Jack Deveraux
| Jack Deveraux | |||||||||||||
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| Days of our Lives character | |||||||||||||
| File:Jack Deveraux.jpg Matthew Ashford as Jack Deveraux | |||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Joseph Adams (1987) James Acheson (1987) Matthew Ashford (1987-1993, 2001-2003, 2004-2006, 2007) Mark Valley (1994-1997) Steve Wilder (1997-1998) | ||||||||||||
| First appearance | 1987 | ||||||||||||
| Last appearance | 2007 | ||||||||||||
| Created by | Leah Laiman | ||||||||||||
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Jack Harcourt Deveraux is a fictional character in the soap opera Days of Our Lives. He is most famously played by Matthew Ashford.
Character overview
Charming, manipulative, heroic, clever, selfish, arrogant and self-loathing all at the same time, antihero Jack Deveraux is one half of Jack and Jennifer, one of Days of our Lives' most popular supercouples. Although he entered the story as an outright villain wedging himself violently in between another popular supercouple, Steve Johnson and Kayla Brady, Jack eventually grew to establish himself as a core main character in the Days mythos through his passion, outrageous sense of humor, touching redemption from his evil ways, and undying love for Days heroine Jennifer Horton. Despite occasional moral and judgmental lapses, Jack remains a strong, essentially kindhearted, and intelligent hero, and, to most, a refreshing contrast from other, more generic, knight-in-shining-armor heroes.
Fictional character history
Jack has a dark family history of rape. In addition to being a rapist himself, his father and father-in-law are also rapists and his wife, ex-wife and sister have all been sexually assaulted. Both he and his father-in-law are eventually forgiven by their victims, and his father-in-law even ends up marrying the woman he'd raped.
1980s
Jack arrives in Salem in 1987 where he discovers he is suffering from Hodgkin's disease. Although he doesn't know it at the time, Jack is the long-lost baby brother of Steve Johnson, and he had a mother (Jo Johnson) and a sister Adrienne Johnson. Jack's brutish biological father, Duke, is dead, having been shot by his daughter after he raped her.
Jack is unaware of all of this, as he had been adopted at a young age by wealthy Senator Harper Deveraux, and was raised in a life of privilege. Jack originally comes to Salem looking for Kayla Brady - whom he had fallen in love with in Hawaii a few years earlier. Kayla is by then in love with Steve, but when Steve learns Jack is his long lost brother, he pushes Kayla into marrying Jack to give him the will to fight his disease. Although she is reluctant, she does genuinely care about Jack, and is herself reeling from Steve's sudden and unexpected rejection. Due to her love for Steve, Kayla is not yet able to consummate her marriage with Jack, however, and she keeps telling him she isn't ready. Soon thereafter she gets sick, giving her additional reason to keep Jack at arms length. Kayla intends on eventually making her marriage real, but is still in love with Steve. Jack tries to be understanding, even though he fears that the woman he loves will never love him back. He even offers to let her out of the marriage if that would help her to get better, but Kayla gently refuses, telling him that she wants to stay married.
Steve becomes suspicious about Kayla's mysterious illness and kidnaps her away from the Deveraux house when he discovers evidence that someone there is poisoning her. Jack suspected Steve had kidnapped his wife, and angrily confronts him. He is genuinely worried about her welfare, but he is also partly worried that Kayla had run away to be with Steve. Steve suspects that Jack is the one poisoning her, so the two are set at odds.
During this time Kayla angrily demands that Steve tell her why he had kidnapped her when he had acted like he didn't care about her. An anguished Steve finally confesses to her that Jack is his long lost brother and he had broken up with Kayla to give 'Billy' a fighting chance. Kayla and Steve begin an affair, unable to keep apart any longer. She wants to divorce Jack, but Steve and Jo Johnson both beg her to stay with Jack until after his election, fearing that a divorce would cost him the race. Kayla agrees reluctantly to do as they wish, even though she now knows she will never be intimate with Jack. She continues to put him off, telling him that she is still feeling tired from being sick, promising that someday soon, they would be together.
Jack hopes that New Years Eve would be the right time for them to begin their life together, but Kayla disappears with Steve wearing a dress that Jack had bought her, leaving Jack alone at a party when the new year rang. A reporter named Canby takes pictures of Steve and Kayla that night.
Less than two weeks later, the night Jack wins the election, Canby confronts him with pictures of Kayla with Steve. It is obvious from those pictures that something is going on between Steve and Kayla and the dress she is wearing make it clear that the pictures had been taken on New Years. An enraged Jack confronts Kayla when she gets home, and when she couldn't deny that those pictures had been taken during their marriage, he rapes her, insisting that he was taking what was rightfully his.
Jack is plagued by guilt about what he did to Kayla, but he is too proud and angry to admit it; Therefore, he torments Kayla and Steve. He refuses to let Kayla out of their marriage and hires someone to beat Steve up. After Kayla confesses to Steve that Jack had raped her, Jack and Steve fight on a rooftop. Jack falls off the rooftop and damages his kidneys. He needs a new one, and the best match is Steve. Initially Jack refuses the kidney, but Dr. Mike Horton convinces him to accept it. Steve's donation does not calm Jack's anger, however, and he embarks on a campaign of harassment against Steve and Kayla. Pushed to the brink, Kayla finally presses charges for rape. Jack agrees to plead guilty to assault, but he maintains he is only doing it because he is being railroaded.
Jack tries to hurt Steve by helping Adrienne find long lost brother Billy, hoping that this Billy would have resentment against a brother who stayed with his family. Billy and Steve had been placed in an orphanage by a desperate Jo because she felt sure her husband Duke would one day kill the children. Baby Jack had been adopted but the older Steve grew up in the orphanage.
When Jack breaks into Steve's apartment he finds a baby picture of himself. Eventually he discovers that he is in fact Billy, and he is horrified. Not long after, his adoptive father Harper is revealed as a serial killer called the Riverfront Knifer; He preys on prostitutes because they remind him of Kayla, who he hates because of what she had done to Jack.
Overcome with shock, Kayla loses the ability to speak and hear. Jack feels guilty for hurting her and he very sadly gives her a no contest divorce. To his dismay, Kayla marries Steve. Meanwhile, Jack enters a relationship with Melissa Anderson - who is so in love with him that she turns a blind eye to his faults. They get engaged, but when she realizes he had been cheating on her and using her to help clean up his name to further his political career, she leaves him at the altar and leaves town.
Jack cannot let go of his hatred of Steve, and he resents his biological mother for giving him away. He refuses to accept the Johnsons and continues to harass Steve and Kayla.
Jack eventually stops harassing Steve and Kayla and starts reluctantly traveling a hero's journey. He wants to transform himself into the kind of man his brother was, but he is wracked with guilt over what he had done, and filled with resentment at people's inability to give him a second chance.
1990s
Eventually, he accepts full responsibility for the things he had done, and is able to (somewhat) integrate himself into the Johnson family, primarily due to his mother's dedication.
During his transformation into a decent man, Jack works with college intern Jennifer Horton at The Spectator, a newspaper that he now co-owns with Diana Colville. He had originally purchased a controlling interest in the paper to stop her from running an expose on his dirty dealings (including the dumping of toxic chemicals into a river in Salem) but he discovers a genuine love of the business.
Jennifer, Melissa's cousin, is extremely wary of Jack in the beginning, but they eventually bond while Jennifer tries to help a jailed mother by fostering her newborn baby. Jack is clearly attracted to her and attempts to throw monkey wrenches in Jennifer's budding relationship with Emilio Ramirez. Jennifer doesn't initially return the romantic interest, as she still couldn't completely trust him, but she is intrigued by him and spends much of her time at work verbally sparring with him. Their banter would eventually become the staple of their relationship.
Jack becomes embroiled in an attempt to help Steve and Kayla when Steve's long-lost wife Marina comes to town. Jack tries to make up for tearing the two apart, and throws himself wholeheartedly into trying to get Marina out of Steve's life by finding a key that Marina and her sister Isabella wanted to find. Jack had rescued Isabella from Bay View Sanitarium and Isabella trusted Jack completely. Her trust for him sparks a warm friendship between the two and helps Jack along his path to redemption.
Slowly, Jennifer begins to realize how much she loves Jack and that there is more to him than most of the town sees. Jack starts pushing Jennifer away when he realizes how dangerous the hunt for the key was. He also fears that if Jennifer and he got together, he would ultimately hurt her as he did Kayla and Melissa.
Although Steve and Kayla don't trust him, Jack keeps trying to find the Key. During this time, Victor, who also wants the key, kidnaps Kayla. Steve finally lets Jack help him rescue Kayla, and by the time the adventure is over Jack and Steve form the beginnings of a friendship. In a gesture of good-will and acceptance, Steve asks Jack to be is best man for his second marriage to Kayla (their first marriage was not legal once Marina came to town). The wedding goes awry, however, when Kayla is arrested for the murder of Marina Toscano. Jack works hard at turning public opinion Kayla's way after she is found to be guilty. During this time, Stephanie Johnson is born. Eventually, Kayla is proven innocent.
Jack and Jennifer embark on the famed "Cruise of Deception" during which time Isabella Toscano is found to be Victor Kiriakis's daughter. Ernesto Toscano had killed his wife when he found out she was unfaithful and he tried to kill everyone on board the cruise. He failed, and they all ended up on his island. It is during this time that Jennifer finally convinces Jack that their love makes sense and that she trusts him not to hurt her. They consummate their love. Jack, however, is haunted by the thought that he would end up like Harper or Duke. He is still wary of a relationship with Jennifer after they are all rescued by Steve and Shane.
Jack accidentally kills escapee Harper as he tries to kill Steve on the day of his third wedding to Kayla - an event in which Jack is, once again, to be best man. Horrified with himself, Jack once again begins pushing Jennifer away. Eventually Jennifer gets fed up with him and embroils herself in a large deception whereby she tries to convince Lawrence Alamain that she is his arranged-bride-to-be Katarina Von Leuschner - Jennifer's friend from boarding school who she knew as Carly Manning. Jack tries to get Jennifer to abandon her ruse, fearing that Lawrence will hurt her. He admits his love to her and promises never to push her away again. Jennifer accepts his apologies but insists on seeing her plan through.
As part of a long-standing vendetta against Bo Brady, Lawrence has Steve killed, leaving Jack heartbroken at losing the brother he finally had learned to love. Jack and Kayla bond a little through this grief, but it is short-lived as Jack has to go back to rescue Jennifer.
Lawrence then blackmails Jennifer into marrying him by revealing that her former boyfriend, and Carly's younger brother, Frankie Brady, is his prisoner. Lawrence knows she isn't Katarina and he himself had had an affair with Katarina (Carly Manning) years ago, but all he wants is the VL fortune. Jack, who had traveled to Europe with Jennifer and others had been imprisoned the day of the wedding, and is unable to meet with Jennifer as planned near the elevator in Lawrence's bedroom. Lawrence finds his bride in his bedroom the night of his wedding and confuses her with Carly. Jennifer tries to explain her presence in his room by telling him she was waiting for him. He nevertheless overpowers and rapes her. Jack escapes his prison a little too late, and tries to get Jennifer to leave. [[Trauma]tized by the rape, and unable to tell him about it because of his own past, she coldly tells him she is going to try to make her marriage work. Help arrived in the form of Shane, Bo, Carly, Kayla and Julie as all of these people were trying to either gather evidence about Steve's death, or rescue Jennifer and her Gran, Alice Horton, from Lawrence's grasp. With her friends and family as support, and an impassioned challenge for her to declare who she really was and who she really loved, Jack convinces Jennifer to escape with them.
Lawrence sets off explosives as they try to escape through the tunnels under his villa. They nearly die, but finally make it out and back home to Salem. At this point, Alice Horton is firmly in Jack's camp as far as his relationship with Jennifer is concerned. Jack himself is finally able to commit to his feelings for her and starts to believe that the two of them could have a happy life together.
However, Jennifer is deeply traumatized by the rape and once home, she flinches and pulls away every time Jack tries to get close to her Jack starts to believe that her behavior, which reminds him of Kayla in the days before the rape, means that she was in love with Frankie. Her decision to have Frankie as a roommate after turning down Jack's offer that they live together further pushs him towards this belief and he began to become more and more insecure about her feelings about him. He asks her to marry him in a grandiose and romantic fashion and, although she initially says she couldn't say yes just yet, she finally relents when he comes to her dressed as Santa Claus (purportedly coming on 'Jack Deveraux's behalf.)
She still freezes up whenever he tries to get close, however. Lawrence Alamain comes to Salem seeking to continue his revenge, and this only increases Jennifer's general sense of terror. Jack tries to help her by bringing her to a cabin so that they could get away. He tries to get her to tell him what was going on, but when she is unable to even speak to him, he grabs her and tries to kiss her passionately. This triggers a flashback to the rape, and Jennifer breaks free of him, slapping him and calling him a rapist. She immediately apologizes, but the damage is done. A heartbroken and angry Jack pulls away from Jennifer and marries Eve Donovan to secure inheritance money so that he could save his paper, which he was in jeopardy of losing to Lawrence.
During yet another escapade, Jennifer tells Jack about the rape. His reaction is initially to run away from her, believing that after her experiences he is the last thing she needs or wants. Eventually, however, Jack realizes that she does need him, and he fights his own guilt in order to support her through her pain and through her decision to press charges against Lawrence.
Very shortly after Lawrence is convicted of fifth degree rape, Jack marries Jennifer in July 1991. Jennifer gives birth to a daughter, Abigail in October 1992. Abigail is diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia caused from exposure to water from the river Jack's company had dumped chemicals in all those years ago. Although Abigail recovers, this final straw leads Jack to abandon his family and Salem altogether, feeling they'd be better off without him.
After leaving Jennifer and Abby, Jack suffers a nervous breakdown and checks himself into a mental institution called The Meadows. The Meadows' theme is to leave the past self behind, and while there everybody takes on invented names as a healing technique. While there he becomes acquainted with an attractive, middle-aged woman (also a patient) with whom he forms a friendship. Trying to forget their troubles, Jack and the woman begin sleeping together. Eventually, with the clinic's help, Jack gets his head on straight and begins to feel that he could now be the kind of husband to Jennifer and father to Abby, that they deserved. He thus returns to Salem.
When he gets there, his family is not exactly where he had left them. Jennifer had met and begun a relationship with Peter Blake, and they married not long after Jack's return. To make matters worse, Jack learns that the woman he had met and had a relationship with at The Meadows was Jennifer's mother, Laura, whom he had never met before. Jennifer denounces Jack, and seeks comfort in the arms of her new husband. Jack, however, is suspicious of Peter, who seems too good to be true. Peter eventually shows his true colors by kidnapping his wifer and stepdaughter. Jack rescues them, however, and the reunited family travels to Africa for a fresh start.
2000s
In Africa, Jack becomes obsessed with making his money back and gets himself involved in shady get-rich-quick schemes. To make matters worse, these business ventures would often cause Jack to disappear, sometimes for weeks at a time, without so much as a phone call to Jennifer. Jennifer eventually decides nothing had changed, packs up her stuff and leaves with Abby one night while Jack is away. They first go to Ireland, and eventually back to Salem.
Acting on a tip from Jennifer's grandmother, Jack learns that Jennifer is to be in Paris for the coronation of Princess Greta Von Amburg. Jack, who is in Italy at the time, gets to Paris before Jen could, and ambushes her at the coronation. There they have it out, Jennifer blasting Jack for his antics in Africa and for his stubborn refusal to grow up and begin shouldering the responsibilities expected of him as a husband and father; Jack, meanwhile, condemns Jennifer for disappearing with their daughter without so much as a word. Eventually, they are able to discuss the problems rationally, and agree to return to Salem where they would attempt to work out a custody agreement. Jack, however, has much more in mind. In his latest attempt to win Jennifer back, he suggests the three of them all move in together under one roof, as neither of them have a place to stay, and the stability would be good for Abigail. Jennifer protests the idea, but is goaded into when Jack suggests that if he os able to put Abby before their personal differences, she should as well. The arrangement is initially confrontational at best, with Jack and Jennifer constantly verbally sparring with each other. Things change, however, when Jack rescues Jennifer from a car accident, Jennifer begins to entertain the idea that perhaps Jack is really, finally, changing into the kind of man she thought he was when they were married.
Meanwhile Jack uses the attractive Princess Greta Von Amburg, with whom he had recently become friends, to make Jennifer jealous, which Jennifer immediately sees through. However, when Jennifer begins to date the sensitive and romantic Brandon Walker, Jack is determined to continue, especially after he interprets his plan as working. The plan hits a snag when Greta develops real feelings for Jack. Jack tries to let Greta down gently, but when she realizes she is being rebuffed, she began crying. Wanting to spare her feelings, Jack tells her he is gay. After a few complicated months of trying to keep up his charades with both Jennifer and Greta, he inadvertently reveals the truth to Jennifer. Jennifer is livid at Jack for playing both her and Greta for fools, and plots to seduce Jack in the shower in an effort to catch him in his own lie. Jennifer's scheme, however, does not go according to plan, as Jennifer finds herself unable to resist Jack. He sees that Jennifer has had too much to drink, and stops the interlude just short of sex. Jennifer finds herself surprisingly disappointed and very confused.
Not long after this, Greta finds out Jack is straight and leaves town in a rage, and Jack is left distraction free in his pursuit of Jennifer. The relationship between Jennifer and Brandon eventually fizzles and Jennifer begins dating Colin Murphy, a mysterious Irishman she met in Africa. While this relationship continues, Jennifer eventually realizes she is still in love with Jack, and tries to end the relationship. Colin, however, reveals he isn't going to take no for an answer, and threatens Jack's life unless Jennifer slept with him. A devastated Jennifer has no choice but to submit. When Colin is murdered just a few days later, both Jack and Jennifer suspect each other (for the obvious reasons) and Jack even turns himself in to deflect suspicion off of Jennifer. Eventually the murderer turned out to be neither of them. A few months later, in May 2003, Jack and Jennifer finally remarry.
In October 2003, Jack begins working with police officer Abe Carver, leading to both men supposedly being murdered by the Salem Stalker (Marlena Evans). Jennifer is forced to disconnect a brain dead Jack's life support, but she is comforted by the fact that she is now pregnant with his second child.
In May 2004, it is revealed that Jack and all of Marlena's victims are alive and being held on a tropical island by Tony Dimera, who had faked all of the murders. Jennifer eventually finds her way to the island, and gives birth to a son named Jack Jr. While escaping Tony's island, Jack is again presumed dead after a tsunami. This is, again, not the case; Jack is in fact being held in a castle in Europe. In April 2005, Jack leads another escape from the castle and he and Jennifer are reunited at the bedside of a minorly injured Abigail (she had been in a car accident) and Jack gets to know his infant son, Jack Deveraux Jr.
In June 2005, Jack learns that he suffers from a rare blood disease, and only has three months to live. Jack works to set Jennifer up with her old boyfriend, Frankie Brady, in order to protect her from the aforementioned Patrick, who he is sure would be after her. Jack is again presumed dead after a car accident, although his body is never found. Jack had decided to stage his death, since he didn't want his loved ones to watch him die.
In actuality, Jack is dying in a hospice in Cincinnati, and has no intention of returning to Salem. Jennifer learns of Jack's devotion to the idea of her marrying the dependable and trustworthy Frankie and, wanting to grant his final wish, is (fairly unenthusiastically) preparing to marry him, despite Abigail's strong objections. This is the third time in as many years that Jack had been presumed dead, and Abigail isn't buying it (and is frustrated that Jennifer is). Jack's plans change when one of his hospice workers turns out to be his presumed dead brother Steve Johnson. Steve has no memory of who he really is and is living under the name Nick Stockton. 'Nick' is amused by the other man's insistence that they are brothers, and he finally agrees to give the man his dying wish: a DNA test. He is stunned to find out that the DNA test proves they are brothers. Overwhelmed that the brother he had lost had now returned to him, Jack begs Steve to go back to Salem, trying to tell him all about the wonderful life he had once had. Jack speaks so highly about Kayla that Steve said it sounded it like she had been Jack's wife, not Steve's. Jack awkwardly avoids the issue. Steve says that he would only go back if Jack goes back too, so that he could say goodbye to his family. Despite his own desire to stay away from Salem in his final days, Jack feels he owes it to the brother and ex-wife he had wronged so many times to bring him back. Jack agrees to do one final good deed, and the two brothers return to Salem.
The duo return to Salem in spring 2006 during Jennifer and Frankie's wedding ceremony, and the brothers are reunited with their widows. Jennifer's feelings are mixed; Although she is elated to find out the man she loves is alive, she is as angry at him as she'd ever been for letting her think he was dead when he wasn't. Jack continues to get worse and Jennifer is unable to break away from her commitment to Frankie, despite not truly being in love with him. She feels guilty about hurting Frankie, who represents the stability she had always wanted and which Jack had never really provided for her, and wary about any possibility of a future with Jack who, up until now, had repeatedly come in and out of her life.
Frankie found out about a drug trial that could help Jack, and it works, leaving Jack, Jennifer and Frankie caught up in an uncomfortable triangle. Soon after, Jack and Jennifer are kidnapped when Jack is investigating the murder of a cop. After escaping their captors and getting lost in the woods, Jennifer vents some of her anger out at Jack, and they eventually make love. Jack collapses soon afterwards. Jack recovers, however, and he and Jennifer are reunited for what is currently the final time. Jennifer gently lets Frankie know that she cares deeply about him, but loves Jack. Finally realizing that Jennifer never would be his, a heart-broken Frankie leaves Salem.
Jack and Jennifer are both offered dream jobs in London. Wanting a fresh start, they leave for Europe with J.J. while teenaged Abigail, who supports her parents' move but doesn't want to leave her school and friends, remains in Salem with family.
In April 2007, Jack returns to the United States, to take Abby on a spring vacation to New York City. In between tours of Times Square and getting her an autograph from Gwen Stefani, Jack finds time to talk to Abby about her burgeoning relationship with Max Brady, warning her against getting involved with a guy much older and more experienced than her.