Days of Our Lives’ Camila Banus Unpacks the Frustrating Part of Gabi’s Storyline: ‘It’s So Hard for Me to Justify, Honestly’

There’s something missing right now that doesn’t have to be.

Camila Banus has a problem with Gabi — a big problem. That, of course, is a part of acting. Nobody has the perfect character. But the really frustrating part for the actress is that her grievance could easily be fixed with just a few words from her Days of Our Lives’ character: “I just got off the phone with Arianna.”

More: The “Jarlena” scene you didn’t get to see

Now, kids in the daytime world do have an unfortunate tendency to disappear — even when they’re supposedly living in the same house as their parents! And when those kids move out of town or are sent off to boarding school? Forget it. Out of sight, out of mind.

Arianna is off living with dads Will and Sonny in Arizona, so she certainly falls into the latter category. But that doesn’t mean Banus isn’t frustrated with her character seemingly abandoning all mom duties. It’s something that’s been bothering her enough to discuss it in the most recent issue of Soap Opera Digest.

“I think [Gabi] should have more of a connection with her daughter,” she told the magazine, “whether she’s off to visit Arianna or Arianna comes to visit Gabi. That’s something that I’ve always loved and pushed for. I am a huge advocate for Gabi being with her daughter, because that has played so much throughout her life on TV.”

Above: Arianna and Gabi used to be about as close as they come.

Credit: Howard WiseJPI

Once upon a time, Arianna meant the world to Gabi. Will was presumed dead for a few years and Sonny had skipped town to deal with his grief, so it fell to Ari’s mother to raise her alone. That was all thrown out of whack when Gabi was wrongfully imprisoned for Andre’s murder, and Sonny and Will had to take over parenting duties.

Gabi was devastated about being separated from her daughter, and even more so when she was finally released and Arianna was angry at being abandoned. Now, though? Arianna who?

“It’s so hard for me to justify, honestly,” Banus confessed to Digest. “There’s not enough for me to play with, because she isn’t mentioned in the scripts.” But even if Gabi seems to have forgotten Ari, Banus hasn’t, and she explained that she’s made “this backstory for [Arianna]; that she’s living her best life in Arizona and calling her mom as much as she can and vice versa. That’s basically the way I justify it.”

Above: Arianna’s been living with dads Sonny (here played by Freddie Smith) and Will… but even they seem to have forgotten about her!

Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI

The last time we saw Arianna was in December of 2020 when she came back to Salem for a visit with her dad, Will. This past holiday, though, she was MIA in the scenes with her fathers for A Very Salem Christmas.

But then, it was Christmas Eve, so maybe she was in bed waiting for Santa. Then again, she may be aging out of Santa at this point… It’s hard to tell, since we see and hear of her so infrequently. Will and Sonny are both returning to Salem shortly, but there’s been no word that Arianna’s coming with them.

More: Leo’s coming back to Salem “indefinitely”

Hopefully we’ll see her soon — or at the very least Gabi will ask Arianna’s dads about her when they’re in town. Then again, with the schemer cozying up to the devil himself, it might be best if the kid keeps her distance for now!

What do you think? Is it time for Gabi to be a mom again or is it better if Arianna stays away? Sound off below, then swing by our gallery of Gabi’s wild life. She’s always been a troublemaker, but once upon a time, she really was a mom!