Kayla Brady
Encyclopedia
Dr. Kayla Caroline Johnson (née Brady; previously Deveraux) is a fictional character
on the NBC
daytime soap opera
Days of our Lives
. She made her first on-screen appearance on in 1982. Kayla was created by Pat Falken Smith
as one of the original members of the Brady family. The role was originated in 1982 by actress Catherine Mary Stewart
. The role is replaced in 1986 by actress Mary Beth Evans
. Evans is most recognizable in the role as Kayla. She played the role from 1986-1992. Mary Beth Evans
returned to play Kayla from 2006-2009. She announced her departure from the serial in 2009, and was dropped off canvas.
Kayla was an original member of the Brady family, a fictional family on the serial. She is widely known for her popular pairing with Steve Johnson. This relationship gave the couple the title of a famous super couple. Kayla was described as being the "good" girl of the serial. During her time on Days of our Lives, Kayla was extremely well received by television critics. Kayla Brady Johnson is one of the six Brady children. She is the daughter of the late Shawn Brady
and Caroline Brady
. She is the sister of Roman
and Kimberly Brady, the half-sister of Bo Brady
, and the sister of adopted brothers Frankie
and Max Brady
. She has been married three times, to Jack Deveraux
and twice to Steve Johnson. Steve and Kayla have two children, a daughter Stephanie and a son, Joseph "Joe" Johnson (born on May 16, 2008). Mary Beth Evans returned to Days Of Our Lives for a short-stint on June 18, 2010.
, and also dates David Banning. She is involved with Chris Kositchek and loses her virginity to him. However, Kayla leaves town in 1984 when Chris can not commit to her.
in the role, after Steve Johnson is hired to scare her away from Cincinnati. Accepting a job offer from Tom Horton, Kayla establishes a low income clinic on the riverfront and continues to cross paths with Steve. The two help orphans Max and Frankie find a home with Kayla's parents, and later go on the run together when Steve's former paramour Britta Englund is killed. When Orpheus kidnaps Marlena, the "Three Knives" tattoos that Steve, Bo, and Britta share become an important clue in the story, and Steve and Kayla travel to Stockholm and help Roman unravel the mystery.
In 1987, Kayla helps Adrienne Johnson find work at the Emergency Center, not knowing she is actually Steve's long lost sister. Steve and Kayla are torn apart when Steve tries to take the fall for a traumatized Adrienne's killing of their abusive father, Duke, but her memories of the incident return before he could be sentenced.
Later in the year, Kayla goes on the run with Steve when he is framed of the shooting of Senator Harper Deveraux. After returning to Salem, Steve and Kayla finally make love for the first time. After Steve is cleared, Harper hires Kayla to be his son Jack's nurse. An old friend of Kayla's, Jack falls in love with her. Steve knows how happy Kayla makes a dying Jack, who is secretly another sibling whom Jo Johnson had placed up for adoption. Devastated by Steve's rejection, Kayla marries Jack in the hopes it would help his health.
Led to believe that Kayla knows the secret of Jack's past, Harper begins poisoning her. Steve rescues her when she is near death. Though the two are reunited, they agree not to tell Jack until after his election to the town council. However, Jack discovers the affair the night of the election and rapes Kayla in a fit of rage. Kayla charges Jack with rape, but thanks to a plea deal, Jack receives only a slap on the wrist, even after Kayla confronts him on the stand.
Kayla loses her hearing during an attack at the loft, and can not remember her attacker's face. Steve learns sign language to communicate with her, and Kim works with her to help her memory. During this period, Jack finally grants her the divorce, but Kayla isn't sure if she can marry Steve without her hearing. Kayla finally remembers that Harper was the man who attacked her, just before being taken hostage by him at the loft. After that experience, Kayla undergoes a risky surgery to restore her hearing and agrees to marry Steve.
After their marriage, Steve and Kayla almost adopt a young deaf boy named Benji, who is eventually found to be Stefano DiMera's son. Later, Steve helps Nick Corelli hide from the police. Nick gifts Steve and Kayla with a mansion for their trouble. In an old trunk in the mansion's attic, Steve and Kayla find an old civil war diary and spend time reliving the love story of Emily and Gideon. Later, while helping Marcus search for his own past in Charleston, SC, they visit significant sites in the diary. Marcus' search for his past leads to an involvement with a corrupt preacher. Steve agrees to undergo plastic surgery fix his eye, in order to infiltrate the preacher's camp for the ISA as Daniel Lucas.
After the ISA operation ends with the appearance of Shane's death, life is upended for Steve and Kayla yet again when Marina Toscano appears, claiming to be Steve's presumed dead first wife. Knowing she is pregnant but not yet having told Steve, Kayla encourages Steve to help Marina, in hopes that the old entanglements can be resolved. Marina and Steve travel to Italy to retrieve the key, where Kayla catches them in an apparently compromising situation. Steve's eye socket is damaged again in a fight, and he decides to start wearing the patch again. Back in Salem, Steve works to regain Kayla's trust, and is shocked to learn from Jack that she is pregnant. Kayla and Marina argue in her hotel room, where Marina is later found dead.
Kayla is kidnapped by Victor Kiriakis
, and released in exchange for the key. Steve and Kayla plan another wedding, as their marriage had been invalidated by the fact of Marina, but Kayla is arrested during the ceremony for her murder. Kayla gives birth to Stephanie Johnson after going into labor on the witness stand. Convicted of murder, Kayla is sent to prison. At first she tries to keep Stephanie with her, but then decides that prison was no place for a baby. Sheila the nanny, who had become obsessed with the baby, kidnaps Stephanie and takes her to Australia. Upon hearing of Stephanie's kidnapping, Kayla escapes from prison, and she and Steve follow Sheila to Australia where they manage to get their baby back. After word came that Kayla had been cleared of Marina's murder, they return to Salem, where they are finally legally married.
In the fall of 1990, Steve decides to become a police officer. He is injured in a boat explosion, rigged by Lawrence Alamain and meant for Bo. Steve begins to recover, but is "killed" when Lawrence has his IV poisoned. Kayla moves in with Shane Donovan for protection, and the two eventually begin a relationship. Things become complicated when Kim returns to town in 1991 to find her sister and ex-husband living together, and when circumstances lead her to become involved with Lawrence Alamain.
Shane is paralyzed in the line of duty. At first he refuses to have the surgery to regain the use of his legs, but Kayla helps him recover as their relationship deepened. However, Kayla decides to move to Los Angeles in the spring of 1992 to start a new life for her and her daughter.
. A series of events, including their daughter's race car crash and a stay in quarantine after being exposed to a toxin at the hospital, help slowly bring them back together. Eventually, a trip to a cabin where they once hid out together on the run sparks Steve's memory to return in its entirety, and the two are reunited.
In 2007, Benji DiMera returns to Salem with a tarot card that turns Steve into a DiMera soldier. It turns out that Stefano and EJ had tortured him during his missing years. Due to Steve's programming, Kayla is forced into removing John Black's kidney so an ailing Stefano can have it. Steve is committed to the mental hospital, and Kayla works to help him recover, despite his resistance. When his programming is again activated by EJ in order to have him kill Bo on Tinda Lau, Kayla is finally able to break through to him, and they spend some time on the island recovering.
Back in Salem, Steve and Kayla begin to discuss the idea of having another baby. When Philip Kiriakis' son Tyler is abandoned anonymously at the hospital by Philip and Mimi's surrogate, Kayla and Steve take him in and care for him as Pocket. After Steve takes Stefano hostage in retaliation for Benji's murder when the vendetta heats up, social services take Pocket away when he becomes ill. Steve and Kayla are accused of poisoning him by Philip, but it turns out to be a rare genetic disorder. Steve and Kayla and Philip all decide it was in his best interest to go live with another foster family.
In 2008, Kayla and Steve support Stephanie after it was revealed she was raped by Ford Decker. They travel to Ireland to help Shawn meet with the sister he had thought was dead. While there, Kayla learns she is pregnant. Kayla and Steve are both caught in the plane crash on the way back to Salem, which kills her father Shawn Brady
and is later found to be the work of a deranged Ava Vitali. Kayla aids Daniel and Lexie in treating Bo's pancreas condition. Under all these stresses, she begins to have problems with her pregnancy, which leads Steve to keep the information about his ex-girlfriend Ava from her. Ava mistakenly kidnaps Hope thinking she is Kayla, but Steve, Kayla, and Bo soon follow to rescue Hope. Kayla discovers that the pills that Ava had been taking kept Ava from ever becoming sane. Afterward, Ava leaves Steve and Kayla alone, though she fled the country rather than pay for her crimes.
Stressed, and with an already troubled pregnancy, Kayla goes into premature labor. Joe Johnson is delivered at 26 weeks. After stabilizing, he is briefly
kidnapped in the late summer of 2008 by Stefano DiMera.
In early 2009, Kayla is accidentally shot by Hope at University Hospital, a situation Bo has foreseen in his psychic visions. Though the bullet penetrates the
sac around the heart, Kayla recovers after surgery. Offscreen, Kayla and Steve decide to leave Salem to run a clinic in a remote part of the world. They take
their infant son with them, and relate their decision and details of their situation to their daughter Stephanie in a letter, in April 2009.
In June 2010, Kayla briefly returns along with several other Brady and Horton family members to pay respects to Alice Horton after she took
ill.
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 NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
daytime 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,...
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
. She made her first on-screen appearance on in 1982. Kayla was created by Pat Falken Smith
Pat Falken Smith
Patricia Falken Smith was a television writer, most famous for her stints as head writer of several soap operas, including General Hospital and Days of our Lives.-Biography:...
as one of the original members of the Brady family. The role was originated in 1982 by actress Catherine Mary Stewart
Catherine Mary Stewart
Catherine Mary Stewart is a Canadian actress. Her first notable role was as Kayla Brady on the soap opera Days of our Lives from 1981 to 1983...
. The role is replaced in 1986 by actress Mary Beth Evans
Mary Beth Evans
Mary Beth Evans is an American actress. She was born in Pasadena, California.-Career:Evans is most famous for her role as Kayla Brady Johnson in the soap opera Days of our Lives from 1986 to 1992, 2006 to 2009, and 2010 to present. Her character became half of the supercouple Steve and Kayla...
. Evans is most recognizable in the role as Kayla. She played the role from 1986-1992. Mary Beth Evans
Mary Beth Evans
Mary Beth Evans is an American actress. She was born in Pasadena, California.-Career:Evans is most famous for her role as Kayla Brady Johnson in the soap opera Days of our Lives from 1986 to 1992, 2006 to 2009, and 2010 to present. Her character became half of the supercouple Steve and Kayla...
returned to play Kayla from 2006-2009. She announced her departure from the serial in 2009, and was dropped off canvas.
Kayla was an original member of the Brady family, a fictional family on the serial. She is widely known for her popular pairing with Steve Johnson. This relationship gave the couple the title of a famous super couple. Kayla was described as being the "good" girl of the serial. During her time on Days of our Lives, Kayla was extremely well received by television critics. Kayla Brady Johnson is one of the six Brady children. She is the daughter of the late Shawn Brady
Shawn Brady
Shawn Brady is a fictional character on the American soap opera Days of our Lives and the patriarch of the Brady family. He has been portrayed by Lew Brown , Frank MacLean , and Frank Parker .-Storylines:Shawn was the husband of Caroline Brady, and father of three biological children Roman Brady,...
and Caroline Brady
Caroline Brady
Caroline Brady is a fictional character from the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives, a long-running serial drama about working class life in the fictional United States town of Salem. The character still remains a large part of the current storylines. Created by writer Margaret DePriest, the role was...
. She is the sister of Roman
Roman Brady
Roman Augustus Brady is a fictional character on the television drama Days of our Lives. Roman was played by Wayne Northrop from 1981 to 1984 and 1991 to 1994, and has been played by Josh Taylor since 1997, with a brief hiatus in early 2004, when he was a victim of the show's now-infamous serial...
and Kimberly Brady, the half-sister of Bo Brady
Bo Brady
Beauregard Aurelius "Bo" Brady is a fictional character on the NBC Soap Opera, Days of our Lives, the youngest of the series' Brady family. Created under head-writer Margaret DePreist, the role was originated by actor Peter Reckell on May 2, 1983. Robert Kelker-Kelly briefly stepped into the role...
, and the sister of adopted brothers Frankie
Frankie Brady
Frankie Brady is a character on the American soap opera Days of our Lives.The role of Frankie was played by veteran Emmy-Award winning actor Billy Warlock from July 1986 to October 1988, from November 1990 to July 1991 and from June 26, 2005 to November 24, 2006...
and Max Brady
Max Brady
Maxwell "Max" Brady is a character on the soap opera Days of our Lives. He was portrayed by Darin Brooks from June 21, 2005 to July 7, 2009 and briefly on March 15 and 16th 2010.-Character's background:...
. She has been married three times, to Jack Deveraux
Jack Deveraux
Jack Harcourt Deveraux, Sr. is a fictional character on the soap opera Days of our Lives. He is the most prominent member of the Johnson family and is most famously played by Matthew Ashford. After a four-year absence, the character has recently returned to "Salem" to reconnect with his estranged...
and twice to Steve Johnson. Steve and Kayla have two children, a daughter Stephanie and a son, Joseph "Joe" Johnson (born on May 16, 2008). Mary Beth Evans returned to Days Of Our Lives for a short-stint on June 18, 2010.
Introduction
Kayla is first introduced to the show in 1982 as Roman Brady's younger sister and a nurse who works at University Hospital. Kayla shares a past relationship with Mike HortonMike Horton
Dr. Michael "Mike" William Horton II is a fictional character on the soap opera Days of our Lives. He was named after Mickey Horton, who was thought to be his father, and Bill Horton, his father. Mickey and Bill were brothers. Michael's mother was Mickey's wife Dr...
, and also dates David Banning. She is involved with Chris Kositchek and loses her virginity to him. However, Kayla leaves town in 1984 when Chris can not commit to her.
Mary Beth Evans (1986-1991, 2006-2009, 2010, 2010-2011)
Kayla returns to Salem in 1986 with Mary Beth EvansMary Beth Evans
Mary Beth Evans is an American actress. She was born in Pasadena, California.-Career:Evans is most famous for her role as Kayla Brady Johnson in the soap opera Days of our Lives from 1986 to 1992, 2006 to 2009, and 2010 to present. Her character became half of the supercouple Steve and Kayla...
in the role, after Steve Johnson is hired to scare her away from Cincinnati. Accepting a job offer from Tom Horton, Kayla establishes a low income clinic on the riverfront and continues to cross paths with Steve. The two help orphans Max and Frankie find a home with Kayla's parents, and later go on the run together when Steve's former paramour Britta Englund is killed. When Orpheus kidnaps Marlena, the "Three Knives" tattoos that Steve, Bo, and Britta share become an important clue in the story, and Steve and Kayla travel to Stockholm and help Roman unravel the mystery.
In 1987, Kayla helps Adrienne Johnson find work at the Emergency Center, not knowing she is actually Steve's long lost sister. Steve and Kayla are torn apart when Steve tries to take the fall for a traumatized Adrienne's killing of their abusive father, Duke, but her memories of the incident return before he could be sentenced.
Later in the year, Kayla goes on the run with Steve when he is framed of the shooting of Senator Harper Deveraux. After returning to Salem, Steve and Kayla finally make love for the first time. After Steve is cleared, Harper hires Kayla to be his son Jack's nurse. An old friend of Kayla's, Jack falls in love with her. Steve knows how happy Kayla makes a dying Jack, who is secretly another sibling whom Jo Johnson had placed up for adoption. Devastated by Steve's rejection, Kayla marries Jack in the hopes it would help his health.
Led to believe that Kayla knows the secret of Jack's past, Harper begins poisoning her. Steve rescues her when she is near death. Though the two are reunited, they agree not to tell Jack until after his election to the town council. However, Jack discovers the affair the night of the election and rapes Kayla in a fit of rage. Kayla charges Jack with rape, but thanks to a plea deal, Jack receives only a slap on the wrist, even after Kayla confronts him on the stand.
Kayla loses her hearing during an attack at the loft, and can not remember her attacker's face. Steve learns sign language to communicate with her, and Kim works with her to help her memory. During this period, Jack finally grants her the divorce, but Kayla isn't sure if she can marry Steve without her hearing. Kayla finally remembers that Harper was the man who attacked her, just before being taken hostage by him at the loft. After that experience, Kayla undergoes a risky surgery to restore her hearing and agrees to marry Steve.
After their marriage, Steve and Kayla almost adopt a young deaf boy named Benji, who is eventually found to be Stefano DiMera's son. Later, Steve helps Nick Corelli hide from the police. Nick gifts Steve and Kayla with a mansion for their trouble. In an old trunk in the mansion's attic, Steve and Kayla find an old civil war diary and spend time reliving the love story of Emily and Gideon. Later, while helping Marcus search for his own past in Charleston, SC, they visit significant sites in the diary. Marcus' search for his past leads to an involvement with a corrupt preacher. Steve agrees to undergo plastic surgery fix his eye, in order to infiltrate the preacher's camp for the ISA as Daniel Lucas.
After the ISA operation ends with the appearance of Shane's death, life is upended for Steve and Kayla yet again when Marina Toscano appears, claiming to be Steve's presumed dead first wife. Knowing she is pregnant but not yet having told Steve, Kayla encourages Steve to help Marina, in hopes that the old entanglements can be resolved. Marina and Steve travel to Italy to retrieve the key, where Kayla catches them in an apparently compromising situation. Steve's eye socket is damaged again in a fight, and he decides to start wearing the patch again. Back in Salem, Steve works to regain Kayla's trust, and is shocked to learn from Jack that she is pregnant. Kayla and Marina argue in her hotel room, where Marina is later found dead.
Kayla is kidnapped by Victor Kiriakis
Victor Kiriakis
Victor Kiriakis I is a fictional character on NBC's Days of our Lives. The role has been portrayed by John Aniston since 1985. His time on the show has been 1985 to 1997, 1998 to present with a brief storyline driven absence in 2004 when his character was "killed off" but found alive on the island...
, and released in exchange for the key. Steve and Kayla plan another wedding, as their marriage had been invalidated by the fact of Marina, but Kayla is arrested during the ceremony for her murder. Kayla gives birth to Stephanie Johnson after going into labor on the witness stand. Convicted of murder, Kayla is sent to prison. At first she tries to keep Stephanie with her, but then decides that prison was no place for a baby. Sheila the nanny, who had become obsessed with the baby, kidnaps Stephanie and takes her to Australia. Upon hearing of Stephanie's kidnapping, Kayla escapes from prison, and she and Steve follow Sheila to Australia where they manage to get their baby back. After word came that Kayla had been cleared of Marina's murder, they return to Salem, where they are finally legally married.
In the fall of 1990, Steve decides to become a police officer. He is injured in a boat explosion, rigged by Lawrence Alamain and meant for Bo. Steve begins to recover, but is "killed" when Lawrence has his IV poisoned. Kayla moves in with Shane Donovan for protection, and the two eventually begin a relationship. Things become complicated when Kim returns to town in 1991 to find her sister and ex-husband living together, and when circumstances lead her to become involved with Lawrence Alamain.
Shane is paralyzed in the line of duty. At first he refuses to have the surgery to regain the use of his legs, but Kayla helps him recover as their relationship deepened. However, Kayla decides to move to Los Angeles in the spring of 1992 to start a new life for her and her daughter.
Returns (2006-2009 & 2010)
In 2006, Kayla returns to Salem for Frankie and Jennifer's wedding. She had been planning to go to Africa with Doctors Without Borders, but is shocked when Steve appears at the church. He doesn't remember his past, and she is devastated to think that he doesn't know who she is and to watch him take up with Billie ReedBillie Reed
Billie Reed is a fictional character from the NBC soap opera Days of our Lives. The character is no longer used in the current storylines. Created by writer Sheri Anderson, the role was originated by actress Lisa Rinna on September 21, 1992. Krista Allen stepped into the role from 1996-1999. Lisa...
. A series of events, including their daughter's race car crash and a stay in quarantine after being exposed to a toxin at the hospital, help slowly bring them back together. Eventually, a trip to a cabin where they once hid out together on the run sparks Steve's memory to return in its entirety, and the two are reunited.
In 2007, Benji DiMera returns to Salem with a tarot card that turns Steve into a DiMera soldier. It turns out that Stefano and EJ had tortured him during his missing years. Due to Steve's programming, Kayla is forced into removing John Black's kidney so an ailing Stefano can have it. Steve is committed to the mental hospital, and Kayla works to help him recover, despite his resistance. When his programming is again activated by EJ in order to have him kill Bo on Tinda Lau, Kayla is finally able to break through to him, and they spend some time on the island recovering.
Back in Salem, Steve and Kayla begin to discuss the idea of having another baby. When Philip Kiriakis' son Tyler is abandoned anonymously at the hospital by Philip and Mimi's surrogate, Kayla and Steve take him in and care for him as Pocket. After Steve takes Stefano hostage in retaliation for Benji's murder when the vendetta heats up, social services take Pocket away when he becomes ill. Steve and Kayla are accused of poisoning him by Philip, but it turns out to be a rare genetic disorder. Steve and Kayla and Philip all decide it was in his best interest to go live with another foster family.
In 2008, Kayla and Steve support Stephanie after it was revealed she was raped by Ford Decker. They travel to Ireland to help Shawn meet with the sister he had thought was dead. While there, Kayla learns she is pregnant. Kayla and Steve are both caught in the plane crash on the way back to Salem, which kills her father Shawn Brady
Shawn Brady
Shawn Brady is a fictional character on the American soap opera Days of our Lives and the patriarch of the Brady family. He has been portrayed by Lew Brown , Frank MacLean , and Frank Parker .-Storylines:Shawn was the husband of Caroline Brady, and father of three biological children Roman Brady,...
and is later found to be the work of a deranged Ava Vitali. Kayla aids Daniel and Lexie in treating Bo's pancreas condition. Under all these stresses, she begins to have problems with her pregnancy, which leads Steve to keep the information about his ex-girlfriend Ava from her. Ava mistakenly kidnaps Hope thinking she is Kayla, but Steve, Kayla, and Bo soon follow to rescue Hope. Kayla discovers that the pills that Ava had been taking kept Ava from ever becoming sane. Afterward, Ava leaves Steve and Kayla alone, though she fled the country rather than pay for her crimes.
Stressed, and with an already troubled pregnancy, Kayla goes into premature labor. Joe Johnson is delivered at 26 weeks. After stabilizing, he is briefly
kidnapped in the late summer of 2008 by Stefano DiMera.
In early 2009, Kayla is accidentally shot by Hope at University Hospital, a situation Bo has foreseen in his psychic visions. Though the bullet penetrates the
sac around the heart, Kayla recovers after surgery. Offscreen, Kayla and Steve decide to leave Salem to run a clinic in a remote part of the world. They take
their infant son with them, and relate their decision and details of their situation to their daughter Stephanie in a letter, in April 2009.
In June 2010, Kayla briefly returns along with several other Brady and Horton family members to pay respects to Alice Horton after she took
ill.