Days of Our Lives fans, today we’re looking at some of the incredible real-life romances of actors who met and worked together on the NBC Peacock soap. Some of these you may know about, some you may not. One lucky lady found love twice on the set, and she actually married two different hunks from Days. And one of those marriages is still going strong.
Days of Our Lives: The Enduring Love Story of Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes
All right, so we’re going to start with a couple you know about because we all cried last year when we lost actor Bill Hayes (Doug Williams). And then also had to say goodbye to his character Doug Williams. Not only were Julie Williams (Susan Seaforth Hayes) and Doug one of the longest-running soap opera couples in the history of the genre. But their real-life marriage was absolutely couple goals. It lasted five decades until he passed away.
Susan Seaforth (Susan Seaforth Hayes) was already working on Days of Our Lives as Julie Olson when Bill Hayes (Doug Williams) was cast as con man Doug Williams in 1970. With Susan as one of his main scene partners, they kissed on screen on July 23rd, 1970. And that was their first kiss as an offscreen couple as well. Susan married Bill at his home on October 12th, 1974. And their characters Doug and Julie got married on Days two years later, using the same vows they used in real life.
Their very long marriage lasted up until Bill Hayes (Doug Williams) passed away January 12th, 2024, at age 98. At the time he passed, Susan and Bill had been married 50 years. Days of Our Lives aired Bill’s final episode in July of 2024. And Doug Williams’ character passed away peacefully in his sleep in November 2024. This has to be the most epic on and offscreen soap opera romance of all time.
Crystal Chappell and Michael Sabatino: A Days of Our Lives Romance That Lasted
Now let’s talk about a pair of on and off-screen lovers from the 1990s, Crystal Chappell (Carly Manning) and Michael Sabatino (Lawrence Alamain). These two played Carly Manning and Lawrence Alamain in the early 90s. Their characters’ romance was on and off again and pretty rambunctious. You may remember from your ancient Days history that Lawrence’s wackadoo Aunt Vivian Alamain (formerly played by Linda Dano) actually buried Carly alive to avenge Lawrence.
Although Carly and Lawrence weren’t destined for happily ever after, the actors that played them absolutely were. They both exited Days in the 90s. They got married in early 1997. And they have two sons who are now grown and in their 20s. Crystal and Michael are still happily hitched even now. Sadly, Crystal revealed last year that Michael has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. But he says he’s doing well and still going strong.
Casey Moss and True O’Brien: From On-Screen Tragedy to Real-Life Bliss
Now let’s talk about an on-screen couple whose Days of Our Lives romantic pairing was cut short by tragedy. But the actors are still going strong in real life. That is Casey Moss (JJ Deveraux) and True O’Brien (Paige Larson), who played JJ Deveraux and Paige Larson. Of course, Casey is still appearing on Days as JJ right now. And he’s involved with Gabi Hernandez (currently Cherie Jimenez).
Back in 2014, Casey and True met on the Days set. JJ and Paige fell hard for each other while she was a college student. And he worked for the DEA. Unfortunately, necktie killer Ben Weston (Robert Scott Wilson) murdered Paige, and JJ was devastated. In real life, Casey and True began dating in 2015, the same year that Paige met her awful end in the dorm shower on the soap. Casey proposed to True in June 2022. And they are planning a May 2025 wedding.
Leo Howard and Natasha Hall: A Real-Life Romance Amidst Soap Opera Twists
Now real quick, I want to talk about a couple who appeared on Days of Our Lives at the same time. But whose characters were never involved. In fact, had their characters been involved, it would have been wildly inappropriate. So the two actors I’m talking about are Leo Howard (Tate Black) and Natasha Hall (Sloan Petersen).
Leo Howard (Tate Black) plays Tate, a high school senior. But the actor is a decade older than his Days alter ego. Leo is 27. And Tate should be 17 or 18 years old at this point. So Leo’s real-life honey, Natasha Hall (Sloan Petersen), is seven years older than him. She’s 34 right now. And she appeared in a few 2024 episodes that filmed in 2023 as Sloan Petersen when Jessica Serfaty had to miss work.
So the mid-30s lawyer Sloan dating high schooler Tate would have been pretty icky and awkward. Especially considering that Sloan was getting frisky with his Uncle Eric (Greg Vaughan). But a few months after Leo’s real-life love Natasha appeared on Days of Our Lives, they got hitched. That was in September of 2024. Meanwhile, his soap character Tate refused to marry pregnant fellow high schooler Sophia Choi (Rachel Boyd). Messy, messy soap stuff. But Leo Howard’s (Tate Black) at least very happy in real life with his wife.
Brandon Beemer and Nadia Bjorlin: A ‘Dirty Soap’ Saga
Next, we’re going to talk about a pair of exes who met on Days of Our Lives, and stick around till the end, by the way, to hear about the actress who met two husbands behind the scenes. We’re getting there. But the exes I want to discuss are Brandon Beemer (Shawn Douglas Brady) and Nadia Bjorlin (Chloe Lane). The pair actually met by happenstance a few years before they worked together on Days of Our Lives. But they never dated when they first met. They began dating in 2006. And they had overlapping runs on the NBC soap in 2008.
Brandon left Days in 2008 to go over to Bold and the Beautiful. But the duo kept dating until they split in 2013. Several years later, in the interim, their romance was heavily featured on the reality series Dirty Soap. If you have not seen it, I think it only got one season. But it was so good, a reality show about soap opera actors’ dramatic personal lives. A lot of the episodes are on YouTube.
Their relationship seemed doomed even though Nadia and Brandon dated for seven years. I remember when they were on Dirty Soap together that Nadia’s mom hated Brandon, and she raged at Nadia that if she married Brandon and they had kids, that she would actually kill her daughter. So with Mama Bjorlin taking a hard stance against them, their breakup seemed inevitable. But now Nadia is happily married to the guy she met after she and Brandon broke up.
Farah Fath and John-Paul Lavoisier: From One Life to Live to Days of Our Lives
Speaking of couples on the reality show Dirty Soap, there was another pair that was also on Days of Our Lives, and this couple’s kind of interesting because they were a real-life romance who ended before their characters interacted on Days. I’m talking about Farah Fath (Mimi Lockhart) and John-Paul Lavoisier (Philip Kiriakis). They actually met on the set of One Life to Live and started dating, and then they started on Dirty Soap as a couple in 2011. But it wasn’t until 2015 that JP Lav joined the cast of Days of Our Lives in his initial run as Philip Kiriakis, and Farah, if you don’t remember, played Mimi Lockhart.
It was weird because Philip and Mimi had a child together without intending to or having been involved in any way that would make it happen naturally. There were two couples that were trying to conceive by IVF, and Mimi wound up implanted with Philip’s sperm thanks to a dirty plot when it should have actually been Ciara’s baby in her belly, and Philip’s sperm should have been in Belle’s belly.
So Mimi and Philip later signed away their rights to the baby that they unintentionally created, and the surrogate kept the kid. The upside is after their real-life split, Farah and JP didn’t have to get romantic on the Days set as their characters. That might have been awkward.
Casey Deidrick and Molly Burnett: A Faded Flame Before On-Screen Romance
Before we get to the actress with two Days hubbies, let’s talk about the ex Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn) actor Casey Deidrick and ex Melanie Jonas (Molly Burnett) actress Molly Burnett. Their characters were both on and off-screen loves, as the actors were as well. Chad and Melanie were together in 2011 and 2012, and they were worried about it crushing Abigail Deveraux (formerly played by Kate Mansi), and of course, it did wind up that way, even though she walked away from Chad at that point.
The actors met on the Days set back in 2009, and they dated for about a year. But Casey and Molly’s real-life romance fizzled out before Chad and Melanie hit their big romantic high point. In fact, the actors fell out of their romantic feelings long before their characters fell hard and got engaged. But then Melanie dumped Chad, left town, and then his role was later recast with Billy Flynn.
Arianne Zucker: Finding Love (Twice!) on the Days of Our Lives Set
Now finally, let’s talk about the actress who found love twice backstage at Days of Our Lives. That’s Arianne Zucker (Nicole Walker), who played Nicole Walker up until last year. The first time Ari found love on the set, it was with ex Brady Black (Kyle Lowder) actor Kyle Lowder. Of course, Brady was later recast with Eric Martsolf in the role, and Kyle flipped over to the role of Rex Brady when he later returned to Days. Back when Kyle played Brady, he and Nicole had a very rocky road. But the actors themselves had an epic love story behind the scenes, so much so that Kyle and Ari got married in 2002.
Kyle left Days in 2005, and he went over to Bold and the Beautiful for a few years. Their off-screen marriage started to fall apart, and they split in 2007. Much like Brady and Nicole’s off and on status, they then decided to try again, and in real life, the couple reunited in 2008. They turned around and had a daughter in 2009. But then their marriage fell apart again, and Ari and Kyle split for good in 2014.
DOOL Drama On and Off Screen
Just as Ari and Kyle were calling it quits, Ari sparked with another Days actor, Shawn Christian (Daniel Jonas), who played Daniel Jonas to her Nicole on the soap. Daniel and Nicole were madly in love, and the actors of course had known each other for a while behind the scenes while her marriage to Kyle Lowder was falling apart. Arianne and Shawn started dating in 2014, the same year that she and Kyle split for good.
Their working relationship as Nicole and Daniel ended two years later in 2016 when his character died as a result of a car crash caused by drunk Eric Brady (Greg Vaughan), and Nicole’s ex Brady, at that point played by Eric Martsolf, wound up getting his heart. After Shawn Christian (Daniel Jonas) left the soap when his character died, he and Ari still kept going strong as a couple. They got engaged in 2021 and got married in August 2024, a few weeks after Ari’s final episode as Nicole Walker aired in July of 2024.
