The character of Marlena Evans was introduced as a psychiatrist treating Mickey Horton in 1976. Don Craig was Mickey’s assistant at the time, and the two fell in love. However Marlena’s twin sister Samantha locked Marlena up in the sanitarium she was committed to and tried to take Marlena’s place with Don, though he and Laura Horton figured her scheme out
Marlena and Don were eventually married. The marriage was short-lived though. Marlena and Don had a son, born prematurely, who they named DJ. He died of SIDS, which led to a rift in their marriage. After Don cheated on Marlena, the couple eventually divorced.
Marlena met Detective Roman Brady when he was assigned to guard her from the Salem Strangler, who had begun to stalk Marlena and call in to her radio show. Roman and Marlena fell in love, but their trip to the altar hit a bump when Roman’s supposedly dead first wife Anna Brady returned with their daughter Carrie.
Marlena met a man who had no memory calling himself John Black in 1986. As she worked with him to try and recall his memory, the couple fell in love. When she noticed a phoenix tattoo on his back she initially thought he could be Stefano DiMera, back from the dead. In time though as his memories began to return, they believed he was Roman Brady, who had been killed a few years earlier by Stefano DiMera.
In 1986 Marlena and the man who believed he was Roman Brady renewed their vows. Tragedy would strike the couple a year later. Marlena was kidnapped by Orpheus, who had a vendetta against his old partner Roman. Marlena was believed dead when the plane Orpheus put her into crashed.
RoJohn continued on after Marlena’s death, finding love again eventually with Isabella Toscano. However Marlena, alive and in Stefano’s possession and in a coma, finally woke up and made her back to Salem and RoJohn. As they reunited and investigated what happened to her they are stunned to find the real Roman had been also imprisoned by Stefano on the same island he kept Marlena on for years. RoJohn it turned out had been a pawn brainwashed by Stefano to believe he was Roman Brady. Marlena returned to the real husband, but found her heart torn between the two men. She eventually chose John Black.
Marlena and John Black’s romance has faced a lot of stumbling blocks over the years. From Stefano’s obsession with Marlena, to her possession and John briefly believing he was a priest, they have survived a lot. When Marlena fell down the steps at her and John’s penthouse, she not only miscarried the baby she was carrying but developed amnesia. Amnesiac specialist Dr. Alex North was brought in to help her remember, only to reveal he was Marlena’s first husband who she believed was killed in Vietnam. Marlena, who fell in love with Alex while experiencing amnesia, married him and they went off on their honeymoon where the crazed Alex planned to kill her. Fortunately, John tracked them down and saved Marlena.
Since their first meeting and falling in love in 1986, John and Marlena have survived the years, as has their love. Though they have at times been separated, such as when John met and fell in love with Kristen Blake DiMera, they are always drawn back together.
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