Even before Hope was born in 1974, her life was a soap opera! Mom Addie learned that she had leukemia but passed on treatment in order to safeguard her baby-to-be. Then, after Hope had been miraculously ushered into world, Addie pushed her daughter’s stroller out of the way of a speeding car… without quite getting out of the way herself! D’oh!
After being sent to boarding school by dad Doug — as we all know, the quickest way to grow a soap kid up! — Hope returned to Salem in 1983 and immediately developed an unrequited infatuation with older man Roman, which of course drove bonkers her true love, his kid brother, Bo.
If Hope didn’t already have daddy issues, she had to have developed some the night that Doug suffered a heart attack while trying to prevent her from letting Bo punch her V-card. This disaster and a half led him to get involved with Stefano’s daughter, Megan, and Hope to get involved with — ugh — Larry Welch!
Thanks to Bo — and blushing “bride” Howie — Hope was (temporarily) saved from having to become Mrs. Larry Welch. And in 1985, she and the man she actually loved made it official. Not that that was the end of their story — not by a long shot!
After the newlyweds welcomed into the world son Shawn-Douglas in 1987, they set sail on the Fancy Face — all the better to get away from Bo’s newfound father, crankypants villain Victor Kiriakis. But they couldn’t resist Salem’s magnetic pull, and returned to their old stomping grounds just three years later.
Thanks to the nefarious Ernesto Toscano, Hope was presumed doomed after an explosion went off while she was trapped in a cage suspended over a vat of acid. As if that could take her out! No, she was fine, she was just hanging around Maison Blanche, suffering from amnesia and convinced that her name was Gina. Princess Gina if you’re nasty.
After Stefano, as he was wont to do, turned Hope back into Princess Gina in order to retrieve his art treasures, she made love with John. And Stefano. Yeah, she was busy. So when Hope discovered that she was pregnant, she figured the odds of the baby being Bo’s were about as slim as those of Sami having a chill reaction to anything.
While investigating the Salem Stalker murders in 2003 — as if that wasn’t enough to keep anyone busy! — Hope made time to canoodle with prime suspect Patrick. Their relationship took a big, unfortunate step forward just a few years later when Bo’s daughter, Chelsea, consented to a divorce on his behalf (kinda as a weird thank-you for Dad keeping secret the fact that she’d hit and run over his and Hope’s second son, Zack).
Hope and Bo wouldn’t really get their groove back until after daughter Ciara was born. And kidnapped. And Hope’s insomnia drove her to take so many sleep aids that she became the Salem Mugger. She went to prison, Bo sprung her, and ta-da! They realized that they were about as done as a cake that hadn’t even been put in the oven yet!
After Bo left Salem with his Alzheimer’s-stricken mom, Hope tried to keep the faith that he’d return. But it was for naught. She eventually moved on with cute lawyer Aiden… whose doppelgänger attempted to strangle her on their wedding night. Suddenly, Larry Welch didn’t look so bad!
Ultimately, Bo wound up returning to Salem just in time to save Hope from Aiden. Sadly, Bo couldn’t save himself. He was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor — had he not met Rolf?!? — and died in the arms of his beloved Fancy Face.
Believing that Bo’s death had Stefano’s prints all over it — imagine that! — Hope exacted revenge by ensuring that the Phoenix would never rise again. In the aftermath, Rafe helped her cover up her crime… and in so doing, fell hard for old pal Bo’s one and only.
Thanks to Andre, Hope was sent up the river for Stefano’s murder. And she might still be starring in her own private version of Orange Denim Is the New Black, had Shane and Steve not concocted a scheme to make everyone believe that the deceased was alive and well, and living it up in Athens.
When Hope hesitated to exchange vows with Rafe in 2017, he stuck a fork in their relationship and slept with ex-wife Sami. Do we even need to tell you that, the morning after, Hope announced that she’d had a change of the same heart that would be broken once she found out what he’d done?
After Princess Gina once more reared her regal head in an attempt to make John her own — or at least nobody else’s! — Hope began spending more time with Rafe again. It looked like they might be inching toward a reunion when…
The words “I” and “do” had scarcely passed Ciara’s lips when her and Ben’s wedding was blown up, the groom was kidnapped, and the bride, ultimately murdered by the grieving love of one of the Necktie Killer’s past victims. (Or so we were to believe.) Overcome by grief, Hope broke down in tears holding a framed photo of her “late” daughter the way she wanted to Ciara.
Upon being rescued from her captors — yes, there was a succession! — an amnesiac Ciara divorced Ben and made haste to marry Theo Carver. Throughout this trying time, Hope… Well, that’s awkward. Ciara’s mom remained off screen and away from Salem, her absence making our hearts grow fonder with every day that passed.
After Ciara and Ben welcomed into the world baby Bo — and saved the tot from Satan — the new mom was at last reunited with her mom in Beyond Salem, Chapter 2. Quicker than you could say “I do,” Hope had married shady Harris Michaels and — ack! — been shot. She couldn’t really be dead… could she?
Since nobody ever really dies on Days of Our Lives — or Beyond Salem — Hope just passed through the hereafter long enough to reunite with Bo, audition for Dancing With the Stars and get sent back with a pulse.
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