nicole has grown into a woman committed to finding love and being a good mother. She is known for her longstanding feud with her enemy, Sami Brady, her relationships with Eric Brady, Victor Kiriakis, Brady Black and EJ DiMera, and the 2009 Baby Switch story line which featured Nicole having a miscarriage; daughter lying to her husband; and stealing Sami's baby, Sydney.
In March 2017, Zucker made the decision not to renew her contract and to leave the series. That stint ended on October 20, 2017; after a brief return, her final air date was October 22, 2018.
On November 10, 2018 it was announced that Zucker will return to Days sometime in the coming months of 2019 along with Xander.
Storylines
Overworked and underpaid waitress Nicole comes to Salem with dreams of becoming a model and meets Eric Brady (Jensen Ackles). Eric convinces his sister Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) to give Nicole a modeling contract landing Nicole on the cover of Bella magazine. Despite her success, Nicole seems to be hiding something. It is eventually revealed that Nicole is being followed by her ex-boyfriend, Jay. As Eric and Nicole fall in love, a jealous Jay threatens to tell Nicole's secrets. Nicole develops friendships with Sami and Kate Roberts (Lauren Koslow), even planning out Sami's bachelorette party. Kate's son and Sami's ex-boyfriend Lucas Horton (Bryan Dattilo) starts showering Nicole with gifts despite his mother's disapproval; Lucas wants to use Nicole to get custody of his son Will from Sami. Meanwhile, Nicole's sister, Taylor Walker (Katherine Ellis) comes to Salem and befriends Eric and Lucas uses the relationship to keep Nicole and Eric apart so he can have her for himself. Taylor catches on to Lucas's schemes and skips town while Nicole agrees to marriage in exchange for $5 million leaving Eric devastated and running him out of town.
When Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston) takes the money away from her, Nicole decides to help Sami regain custody of Will. Also, a brief cancer scare forces Nicole to realize the error of her ways. She shares a brief reunion with Eric and divorces Lucas. However, Eric helps Nicole open up about her troubled past and being forced into porn as a teenager by her father, Paul Mendez. Nicole cozies up to Victor by exposing Kate's plot to kill him and also uses his grandson Brady Black (Kyle Lowder) in her schemes. Victor and Nicole eventually marry on New Year's Eve in 2002 only for Nicole to fake his death with the help of Jan Spears (Heather Lauren Olson), leaving Nicole as the wealthy grieving widow who has fallen for her step grandson. However, Nicole's plans begin to unravel when Victor is discovered alive. Meanwhile, in an effort to keep Brady for herself, Nicole tries to disfigure his presumed dead first love, Chloe Lane (Nadia Bjorlin) during surgery with help from Stan (Dan Wells) and Tony DiMera (Thaao Penghlis). Nicole learns that Stan is actually Sami in disguise and threatens to expose her. However, Sami exposes Nicole's schemes instead and Brady kicks her out of his life believing she was behind Chloe's "death." Nicole later goes into business with Sami and Austin Reed (Austin Peck). In 2006, she agrees to move to Los Angeles to manage the newly acquired branch of the company. Before leaving town, Nicole has a one-night stand with Sami's father, Roman Brady (Josh Taylor).
After her departure, it is mentioned that Nicole had plans to marry "some soap actor." This was presumably a nod to Zucker's marriage to her former Days of Our Lives costar, Kyle Lowder, who played Brady.
Nicole resurfaces in 2008 and announces that she and Victor are still legally married. Nicole hires EJ DiMera (James Scott) to help her with the divorce only for Nicole to discover that she is still married to her first husband, Trent Robbins (Roscoe Born), making her subsequent marriages to Lucas and Victor invalid. Nicole had married Trent when she was in college but she left him because he was abusive; however, she never filed for divorce. EJ starts using Nicole to make his soon to be ex-wife Sami jealous and after Sami dumps him, EJ and Nicole end up having sex in an elevator. Nicole is a prime suspect when Trent is found dead in September 2008, but she is exonerated. Nicole later discovers she is pregnant, and knowing she was not supposed to have children, Nicole considers the child to be a "miracle." EJ and Nicole move in together only for her to miscarry. Realizing that EJ loved their baby and not her, Nicole fakes her pregnancy fearing he will leave her. Nicole discovers that EJ is still in love with Sami, so she adopts Mia McCormick (Taylor Spreitler)'s baby with help from Dr. Richard Baker (John Callahan) and passes the child off as her own. To make matters worse, Nicole switches Mia's child with Sami and EJ's baby allowing EJ to raise the child even though Sami planned to keep him from the child. Nicole names the child, Sydney only for her lies to be exposed when the child's father, Chad DiMera (Casey Deidrick) tries to sue for custody. Nicole is sent to prison for her crimes and later released with the help of Anna DiMera (Leann Hunley).
Seeing that Nicole is still attached to Sydney, EJ arranges for her to be a part of Sydney's life and live in the mansion leading him to propose to her in order for Nicole to be a "mother figure" to EJ's children. Nicole accepts leading her to start falling in love with him again. On their wedding day, EJ meets Nicole's sister Taylor Walker (Natalia Livingston) and it is love at first sight. After weeks of cheating, EJ asks Nicole for a divorce and she is left shattered. Nicole is employed as EJ's secretary and they start working together for EJ to win the election and become Mayor of Salem. During the election their romantic relationship evolves but Nicole holds back fearing that EJ will end up hurting her again. When he proposes to her in February 2012, Nicole accepts only to find out that EJ had cheated on her once again with Sami. She storms out of the mansion and goes to the Town Square where she meets Daniel Jonas (Shawn Christian). During their talk Nicole faints and Daniel takes her to the hospital only to find out that Nicole is pregnant.
Nicole worries about her pregnancy ending up in a miscarriage again and wanting to get away from EJ she hides her pregnancy from him with the help of Daniel and Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering). EJ finds out that Nicole is pregnant and Rafe steps in claiming the child is his leading him and Nicole to fabricate this story to keep the baby from EJ. In May 2012, Nicole stresses over EJ and starts having pains in her stomach but gets to the hospital in time and everything turns out to be fine. Nicole begins a romantic relationship with Daniel but due to his daughter's priorities at the time, he broke it off. In August 2012, an earthquake hits Salem and Nicole goes into preterm labor but luckily enough Daniel manages to stop the contractions and keep the pregnancy healthy. She then starts a rivalry with Jennifer Horton (Melissa Reeves) fearing that Daniel will get back together with Jenn. In October 2012 and at 37 weeks pregnant, Nicole goes to her prenatal visit but her doctor informs her that her baby is dead. A distraught Nicole grieves her second loss but does not tell Daniel fearing that he will get back together with Jenn seeing there is no baby. That same day Nicole gets into a fight with Jennifer on the stairs of the Town Square and Nicole falls down going into labor. Nicole gives birth to her stillborn son and seeing the opportunity she blames Jennifer in pushing her. A month later the truth comes out and seeing she is left with nothing, she tries to commit suicide but Rafe and Daniel step in just in time to stop her.
Nicole's first love, Eric Brady (Greg Vaughan), returns to Salem as a priest. He offers her a job as his secretary at the church, which Nicole accepts. As the two continue working together, Nicole's old feelings for Eric resurface. Knowing that he is a priest and cannot be with her, Nicole aches about not being with him. In June 2013, Eric is drugged and seduced by Kristen DiMera. Due to coincidences that happened that night, such as Nicole finding a delirious Eric in his hotel room shortly after Kristen leaves, Eric is led to believe that it was Nicole who raped him. He confronts her about the matter. While Nicole admits her feelings towards him during the confrontation, she repeatedly denies any wrongdoing. Eric does not believe her, concluding that Nicole acted on her feelings. Dismayed by Eric's false accusation, Nicole does not want to have anything to do with Eric. After Eric is suspended from the priesthood due to the sex scandal, Nicole forgives him, and together with Daniel, they work together to prove Eric's innocence. Knowing that Eric would deny her help due to her feelings for him, Nicole fabricates a fake romance with Daniel, assuring Eric she is over him. The lie shocks both Daniel and Eric. Daniel is initially reluctant at first, as Nicole had made up the lie before informing him, but he agrees to play along, blindsiding Eric. Since finding out about Nicole's new romance, Eric begins to have dreams about Nicole and is unsure how he feels about her. As Nicole and Eric begin spending more time together to clear his name, Eric's old feelings for Nicole resurface. This becomes especially apparent after Nicole's photo shoot, when Eric reminisces about an old photo shoot with Nicole during her modeling days with Countess Wilhelmina. Nicole and Eric's relationship becomes more mutual, leaving both of them confused and unsure how to react. On January 13, 2014, Nicole and Eric are kidnapped by Kristen's potion doctor, as the two have gotten too close to the truth about the night Eric was drugged. The doctor tied them together in the basement of Daniel's apartment complex. He initially was going to wipe their memories with his drugs, but instead opens a gas line in the basement and leaves Nicole and Eric to die, either by asphyxiation or an eventual explosion. It is in this dire situation Eric confesses he loves Nicole. She was engaged to Eric briefly but they broke up. She was engaged to Daniel Jonas until his death in 2016 after a drunk Eric killed him in a car accident, which devastated Nicole.Crimes Committed
- Committed bigamy twice; married Lucas and then married Victor while still legally married to Trent Robbins [1999 to 2008]
- Shot Colin Murphy, who was blackmailing her
- Hired Larry Welch to kill Victor
- Shot and wounded Paul Mendez [Oct 2000]
- With Jan Spears, attempted to murder Victor Kiriakis [2004]
- Sabotaged Chloe's surgery [2005]
- Tried to blackmail EJ by threatening to divulge the status of his marriage if he didn't spend more time with her [Jun 2008]
- Faked her pregnancy [Nov 2008 to Jan 2009]
- Attempted to drug Brady Black to keep him from telling EJ about her miscarriage [Dec 2008]
- Bribed Dr. Baker to keep him from telling EJ about her miscarriage [Dec 2008]
- Stole a vase from the DiMera mansion [Dec 2008]
- Stole Sami's baby; blackmailed Dr. Baker to give her Sami's baby [Jan 2009]
- Accessory to a crime after the fact; provided EJ with advice on Stephanie's kidnapping [May 2009]
- Kidnapped Sydney DiMera and planned to flee the country [Dec 2009]
- Blackmailed Anna DiMera to make Anna convince Governor Ford to issue Nicole a full pardon for her kidnapping crimes [Mar 2010]
- Framed Arianna Hernandez for the Salem Muggings [May 2010]
- Blackmailed EJ DiMera/withheld information in Sydney's kidnapping case [Jul 2010]
- Accessory to false imprisonment; kept Vivian locked in a sarcophagus after Brady buried her alive [Oct 2010]
- Used a tape of Sami's confession to blackmail Sami into letting Nicole spend time with Sydney [Nov 2010]
- Adultery; Slept with Brady while married to E.J. [May 2011]
- Conspiracy to cover up a crime; withheld information about the events on the night Brady assaulted EJ. [Jun 2011]
- Got the mayoral debate questions ahead of time [January 2012]
- Paid off election officials to appear that Abe had fixed the election [assumed, but not confirmed-Feb 2012]
- Switched the paternity test results to indicate that Rafe was the father of her baby, not EJ. [May 2012]
- Gave false testimony to the police, accusing Jennifer of assault that caused Nicole's miscarriage [Oct 2012]
- Stole files from Titan computers and planted them on Kristen DiMera's computer in attempts to break up Kristen and Brady
- Kidnapped and drugged Dr. Chyka to get info from him about Kristen drugging and raping Eric
[February 2014]
- Hid evidence and then lied to police about having proof that Kristen drugged and raped Eric [March 2014]
- Bribed a bellboy to let her into Serena's hotel room [December 2014]
- Stabbed a hit man that was going to kill Deimos Kiriakis [February 2017]
- Kidnapped her biological daughter Holly from Chloe after assaulting her even though the court awarded full custody of Holly to Chloe. [March 2017]
- Violated the restraining order against Chloe and Holly and went on the lam with Holly. [March 2017]
Health and Vitals
- Suffered a gunshot to the abdomen and was told that she could not have children [2002]
- Suffered a miscarriage and was told that even if she were to get pregnant again, she would never carry the baby to term [Nov 2008]
- Suffered a second miscarriage and blamed Jennifer for it
- Blackmailed by Brady into leaving Salem for good [Oct 2017]
- Presumed dead in an explosion [Oct 2018]
Quotes:
(to Daniel, about her and Jennifer almost getting into a fight) "I didn't start this; Little Miss Muffet did." (to Daniel, about her and Jennifer almost getting into a fight) "Somebody needs to teach her a lesson!" (to EJ) "Yes, yes, sex is amazing with you!" (to Daniel, after he declares his love for Jennifer) "Oh, just like you love all your patients?" (to EJ, after Sami kisses him) "Wow. You know, lucky for you, EJ, I have some breath spray and some anti-bacterial." (to Sami, who Nicole doesn't know is pregnant) "Is it just me, or did you gain weight?" (to Kate) "I know you're the same old slut you've always been." (to Sami, who calls Nicole rude) "Touchy, are we? Or are you just hormonal?" (to Arianna, about a Snow Leopard giving birth to cubs) "They're pre-empting me because some cat had kittens?!" (to Daniel, after he says that he doesn't love her, even though she was his patient) "Well, you didn't have to fix me!" (to Sami, about her relationship with Lucas) "Take it from me, Sami. Lucas is a horndog. I mean, when we were married, we had this nasty date, and I-" (to Chloe, who asks what she was supposed to do (about Lucas)) "Apparently, not Lucas." (to Sami and Chloe, about Lucas) "Why Lucas would want either one of you losers is beyond me." (to Sami, when she denies her feelings for EJ) "What are we, 5 years-old here? C'mon Sami, EJ told me everything." (to EJ, after finding out he cheated on her with Sami) "You honestly expect me to believe that you slept with this woman, even though you detest her, because you were sad?" (to Stefano) "Maybe you shouldn't throw around the word "morrrrronic" (in Stefano's accent). (to EJ, when he tries reconciling with her) "You had me EJ, heart and soul." (to Sami, about the kids) "Oh, get a life Sami. I don't even know which brat I was holding anyway...I don't know if it was EJ's or Lucas's. Good thing you didn't have triplets. Can't tell the fathers without a program." (to Jennifer, about the choice between Jack and Daniel) "I'm sorry, but your track record proves that you're not very good at making decisive choices." (to Jennifer, about her relationship with EJ) "At least I have a man to go home to. You managed to chase two off." (to Jennifer, about Daniel and Jack's rejections) "I'm not surprised. I mean, I see how you are in your professional life; very bland, and boring. I can only imagine how it is behind those closed doors." (to EJ) "What kind of Brit are you? I thought you'd have a room full of tea, or somethin'."
