Days of Our Lives Classic Couple Spotlight: Julie and Doug

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If you've begun watching Days of Our Lives recently, you've probably found Julie's recent health scare to be riveting television.

It is far from the first strong Doug/Julie storyline.

Julie and Doug are one of Salem's oldest couples, having first met in 1970, and the actors have been married in real life for almost as long as they've been on the show.

Throughout the years, Doug and Julie have had their ups and downs.

Like most soap supercouples, they've been married and divorced several times.

But now they've settled down and are a stable, older couple that provides hope, encouragement, and love to the younger generation.

Check out our latest Days of Our Lives Classic Couple Spotlight and share your favorite Julie/Doug memory in the comments.

A Con Man Falls For His Con

Doug and Julie's relationship didn't begin as a great love story.

In 1970, Julie's best friend turned archenemy Susan Martin hired Doug to have an affair with Julie, who was married to Scott Banning.

Julie and Susan had had a long-standing rivalry ever since Julie had tried to steal Susan's sweetheart, David Martin. David ended up dying, but Julie had his baby.

So now Susan wanted to get revenge by stealing Julie's husband. But the joke was on her because Doug soon fell hard for Julie.


The Mother of All Love Triangles

Julie wasn't the only one whose heart belonged to Doug. She had to compete for his affection -- with her mother.

By 1972, Doug and Julie were madly in love, or so they thought. Doug even planned a honeymoon with Julie in Portofino..

But his plan fell apart when he and Julie had a huge fight over her desire to bring little David along on their romantic getaway. Julie stormed out and her mother, Addie, swooped in.

Addie proposed to Doug, who eagerly accepted--and took her on the trip he'd planned to take on Julie.

A few years later, Doug and Addie had baby Hope together, but their romance ended in tragedy.

Addie was diagnosed with cancer and asked Julie to take care of the baby once she was gone.

Her cancer went into remission, but soon afterward, she got run over while pushing baby Hope's carriage out of the way of a speeding car, and her injuries were fatal.

A grief-stricken Doug took a few years to get over her before reconciling with Julie.

The First Wedding

Once Doug got past his grief over Addie, he and Julie planned to wed after all.

But they had a problem to get past first: Doug's ex, Kim Douglas.

Kim was so determined to win Doug back that she made up a story about not being legally divorced from him and then proceeded to pursue him.

Eventually, she was forced to give up, and Doug and Julie finally tied the knot.

A Fake Drug Bust And a Rape

Julie and Doug weren't going to get their happily ever after, though, at least, not yet.

Doug's Place began to have serious problems. Doug lost his liquor license and nearly lost the club itself (Julie bought it, saving the day).

These problems forced Doug to leave town for a bit, which allowed Larry Atwood to cause a lot of trouble.

Larry set up Doug so that he got arrested for drugs, then proceeded to rape Julie.

A traumatized Julie withdrew from the world, but Doug thought she believed he was guilty of drug trafficking and had turned to Larry instead.

Later, Julie told Doug about the rape, but soon afterward, Larry turned up dead. Naturally, Julie was accused of his murder.

Fortunately, Larry's assistant eventually confessed. Otherwise, Julie and Doug might have been separated long-term by her incarceration.

But before Julie's name was cleared, she was made to stand trial and the details of her rape were made public.


Julie's Accident Gets Doug Tangled Up With a Crazy Person

While cooking at Maggie's farm, the oven blew up in Julie's face.

She had severe scarring on her face. She couldn't stand to look at herself and ran away from Doug, believing he couldn't possibly find her attractive anymore.

A heartbroken Doug soon met Lee Damonde when she arrived in town to claim her part of an inheritance that Doug also received.

When Doug and Julie reconciled, Lee lost it. She tried to kill Julie, but fortunately, she was not successful.

However, Lee next took a bunch of pills. She wasn't suicidal but wanted Doug to think she was, so he would drop Julie for her.

Lee's plan worked, but not in the way she hoped. Interactions between the medications she took caused her to have a stroke.

She was paralyzed, and Doug felt he couldn't leave her until her injuries healed.

That eventually happened, and Doug and Julie remarried. However, Lee had one more trick up her sleeve.

She manipulated Hope, convincing the child to turn against her father and half-sister/stepmother. 

Hope refused to live with the newly married couple, instead moving in with Tom and Alice Horton.

A Wild Goose Chase and Clash With the Dimeras

Now that Doug and Julie were remarried, it was time for some adventure!

Doug and Julie went in search of some titanium that was supposedly buried under Doug's Place. 

Unfortunately for them, Stefano wanted the titanium too. He and Tony even dug a tunnel from the Dimera Mansion to the wine cellar at Doug's Place in an attempt to get it.

The joke was on all of them because it turned out there was no titanium in the wine cellar or anywhere else.

Hope Grows Up

Hope was rapidly aged, becoming a beautiful, but rebellious, 18-year-old whose heart belonged to biker Bo Brady.

Doug and Julie were not pleased about this. 

Doug was the first of the pair of them to have a heart attack after he walked in on Bo and Hope having sex.

Hope promised to stay away from Bo after that, but as "Bope" fans know, that didn't last.


Happy and Sad Times in the 1990s

Doug and Julie separated yet again for a while when Julie chose to stay in Paris to open a dress shop.

Soon after, Doug let it slip that he was dying -- except he wasn't. It was a ploy to get Julie to reconcile with him, and though she was furious, it worked.

Soon after, Doug and Julie were reunited with Hope, who had amnesia and had been presumed dead until recently.

Sadly, that same year, Tom Horton passed away, and Julie needed Doug's support to get through her grief.


Doug "Dies" But Comes Back to Life

For the next 10 years, Doug and Julie spent more time traveling the world than living in Salem.

Then came 2003's Salem Stalker storyline.

During that story, Marlena was under Andre Dimera's control and helped him fake the deaths of many of Salem's most prominent residents.

Doug was one of Andre's victims. Julie thought he'd been murdered, but he turned up alive and well on the island of Melaswen.


Traveling During Their Golden Years

Doug and Julie resumed their travels around the world, coming to Salem only on special occasions, such as Bo and Hope's vow renewal.

That changed in 2010 when Julie suffered double tragedies in her family.

Both her Uncle Mickey and her beloved grandmother, Alice Horton passed away that year.

Julie needed Doug's support more than ever to get through those tragic losses.


Julie On Her Own

Julie and Doug stayed together, but Doug's appearances in Salem became more and more sporadic.

Julie often was left to her own devices, and without Doug's influence, she was sometimes a pain in the neck.

For example, at Arianna's christening, she made loud comments about the sex tape Kristen had made of herself and Eric, embarrassing Hope.

Most notably, in 2013, Julie attended a book club meeting at Jennifer's in which all the adults got stoned after accidentally eating pot-laced donuts.


A Tragedy and a Blessing

Despite Julie's stoned claims that she hated cruises, she and Doug continued traveling for a while.

In 2017, though, they settled down again in Salem.

Soon after, Julie got the devastating news that her son David, from whom she'd been estranged, had died in a motorcycle accident.

Julie's grief and remorse over her falling out with David was tempered slightly when she learned that newcomer Eli Grant was David's son. She welcomed Eli into her family with open arms and immediately did what she does best nowadays: offered a ton of unsolicited advice about his love life.

A New Heart - Days of Our Lives

Julie's Near-Death Experiences

Since Julie's return to Salem in the mid 2010s, she's been feuding with Gabi Hernandez.

Gabi killed Nick Fallon, who died in Julie's arms, and Julie has never forgiven Gabi even though Gabi feels that Nick's abuse of her was a mitigating circumstance.

The feud nearly turned lethal twice.

First, Julie fell down the steps at the Kiriakis Mansion after fighting with Gabi.

And in 2019, Julie had a heart attack while arguing with Gabi and needed a new heart.

Julie is Alarmed - Days of Our Lives

Julie still has a lot of life in her, but what she doesn't know is that Gabi controls her pacemaker and can cause her another heart attack whenever she wants.

Either way, it's clear that Doug and Julie take "til death do us part" seriously and are each other's rock as long as the two of them have life left in their bodies.

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics!

What are your favorite Julie and Doug moments?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

For more Days of Our Lives chat, check out our Days of Our Lives reviews and Days of Our Lives Round Table discussions.

Days of Our Lives continues to air on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes.

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