Millions of daytime fans love One Life to Live alum Kassie DePaiva (ex-Blair Cramer), but the same can't exactly be said for her manipulative Days of our Lives alter ego, Eve Donovan. The conniving Salemite has done pretty much anything and everything to rub viewers the wrong way, from sleeping with her daughter's boyfriend J.J. (Casey Moss), to ingratiating herself into the Kiriakis family, to teaming up with Claire (Olivia Rose Keegan) to get Hayley (Thia Megia) deported, to steering an amnesiac Jack (Matthew Ashford) into marrying her. Well, it looks like the conniving character will be stirring up trouble one more time -- and then getting the hell out of Salem.
DePaiva took to social media to share that her time with DAYS has sadly come to an end, with Eve set to exit the canvas at the end of the year.
"Thank you soap opera fans for all your love and support. On New Years Eve, once again, Eve Donovan will leave town after wreaking havoc," the actress shares. "I just want to send a big love letter out to all of you that have watched and supported me over the years. As you know, I love working in daytime. It has been my honor and pleasure to work on Days of our Lives over the last five years."
DePaiva goes on to say that, as soap fans can imagine, Eve hasn't exactly been the easiest character for her play. Breathing life into the manipulative mama has taken a lot of effort by both the actress and DAYS' writers.
"Eve is an interesting and challenging character to bring to life," DePaiva explains. "As you know, actors don't get to write their own storylines. It is always a challenge and a delight to open the scripts and see where the writers are taking the story. My hope is that you enjoyed the journey because I certainly did."
My love letter to Soap Fans!#days @nbcdays @SoapDigest @SoapOperaNewss @SoapOperaNetwrk @soapcentral @SoapView @Soap_Hub pic.twitter.com/QgUyhzuKEn
- Kassie DePaiva (@KassieDePaiva) December 20, 2019
As for why Eve was such a "challenging" character, DAYS head writer Ron Carlivati explains that every soap needs spice -- and villainous divas like her amp up the entertainment.
"To me, that's the fun of soaps, letting these characters do unbelievably horrible things to each other," he told Soap Central earlier this year. "To use Eve as an example: I've worked with Kassie for a long time, and the thing about her is she has this natural warmth that comes through, no matter the awful, horrible things she's doing, so that's why I allow her to do terrible things! She did it as [OLTL's] Blair, now she's doing it as Eve, and I kind of feel like she has this built-in love from the audience, so she can get away with it a little more [laughs]. Of course, it's a risk when you have people do these awful things. But it's fiction!"
Though DePaiva's departure message seems final, there's no word on whether or not this will truly be the last of Eve. After all, this isn't the first time that the character has disappeared from Salem. Eve was written off the canvas in 2016 and returned later that same year, and she left town during Halloween of 2018 but returned on New Year's Eve.
DePaiva stepped into the shoes of Eve Donovan in 2014, having previously won the hearts of daytime fans as OLTL's Blair, which she played from 1993 to 2013, and Guiding Light's Chelsea Reardon, which she played from 1986 to 1991.
DePaiva's goodbye message to fans closed out with some Christmas love. "I wish you all a joyous holiday season," she wrote. "Be kind and loving to all."
What do you think about Kassie DePaiva leaving DAYS? Will you be sad to see her evil alter ego go? Or do you think it's good riddance? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
