| Gabi Hernandez | |||||||||||||||||
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| Days of our Lives | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Gabriela Rodriguez (2009–10) Camila Banus (2010–present) | ||||||||||||||||
| Current status | Present; Contract | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2009– | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | November 20, 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Dena Higley and Christopher Whitesell | ||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Ken Corday and Gary Tomlin | ||||||||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||||||||
| Fullname | Gabriela Adrianna Josephina Hernandez DiMera | ||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Gabi The Hammer Talentless Loser (by Kristen) Little Minx (by Anna) | ||||||||||||||||
| Alias(es) | Gabi Fallon | ||||||||||||||||
| Gender | Female | ||||||||||||||||
| Age | 30 | ||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Founder and Owner of GabiChic (formerly) Model (formerly) Waitress (formerly) Receptionist (formerly) | ||||||||||||||||
| Residence | Salem, Illinois | ||||||||||||||||
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Gabriela Adrianna Josephina "Gabi" Hernandez DiMera is a character from the soap opera, Days of Our Lives, portrayed by Camila Banus.
Casting
Gabriela Rodriguez first appeared in the role of Gabi on November 20, 2009.
In July 2010, Soap Opera Digest reported that Rodriguez had been replaced by Banus. Banus was previously best known for her role as Lola Montez on One Life to Live. Banus first aired as Gabi on October 4, 2010.
At the 2013 Emmy ceremony, Banus revealed that she would be departing from the series when her current contract expired.
On April 24, 2015, it was confirmed that Banus will be reprising the role of Gabi to take part in the soap's fiftieth anniversary celebrations; Banus returned on September 17, 2015. Gabi is of Latin descent, and Banus has expressed her pride to represent the Hispanic community through her portrayal. Banus' portrayal of Gabi earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in 2015.
After a brief exit in 2020, Banus is set to return when the show resumes production in September 2020.
Background
Originally described as a sweet, innocent and loving girl, a number of events since Gabi's arrival on the series have caused her to suffer from mental health issues. Both actresses have admitted to sharing similarities with Gabi. In 2012, the character experienced a huge personality shift, which would reveal her manipulative side that was called "crazy" and obsessive. Her story-lines have included the death of her sister Arianna Hernandez (Lindsay Hartley), finding out that her first love was gay, and romances with Chad DiMera (Casey Deidrick, Billy Flynn) and Nick Fallon (Blake Berris). After Gabi's recent crimes, making Abigail Deveraux think she's gone crazy to attempting to murder Julie Williams, she became the psycho-town troublemaker and the most hated woman in Salem, even more so than Kate Roberts herself.
Recently, she has been defined to be a complete narcissistic sociopath, who uses her own daughter as an excuse to justify her horrendous crimes or to escape justice. As a result of her heinous amoral actions, she has no friends and very little allies; not even her own brother Rafe trusts her anymore, realizing that she's incapable of reforming herself.
Storylines
Gabriella Adrianna Josephina Hernandez is born in 1992 or 1993 in Salem, Illinois. She is the younger sister of Rafe, the late Arianna, and Dario Hernandez. Rafe and Arianna felt that they were being stalked while at the Brady pub, but were shocked to find out that Gabi had come to Salem and was spying on them. Initially for her winter break, Gabi decided to permanently move to Salem, and moved into a vacant room at the Brady Pub. Arianna and Gabi briefly argued but eventually bonded. She befriended other local teens including Chad Peterson-Woods (later revealed to be Chad DiMera). They briefly dated, but he left her for Mia McCormick.
Saddened by the break-up, Gabi focused herself fully on school. She befriended Will Horton who attended the Salem High formal as her date. Arianna was killed in a hit-and-run accident. She leaned on Will for support and they shared their first kiss. The couple's romance deepened as they were there for one another during mutual times of crisis. They slept together, but Gabi noticed that Will didn't want to sleep with her again. He later came out as gay, and they split up. Gabi earned a job at Quinn Hudson's Intensity Day Spa and developed another crush on Chad, and began scheming to break him and his girlfriend Melanie Jonas up. To make Chad worry over her, she pretended to have a stalker, writing fake threatening notes. Chad had Gabi move in with him.
To further keep up with her lie, she hired a guy named Andrew to pose as her stalker. Eventually, Andrew's actions became too much and Gabi told him to stop. He ended up kidnapping Melanie, to Gabi's knowledge. Andrew blackmailed Gabi into not telling anybody about Melanie. The truth was eventually revealed, and Chad hated Gabi for it. Feeling down, she ended up having a one night stand with Will, but agreed that it was a mistake. Chad consistently reminded Gabi that she would continue to pay for what she did. She then began a relationship with Nick Fallon, who was released from jail after serving time because he kidnapped Melanie. Nick reassured everyone he was a changed man. Chad assaulted Nick, who promised not to press charges if Chad dropped his threats towards Gabi, which he did. Gabi and Nick began planning their happy future, but she realized that she was pregnant with Will's child.
Eventually, Gabi, Nick and Will decided that they would pretend that Nick is the father, and Gabi and Nick decided to get married. But when Gabi accidentally let it slip that she is further along than she originally said, Nick covered for her, saying that the two had a one-night stand the day they met. Despite there being some anger at this, everyone has accepted the duo as a couple, except for Chad, who wants Gabi to pay for her misdeeds. Chad told Sonny Kiriakis, Will's boyfriend, about Gabi's role in Melanie's kidnapping. Ever since, Sonny has cut all his ties to Gabi and warned Will to avoid her. On May 20, 2013, Gabi gave birth to a daughter, Arianna Grace Horton, after Gabi's sister and Rafe's deceased goddaughter. Nick finally tells Gabi about what happened to him in prison, and what he did to Will. Gabi moves in with Will, Sonny and baby Arianna and her marriage to Nick is annulled. Despite being divorced, Nick continued to be obsessed with Gabi. When Gabi refused his advances, he tried to rape her. Gabi took a rock and bashed Nick on the head. Sami and Kate arrived and help Gabi throw Nick's body in the water. Nick briefly woke up before sinking into the water, and Gabi was haunted by the fact that they had let him die.
On the day of Arianna's christening, Nick showed up at the ceremony alive, and lied about the events that happened that night. Nick wanted to reconcile with Gabi and slowly spent time with her and Arianna. He tried to get Gabi to take Arianna away from Will, but was eventually shot and killed with Gabi revealed to be the shooter. Gabi explained that she was scared of Nick's influence over her and felt she had to kill him to stop him from being a threat to Arianna. She also admitted her role in Melanie's kidnapping and told Marlena Evans about her, Kate Roberts and Sami Brady throwing Nick in the river. EJ, who served as Gabi's lawyer, thought it would be better for her to have a plea deal than go to trial and have the truth about Melanie's kidnapping come out. Gabi accepted the plea deal and got ten to twenty years in prison.
Gabi is visited by Rafe and later on by Will, Sonny and Arianna for the holidays. She gets another visitor, but it's Melanie, instead of Will and Sonny, who forgave Gabi her past decisions.
Gabi is released from prison in September 2015 and shares a happy reunion with Rafe, Will and Arianna thanks to an error made in her sentencing. As Gabi settles back into her life and relaunches her modeling career when Kate hires her at Basic Black working opposite retired baseball player Paul Narita, she is devastated when Will is murdered by a serial killer. The killings lead to Gabi's reunion with her estranged father Eduardo Hernandez for the first time since she was an infant as one of the serial killer victims is Gabi's half-sister Paige Larson. In December 2015, Gabi bonds with JJ Deveraux and they begin dating, but the romance is short-lived and he had cheated on her with Abe's daughter, Lani Price. In 2016, her best friend Abigail Devereaux DiMera (JJ's sister) is presumed dead, and Gabi later begins a relationship with her husband Chad. But in November 2016, Chad's wife Abigail returns to Salem and they reconcile, so Gabi tries to ignore her feelings for Chad.
Chad and Gabi are locked in a meat locker by Deimos Kiriakis and Chad tells Gabi he loves her. Abigail, with the help of Gabi's brother Dario, who has developed feelings for Abigail himself, rescue them. Chad tells Abigail that he still has feelings for Gabi, but that he loves Abigail and wants to keep his marriage, and eventually decides he must remove Gabi from his life entirely. The day that Chad decides to tell Gabi this, Deimos kidnaps Abigail and Gabi and poisons them both and gives Chad only enough antidote to save one of the women, forcing him to choose which woman would live and which would die. Chad, however, gives half of the antidote to each one, saving both of their lives, however Gabi remained in a coma for a few days.
When Gabi awoke, Andre DiMera warned her about coming in between Abigail and Chad. Gabi supported Chad and Abigail's plans to remarry, but Abigail broke it off with Chad. At the time, Gabi was dating Eli Grant. Gabi went to Greece where Chad and Eli both went for different reasons. Chad went to procure amulet that was said to be cursed and Eli went with Hope, Rafe, Lani, and JJ to capture Deimos. Eli saw Gabi has feelings for Chad and broke up with her. Deimos was successfully apprehended and Hope and Rafe brought him back to Salem. Gabi, Eli, JJ, Sonny, and Paul all went with Chad, but their plans crashed, stranding them on a desert island.
Gabi realized Chad had the amulet with him him when he told her he had gotten rid of it, and convinced him to bury it in the sand. Gabi and Chad admitted they had feelings for each other and slept together. Paul ended up contracting jungle madness, and ended up attacking Gabi. They were rescued by John and Marlena and returned safely to town where they went public with their relationship.
Andre warned Gabi not to hurt Chad, and subtly threatened her by telling her to watch her back. Gabi and Chad continued seeing each other while Abigail got ready to marry Dario. Gabi supported the marriage, but Chad was skeptical of the rush to get married. Everything culminated with the death of Deimos, and Abigail’s desire to protect Chad, which led to her getting struck by a car and the revelation that Abigail had only married Dario to stop deportation, which he lied about and then later blackmailed her to stay married to him. Gabi realized Chad still loved Abigail and broke up with him.
Gabi stumbled upon evidence that Dario had sent to implicate Commissioner Lou Raines as his partner. Raines finds out and held Gabi hostage. Eli saved Gabi by shooting Raines in the shoulder, and he was apprehended. Gabi and Eli reconnected as he taught her self defense, and eventually rekindled their romance. After JJ accidentally shot Theo Carver, he struggled with the guilt and planned to commit suicide. Gabi found out and was furious with JJ. Concerned, Gabi stayed overnight to make sure JJ was alright. Gabi went to work for DiMera after signing a contract that had GabiChic work under them.
Chad and Andre’s long lost brother Stefan DiMera came to town and took over DiMera. Stefan subtly flirted with Gabi, though he was interested in Abigail. Gabi was shocked and angry when Andre severed their contract with Gabi, and used a loophole to steal GabiChic from her. Gabi was furious with Andre and vowed to make him pay. The next morning, Andre was found dead on the floor of the office with blood leaking from a head wound, and the murder weapon, the furnace that contained the ashes of Tony DiMera, lay on the floor underneath his desk with the lid missing and the ashes scattered across the floor. Security footage showed a woman that resembled Gabi leaving the office with the lid, but Gabi swore she didn’t kill Andre.
Gabi found out that Eli and Lani had slept together and surmised that he was the father of Lani’s baby, so she broke up with him. The missing lid showed up in Gabi’s purse and she attempted to get rid of it, but Lani caught her and arrested her. Chad and Abigail wee convinced that Stefan had hired someone to pose as Gabi and kill Andre. Chad vowed to find the woman, but ultimately failed. At Gabi’s trial, Abigail claimed that Gabi confessed to her that she killed Andre. Gabi was found guilty and sent to prison where she was left bitter and angry that Abigail would betray her like that.
Gabi was attacked in prison by a woman named Diane, who had been Raines’ girlfriend and blamed her for Raines arrest. Gabi was beaten nearly to death and hospitalized. Diane attempted to finish the neck and wound up dead with a needle in her neck. Abigail finally remembered that she had killed Andre, and soon after developed DID. It was her altar, Gabby, that left the office with the lid, and her other altar, Dr. Laura, that had lied about Gabi killing Andre. Abigail confessed and attempted to apologize to Gabi, but she was furious with Abigail and her release was delayed while they investigated Diane’s murder. Gabi was released when someone else bragged about killing Diane.
Upon her release, Gabi found out she suffered internal injuries from her attack that made it hard for her to have children. Gabi found out Chad was the father of Abigail’s baby when Kayla Brady left the paternity results on her desk, so Abigail burned the paternity test and forged a new one that said Stefan was the father. Abigail planned to get abortion, so Gabi went to Stefan and told him Abigail was pregnant and that he was the father. Stefan stopped Abigail from having an abortion. Gabi went to Kayla and asked for some sleeping medication that was pregnancy safe. She drugged Abigail and send a message to Stefan from her phone, so he believed it was from Abigail’s altar, Gabby, whom Stefan had fallen for.
Kate found out about Gabi’s plot, and Gabi convinced her to keep quiet, eventually resorting to blackmail once Kate got in too deep and expressed reservations. Gabi’s plan started to work perfectly as Chad, JJ, and Jennifer all feared Abigail was relapsing. With Kate to back her up, whom Chad trusted, it was easy to convince him. Chad left Abigail and moved into the Kiriakis mansion where Gabi was already living, and she bonded with him as her plan as to have Abigail committed and raise her children with Chad. Abigail was the only one who was suspicious of Gabi.
Gabi upped the ante by dressing Abigail up as Gabby and putting her in the DiMera mansion. She then whacked herself in the head with a tray and claimed Gabby had attacked her and Kate supported her story. As Chad planned to have Abigail committed, Abigail got a quick divorce from Chad and married Stefan. Luckily for Gabi, Chad was persistent and managed to get Stefan to commit Abigail. Gabi visited Abigail and gloated to Abigail, confessing everything. Abigail attacked Gabi and Chad ran in and broke them up. Abigail has no proof, so Chad continued to fall for Gabi’s lies. Kate convinced Gabi to tell Chad the truth about is child, so Gabi printed a new copy from Kayla’s computer and planned to make it look like Stefan has switched the results, but Stefan almost caught her and she was unable to plant the results in the mansion.
To help Abigail out, Julie snooped around in Gabi's room and found the results, which led to an argument between the two woman and caused Julie to fall down the stairs and land in coma. Julie eventually woke up and told the truth about Abigail's baby, which enraged Stefan and he had Ben kidnap Gabi and tie her up, so he could confront her. After threatening to burn Gabi's face with a fire poker, Stefan let Gabi go.
Gabi focused all her of anger on Stefan and faked making amends with him in a plan to take control of DiMera away from her. However, Gabi found herself slowly falling for Stefan, but proceeded on her plan. Stefan started getting close with Chloe Lane, but she eventually caught Stefan in bed with Gabi, ending any chance of a relationship that they could have had.
