Brody Lovett
Encyclopedia
Brody Lovett is a fictional character
on the ABC
soap opera
One Life to Live
portrayed by Mark Lawson
since April 24, 2008.
brought to Llanview
by Adriana Cramer
to distract Gigi Morasco
from Adriana's fiancé Rex Balsom
. A hardened veteran of the war in Iraq, Brody had been "stop-lossed"
several times during his tours of duty.
Gigi establishes in 2007 that Brody, the father of her son Shane, had died heroically overseas while she had still been pregnant. Threatened by Gigi's connection to her high school sweetheart Rex, Adriana sends her mother Dorian Lord
to get information on the deceased Brody in 2008. Meeting Brody's sister Nadine, Dorian discovers that Brody is in fact alive; disapproving of the match, Brody's mother had told Gigi he had died, and had told Brody that Gigi had moved on to another man. Further, Adriana's suspicions that Gigi had already been pregnant when she had met Brody — and that Rex is most likely Shane's father — are confirmed. She is even more discouraged to discover that Brody and Gigi's relationship was platonic, despite Brody's willingness to give her son a name and his hopes of building a family with Gigi.
With her wedding to Rex approaching — and Gigi and Rex getting closer — Adriana pays the hard-drinking and volatile Brody to come to Llanview. Adriana hopes Brody can distract Gigi from Rex and help keep the secret of Shane's paternity from coming out, which she fears will cement Gigi and Rex forever and doom Adriana's relationship with him. Traumatized by his experiences in the Iraq War and embittered by what he believes was Gigi's abandonment of him, Brody still has feelings for Gigi but is hesitant to disrupt her life. Convinced by Adriana that Gigi and Shane need him, Brody finally makes his presence known to a shocked Gigi and elated Shane at Rex and Adriana's wedding.
meetings. When Gigi leaves town to pursue the missing Rex to Texas
, a jealous Brody takes charge of Shane and the household. Having grown dependent on Shane's love and validation, Brody fears that if Gigi and Rex are to reunite, he will lose access to the most important person in his life. When local psychic Madame Delphina cryptically warns Brody that Gigi and Rex may be "gone for good," Brody panics, fearing that Social Services will put Shane into the foster care
system if he is unable to assert paternity. Brody uses Rex's DNA
from a toothbrush to fake a paternity test which "proves" Brody to be Shane's father and therefore, his legal guardian in Gigi's absence. Brody's hopes are dashed, however, when Gigi and Rex return to Llanview together, Rex knowing the truth about Shane's paternity and the couple ready to tell Shane.
Despondent, Brody suffers a mental breakdown
, trashing Gigi's house and accidentally injuring her friend Marcie McBain. Lapsing into "combat mode," Brody outmaneuvers Gigi and Rex by picking up Shane from school and taking him to Llantano Mountain. Once there, a delusional and armed Brody dons his old combat fatigues and begins to tell Shane about his experiences in Iraq
. Losing track of reality, Brody suffers vivid hallucinations from his tours of duty, including the image of an Iraqi boy he had accidentally killed during a raid. Brody is cornered by the Llanview Police Department, accompanied by Gigi and Rex; initially, Brody uses Shane as a human shield, but soon declares he could never hurt "his son" and sends the boy to his mother. Police Commissioner
Bo Buchanan
, a former Vietnam vet, tries to talk Brody down, but an unstable Brody fires wildly, accidentally shooting Rex. Brody is arrested and taken into custody, where his condition worsens due to his severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now aware of Brody's deep trauma stemming from his war experiences, a recovered Rex decides not to press charges, and a stabilized Brody is admitted to St Ann's sanitarium for treatment.
, who is recovering from her latest bout of dissociative identity disorder
following the death of her husband Nash Brennan
. Realizing his conflicting memories of the encounter in which he had shot the Iraqi boy, Brody learns that the boy had not been armed as he had been led to believe; a fellow soldier had put a gun in the child's hand to protect Brody. This realization helps Brody recover and secure his release, and he eventually begins a romantic relationship with Jessica. Brody helps Jessica through a relapse of her illness and the stillborn birth of Nash's baby, and becomes a Llanview Police officer.
Jessica's evil biological father Mitch Laurence
returns and subjects her to electroshock therapy
; she loses all memory beyond her senior year of high school. Believing she is still in love with her high school boyfriend Cristian Vega
, Jessica repeatedly rejects Brody. May 21, 2010 a drunk and dejected Brody sleeps with Jessica's sister Natalie
; Jessica regains her memory the same night while being seduced by Robert Ford
. Brody and Natalie decide to keep their encounter a secret from both Jessica and Natalie's boyfriend John McBain
. Natalie and Jessica both discover that they are pregnant; Brody assumes he is the father of Jessica's baby, but she keeps the secret that it may be Ford. Natalie is also fearful that Brody is her baby's father rather than John, and she confesses as much to a shocked Brody. On July 29, 2010 Brody proposes, and Jessica accepts. Brody is later furious to discover he may not be the father of her baby, but he and Jessica reconcile. Paternity tests declare Brody the father of both children, but Natalie never tells him that. She tells him her test says John is the babies father, which in reality it is since the paternity results were change on accident by Clint's assistant.
On Jan. 11, 2011 Jessica gives birth to her baby by c-section. They later name the baby Ryder Asa Lovett. Both of Brody's "sons" are born on the same day. On Brody/Jessica's and John/Natalie's double wedding the truth about both babies fathers are revealed and Tess comes back.
On the 23rd September 2011, Brody proposed to Natalie and she accepts. It is also revealed that John is still in love with Natalie but he hasn't told her yet. Brody and Natalie's wedding doesn't go as planned when Natalie finds out that John is Liam's father and Brody has known all along. During the week of November 14, Brody goes off the deep end after losing Natalie and Liam, which causes him to kidnap Liam and hold Natalie
and John
at gun point. After thinking it over, Brody tearfully gives Liam back to his parents.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
portrayed by Mark Lawson
Mark Lawson (actor)
Mark Lawson is an American actor best known for portraying Lt. Brody Lovett on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live.-Biography:...
since April 24, 2008.
Arrival
Brody is a former Navy SEALUnited States Navy SEALs
The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command.The acronym is derived from their...
brought to Llanview
Llanview, Pennsylvania
Llanview, Pennsylvania is the fictional setting for the long-running American soap opera One Life to Live. The city exists in the same fictional universe as cities from other existing or defunct ABC daytime dramas, including Pine Valley from All My Children, Port Charles from General Hospital, and...
by Adriana Cramer
Adriana Cramer
Adriana Cramer is a fictional character on the American daytime drama One Life to Live, portrayed most notably by Melissa Fumero.-Casting:...
to distract Gigi Morasco
Gigi Morasco
Gigi Morasco is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. She was portrayed by Farah Fath since October 24, 2007 to June 29, 2011 and October 2011 to present . She returned as a ghost on August 1, 2011 .-Background and Arrival:Gigi was born in 1979 and was briefly presumed dead...
from Adriana's fiancé Rex Balsom
Rex Balsom
Rex Balsom is a fictional character on the American daytime drama One Life to Live, portrayed by John-Paul Lavoisier since May 9, 2002.With the character initially named "Jamie" prior to production, then-Executive Producer Gary Tomlin "toyed with the idea" of putting Rex in a gay storyline;...
. A hardened veteran of the war in Iraq, Brody had been "stop-lossed"
Stop-loss policy
Stop-loss is a term primarily used in the United States military. In the U.S. military, it is the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty service under the enlistment contract in order to retain them beyond their initial end of term of service date and up to their contractually...
several times during his tours of duty.
Gigi establishes in 2007 that Brody, the father of her son Shane, had died heroically overseas while she had still been pregnant. Threatened by Gigi's connection to her high school sweetheart Rex, Adriana sends her mother Dorian Lord
Dorian Cramer Lord
Dr. Dorian Lord Buchanan is a fictional character and matriarch of the Cramer family on the American daytime drama One Life to Live, most notably portrayed for nearly three decades by Robin Strasser...
to get information on the deceased Brody in 2008. Meeting Brody's sister Nadine, Dorian discovers that Brody is in fact alive; disapproving of the match, Brody's mother had told Gigi he had died, and had told Brody that Gigi had moved on to another man. Further, Adriana's suspicions that Gigi had already been pregnant when she had met Brody — and that Rex is most likely Shane's father — are confirmed. She is even more discouraged to discover that Brody and Gigi's relationship was platonic, despite Brody's willingness to give her son a name and his hopes of building a family with Gigi.
With her wedding to Rex approaching — and Gigi and Rex getting closer — Adriana pays the hard-drinking and volatile Brody to come to Llanview. Adriana hopes Brody can distract Gigi from Rex and help keep the secret of Shane's paternity from coming out, which she fears will cement Gigi and Rex forever and doom Adriana's relationship with him. Traumatized by his experiences in the Iraq War and embittered by what he believes was Gigi's abandonment of him, Brody still has feelings for Gigi but is hesitant to disrupt her life. Convinced by Adriana that Gigi and Shane need him, Brody finally makes his presence known to a shocked Gigi and elated Shane at Rex and Adriana's wedding.
Shane
With Rex married to Adriana, Gigi and Brody keep up the pretense that Brody is Shane's father; Gigi feels as though she has no choice but to allow Brody back into her life, as she is unwilling to disrupt Rex's marriage or crush her son's hopes and dreams of finally knowing his "father." Brody hopes to pursue a real relationship with Gigi, but she is soon wrapped up again with Rex, who separates from Adriana after discovering her machinations. Meanwhile, Brody focuses his attentions and affection on Shane, to whom he grows very close, thinking of the boy as "his son" in every respect. Brody sees in Shane an opportunity for a new start, and takes the initiative to find employment and begin attending Alcoholics AnonymousAlcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
meetings. When Gigi leaves town to pursue the missing Rex to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, a jealous Brody takes charge of Shane and the household. Having grown dependent on Shane's love and validation, Brody fears that if Gigi and Rex are to reunite, he will lose access to the most important person in his life. When local psychic Madame Delphina cryptically warns Brody that Gigi and Rex may be "gone for good," Brody panics, fearing that Social Services will put Shane into the foster care
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
system if he is unable to assert paternity. Brody uses Rex's DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
from a toothbrush to fake a paternity test which "proves" Brody to be Shane's father and therefore, his legal guardian in Gigi's absence. Brody's hopes are dashed, however, when Gigi and Rex return to Llanview together, Rex knowing the truth about Shane's paternity and the couple ready to tell Shane.
Despondent, Brody suffers a mental breakdown
Mental breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
, trashing Gigi's house and accidentally injuring her friend Marcie McBain. Lapsing into "combat mode," Brody outmaneuvers Gigi and Rex by picking up Shane from school and taking him to Llantano Mountain. Once there, a delusional and armed Brody dons his old combat fatigues and begins to tell Shane about his experiences in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. Losing track of reality, Brody suffers vivid hallucinations from his tours of duty, including the image of an Iraqi boy he had accidentally killed during a raid. Brody is cornered by the Llanview Police Department, accompanied by Gigi and Rex; initially, Brody uses Shane as a human shield, but soon declares he could never hurt "his son" and sends the boy to his mother. Police Commissioner
Police commissioner
Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...
Bo Buchanan
Bo Buchanan
Beaufort Oglethorpe "Bo" Buchanan is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live.-Casting and awards:The role was originated in 1979 by Robert S. Woods, who briefly left the series in 1986 but returned in 1988, and currently portrays the role...
, a former Vietnam vet, tries to talk Brody down, but an unstable Brody fires wildly, accidentally shooting Rex. Brody is arrested and taken into custody, where his condition worsens due to his severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now aware of Brody's deep trauma stemming from his war experiences, a recovered Rex decides not to press charges, and a stabilized Brody is admitted to St Ann's sanitarium for treatment.
Jessica
At St. Ann's, Brody befriends Jessica BuchananJessica Buchanan
Jessica Eugenia Buchanan is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live...
, who is recovering from her latest bout of dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities , each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment....
following the death of her husband Nash Brennan
Nash Brennan
Nash Brennan is a fictional character on the American daytime drama One Life to Live, played by Forbes March from July 7, 2005 to June 5, 2008, and then briefly from June 6, 2008 to July 16, 2008.-Tess and Jessica:...
. Realizing his conflicting memories of the encounter in which he had shot the Iraqi boy, Brody learns that the boy had not been armed as he had been led to believe; a fellow soldier had put a gun in the child's hand to protect Brody. This realization helps Brody recover and secure his release, and he eventually begins a romantic relationship with Jessica. Brody helps Jessica through a relapse of her illness and the stillborn birth of Nash's baby, and becomes a Llanview Police officer.
Jessica's evil biological father Mitch Laurence
Mitch Laurence
Mitchell "Mitch" Laurence is a fictional character, portrayed by Roscoe Born, on the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live, from 1985 to 1987 and again from 2002 to 2003...
returns and subjects her to electroshock therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...
; she loses all memory beyond her senior year of high school. Believing she is still in love with her high school boyfriend Cristian Vega
Cristian Vega
Cristian Vega is a fictional character on the American daytime drama One Life to Live. The character was most notably portrayed by David Fumero, who played Cristian from June 26, 1998 to September 8, 2011.-Casting:...
, Jessica repeatedly rejects Brody. May 21, 2010 a drunk and dejected Brody sleeps with Jessica's sister Natalie
Natalie Buchanan
Natalie Buchanan Banks is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live and daughter of former supercouple Victoria Lord and Clint Buchanan...
; Jessica regains her memory the same night while being seduced by Robert Ford
Robert Ford (One Life to Live)
Robert "Bobby" Ford is a fictional character from the ABC original soap opera One Life to Live. The role was originated by David A. Gregory on August 10, 2009 on a recurring basis. Gregory was upgraded to contract status in December 2009....
. Brody and Natalie decide to keep their encounter a secret from both Jessica and Natalie's boyfriend John McBain
John McBain (One Life to Live)
John McBain is a fictional character on the American daytime drama One Life to Live, portrayed by Michael Easton since October 1, 2003.-Natalie and Evangeline:...
. Natalie and Jessica both discover that they are pregnant; Brody assumes he is the father of Jessica's baby, but she keeps the secret that it may be Ford. Natalie is also fearful that Brody is her baby's father rather than John, and she confesses as much to a shocked Brody. On July 29, 2010 Brody proposes, and Jessica accepts. Brody is later furious to discover he may not be the father of her baby, but he and Jessica reconcile. Paternity tests declare Brody the father of both children, but Natalie never tells him that. She tells him her test says John is the babies father, which in reality it is since the paternity results were change on accident by Clint's assistant.
On Jan. 11, 2011 Jessica gives birth to her baby by c-section. They later name the baby Ryder Asa Lovett. Both of Brody's "sons" are born on the same day. On Brody/Jessica's and John/Natalie's double wedding the truth about both babies fathers are revealed and Tess comes back.
Natalie and Liam
Natalie and Brody grow closer and become a couple. On June 30, 2011 Brody finds out he is not Liam's father. On July 21, 2011, Brody finds Vimal's letter on John's desk and goes to find him at "The Sun" to warn him to keep his mouth closed. Marty, Victor, Vimal, Jack and Brody are the only ones who know the truth about baby Liam's paternity.On the 23rd September 2011, Brody proposed to Natalie and she accepts. It is also revealed that John is still in love with Natalie but he hasn't told her yet. Brody and Natalie's wedding doesn't go as planned when Natalie finds out that John is Liam's father and Brody has known all along. During the week of November 14, Brody goes off the deep end after losing Natalie and Liam, which causes him to kidnap Liam and hold Natalie
Natalie Buchanan
Natalie Buchanan Banks is a fictional character on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live and daughter of former supercouple Victoria Lord and Clint Buchanan...
and John
John McBain (One Life to Live)
John McBain is a fictional character on the American daytime drama One Life to Live, portrayed by Michael Easton since October 1, 2003.-Natalie and Evangeline:...
at gun point. After thinking it over, Brody tearfully gives Liam back to his parents.