Eve Donovan is a major troublemaker in Salem.
Not even the death of her beloved daughter Paige changed her for long. After losing Brady Black to her own lies and manipulations in 2019, Eve again became bitter, resentful of Jennifer Horton, and hellbent on revenge.
But Eve wasn’t always this way. She was once a troubled teenager who just wanted a stable, loving home, preferably with her father.
Here’s a look at one of Salem’s most complex, fascinating women throughout the years.
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A Runaway Teen Arrives in Salem
In 1989 16-year-old Eve (then played by Charlotte Ross) arrived in Salem. Eve had been bounced from foster home to foster home and was desperate to find her father, Shane Donovan. Her heart was broken when she saw that Shane was no longer with her mother but instead was married to Kimberly Brady, and she also lacked the courage to tell him directly who she was to him. Eventually, after Eve was arrested for running over eight-year-old Sarah Horton while driving a stolen car, she blurted out the truth, shocking her father and prompting an awkward reuninon.
Sucked Into Prostitution
Soon after arriving in Salem, Eve crossed paths with a pimp named Nick Corelli, who had his eye on her from the second she walked into Shenanigan’s restaurant. Eve was a runaway with no money or place to stay and Nick had one of his other working girls, Sasha, treat her to a burger and offer her a room. After Eve accepted, Nick told her she owed him for taking care of her and that she could pay him back by selling her body for him. Eve did not want to do this but had no other options and reluctantly became part of Nick’s prostitution ring. Later, she was attacked by the Riverfront Knifer, a serial killer who targeted prostitutes, and survived in part thanks to Kimberly, but ended up with a scar across her cheek.
A Lifelong Rivalry Begins
When Eve returned in 2014, Jennifer claimed they were high school rivals, but that was a slight rewrite of history. Eve came to Salem shortly after Jennifer graduated high school. At first, Jennifer was nice to her and even asked Alice to get Eve a job at the hospital, where Jen was volunteering. However, Eve was jealous of Jennifer, who she felt had all the advantages in life she wished she had, and set out to destroy her. In particular, Eve had her eye on Frankie Brady, Jennifer’s boyfriend at the time, and attempted to make Jennifer think Frankie had cheated on her to break them up.
Eve Tries to Break Up Shane and Kim’s Marriage
Shane and Kim took Eve in after Shane learned he was Eve’s father. They tried to give her a more normal, stable life, and Kim entrusted Eve to babysit their son Andrew. However, Eve secretly hated Kim because she wanted Shane to be with her mother instead and plotted constantly to break them up.
A Cruel Joke Leads to a Suicide Attempt
Eve’s attempt to fit in at high school after Shane and Kim took her in didn’t go very well. Other kids knew about her past as a prostitute and used it to slut shame and bully her. Eve suffered from low self-esteem and coiuldn’t believe her luck when a boy named Jake asked her out. However, this was a particularly cruel joke — Jake only wanted to be with her so he could brag to his buddies about scoring with a prostitute — and when Eve found out she went home and attempted to take an entire bottle of pills.
Love Affair With Nick Corelli
Even though Nick had forced Eve into prostitution, over time it seemed to her he was her best friend. He helped her seek revenge against the boys at school who were cruel to her and tried his best to bolster her self-esteem. Eve thought Nick had died when his car exploded over a cliff but it turned out he was just badly burned After she found him she helped nurse him back to health and even convinced him to get plastic surgery for his burns in exchange for her getting her scar removed. This began a controversial but popular love story between a former prostitute and her ex-pimp.
Sham Marriage to Jack Deveraux
After Nick died, he left a substantial fortune to Eve, but it came with a condition: she had to be married to inherit it. Eve asked Frankie Brady, but he turned her down, so she next turned to Jack Deveraux. They both understood the marriage was in name only and never consummated it, but that didn’t stop Eve from gloating to Jennifer that she had married the man who had Jennifer’s heart. Eventually, Julie bought out Eve’s half of the Spectator to get Eve to annul the marriage, but that didn’t stop Eve from claiming she was owed royalties for Jack’s book as part of the deal when she returned in 2014.
Eve and Frankie
Eve finally got Frankie — at least for a little while. After Nick was murdered, Eve joined Jack, Jennifer, and Frankie on an investigation adventure involving a search of a theme train. Nick’s evil brother Johnny made the train derail to try to stop the investigation. The group survived but split up, and after Eve took credit for a girl named Mollie Brinker rescuing them, Frankie began dating her. They broke up for a while after he found out Eve had lied, but when Frankie left for Africa he took Eve with him. Eve later claimed to her daughter Paige that she and Frankie had been married, but since Frankie has not been on canvas since Eve’s return there’s no proof that that isn’t yet another lie.
Unable to Let Go of Her Daughter
Eve (now played by Kassie De Paiva)’s return to Salem in 2014 centered around her relationship with her daughter Paige. Eve and Paige had always been close as Paige had no father, and Eve could not let go of Paige, especially when she found out Paige was dating JJ Deveraux, the son of Eve’s rival Jennifer. Things got more and more tense between Eve and Paige as Eve continually tried to manipulate the situation, including suing Jennifer for half the royalties for Jack’s book and hiring a prostitute to try to seduce JJ and prove to Paige that he was no good for her.
The Eve/JJ Debacle
Eve’s attempts to ruin JJ and Paige’s relationship went nowhere until JJ got drunk after a fight with Paige and showed up at her apartment looking to make up — and found Eve instead. Eve came on to a drunk JJ and he responded in kind, and when JJ and Paige later reconciled Eve followed him around town harassing him about how he needed to break up with her daughter and blaming him for the event even though his ability to consent to the sex was dubious at best. When Eve sent Paige to California so she wouldn’t learn the truth, JJ confronted her and Eve threw him down on the couch, where they had sex a second time. Eventually, Jennifer walked in on one of Eve and JJ’s secret trysts, and later Paige found out. She disowned her mother as well as refusing to have anything to do with JJ until shortly before Paige’s death in 2015.
Paige’s Death
Eve was devastated when Paige was murdered by the Necktie Killer in September 2015. She still couldn’t let go of her hatred of Jennifer and insisted Jennifer and JJ leave the funeral, but after that she softened for a while and became a music teacher and mentor for newcomer Claire instead of causing chaos everywhere.
Tumultous Relationship with Brady Black
Eve left town again for a while after Paige’s death and returned in 2018, where she revealed that she had married Deimos Kiriakis while she was away and was now the owner of Basic Black since his death. Brady Black decided to seduce her to try to steal back his father’s company from her, but fell hard for her, but had to convince her his feelings were for real. After Eve’s plans with Victor to get Brady custody of his son blew up in her face, she broke up with Brady and left town, but she blamed Jennifer for the breakup and threatened to get revenge.
Is Eve Brainwashing Jack?
As of March 2019, Eve seems to be getting the ultimate revenge against Jennifer. She returned to Salem on New Year’s Eve 2018 with a surprise: a very much alive Jack Deveraux who didn’t remember his past or his family and was loyal to Eve because she took care of him. Jennifer and JJ tried several times to get through to him. Eve is molding Jack into a ruthless politician who was willing to throw his own son under the bus to score points with the voters. Will Jennifer ever be able to get through to him about who he really is?
