Francesca "Celeste" Perrault

Celeste is the mother of Lexie Brooks, and the sister of Grace Brooks. Much about Celeste's past is still unclear. However, we know that her real name is Francesca, nicknamed Frankie. Celeste's life changed after she joined Stefano DiMera's crime syndicate. She left Salem, and became the cold-hearted lover of Stefano. When she finally came back, she grew away from Stefano's influence.

When Kristen Blake first visited her dead father's Louisiana estate, Maison Blanche, in April of 1994, she was greeted by the distant and mysterious caretaker, Celeste. Celeste was a Creole woman who did not care for Kristen's sudden visit. She wouldn't show Kristen the house, and often tried to keep her out of certain rooms. She had to; Stefano was hiding in the house and could not be seen by Kristen. Finally, Celeste drugged Kristen's sherry to keep her from finding Stefano. While Kristen was unconscious, John Black arrived at the house. Although Celeste tried to distract him and make him leave, John pushed her away and explored the house. Eventually, he made his way into a second-floor bedroom and found Stefano DiMera. Lying at his feet was an out-cold Kristen. Just as John was about to attack Stefano, Celeste hit him over the head with the butt of a gun. She and Stefano moved John to the basement, where was kept prisoner.

Stefano then lured Marlena to New Orleans, making her believe John had called her telling her to join him. After Marlena arrived at her hotel room, Celeste knocked on the door. She told Marlena that she was a friend of John's, and that he had just been in a car accident. As Marlena went to the phone to call the Bradys and tell them, Celeste chloroformed her. She took Marlena back to Maison Blanche and tied her to a chair in the living room; the chair was right in front of a camera, so John could see his beloved Marlena. Meanwhile, Celeste, who was extremely superstitious and believed in the voodoo cultures of the New Orleans people, read certain omens in the air. A bird flew into the house, and she saw this as an omen of death for Stefano. Of course, Stefano ignored Celeste's silly superstitions despite her frantic pleas to stop. She told him that a certain battle was soon to come.

Celeste and Stefano had another guest in Maison Blanche besides Marlena and John. In the attic, there was a woman with long brown hair. Celeste treated this woman with motherly love, and constantly reminded her that she only needed to stay in the attic for a short time. This woman looked exactly like the deceased wife of Bo Brady, Hope. At this time, Celeste began to feel hatred for Marlena. She sensed that Stefano was attracted to her; otherwise, why would he allow her to stay in a bedroom rather than in the dungeon with John? Celeste confronted Stefano about her jealousy for her. She reminded Stefano of the many nights he had come to her quarters all those years ago. Yet, Stefano brushed Celeste off.

More about Celeste's past was revealed during a conversation she had with John. He pleaded with her to tell him about his past, since she had been here in Maison Blanche the first time he was brainwashed. She said that he'd been a very important man. Although John asked her to explain what this meant, she refused to say anymore. When John asked about the last time he had been at Maison Blanche, he realized that Celeste had helped him escape from the dungeon back then and implored her to help him again. She gave him three things: a tool to pick the door's lock with, a St. Christopher medal, and a Bible passage written in parchment which basically said that good would always triumph over evil. This was all she agreed to do for John. Kristen then contacted Celeste and informed her that she'd be hosting a charity cotillion at Maison Blanche. So Stefano had Celeste place Marlena in the dungeon along with John. While Marlena was in the dungeon, she tried to bribe Celeste into helping her. She promised Celeste a reward if she helped them. Celeste was only interested in Marlena's wedding ring. Marlena regretfully gave Celeste her wedding ring. Smiling, Celeste said she'd think about it and left.

Needless to say, Celeste did not help John and Marlena. She had come to despise Marlena. During the cotillion, Roman Brady arrived at the house looking for Peter Blake, who he needed to arrest on drug charges. While searching the house, Roman discovered a room with many monitors...one which showed John and Marlena in the dungeon. He demanded Celeste to take him to them, but she denied knowing anything about them. But Roman noticed the ring on Celeste's necklace and demanded to know where she got it. Although Celeste claimed she bought it a secondhand store, Roman ripped it off and read the inscription, "For Doc, love you always, Roman." In a furious rage, Roman picked up a chair and threw it at a mirror, only to discover that there was a passageway behind it and Stefano standing there. Meanwhile, Celeste ran away and went to escape with Stefano. However, Stefano had no plans to leave with her, only "Hope". He told Celeste that he needed to be at Maison Blanche to carry out his plans for John and Marlena. Once again, Celeste was chosen over Marlena, and she was wrathful. She went down to the basement and turned on the gas in the dungeon. But Roman rescued the pair. While Roman and John left to seek help, Celeste went back downstairs and lit a fire around Marlena (who was unconscious from the gas), determined to destroy her once and for all. Afterwards, she escaped Maison Blanche.

The following day, the New Orleans police caught up with Celeste and arrested her for arson and attempted murder. John, Marlena, Bo, and Jennifer all questioned her, but she kept her mouth shut to protect Stefano and Peter. A month later, Celeste phoned John from jail and told him that she would give him his past in exchange for her freedom. However, Stefano contacted Celeste and told her she would do no such thing. When John arrived in New Orleans, Celeste refused to say anything except that he could not marry Kristen because he was already married. Again, John was confused by her comment, but she refused to explain any further (some time later we would find out that she meant he was married to the Church.) Afterward, Stefano pulled some strings and Celeste was freed. She then received orders from him to go to Salem.

Armed with a book of memories and a tape with hypnotic music, Celeste began to secretly feed Gina ("Hope") with memories of Hope's life with Bo. She would call Gina on the phone and play the music, which would put Gina in a trance, and proceed to feed her the memories. Because of this, Gina was able to recall a memory regarding a white horse and a black horse, the story Hope used to read Shawn-Douglas as a baby, "The Velveteen Rabbit", and the night Shawn-Douglas was conceived, September 1, 1986. However, Celeste made a big mistake one day. Celeste broke into the apartment that Gina shared with Carrie and Billie, and heard someone in the shower. Thinking it was Gina, Celeste drugged the tea "Gina" was preparing and left the apartment. The person was Billie. When Celeste came back in, she found the person sleeping face-down on the couch. Celeste mistakenly thought she was Gina and began to feed her the memories. When Billie turned over and woke up, Celeste was shocked and ran out the door, dropping the book of memories. Meanwhile, Celeste also messed around with Mike Horton. Using a voice-altering device, she called Mike and reminded him of the deal he had made with the company in Israel (see Mike Horton.) She told Mike that he would only be free from the company if he got closer to Marlena Evans.

At the same time, Celeste found out that Billie had boarded a train to Helena, Montana and followed her to make sure she left Salem for good. On the train, Billie and Celeste bumped into each other and Billie accused her of feeding Gina the memories. Celeste denied this. On the train, Billie changed her mind and decided to go back to Salem, but Celeste read her future with Tarot cards saying that she would find much happiness in Montana. Nevertheless, Bo got on the train and brought Billie back. Lexie, who was also on the train, also bumped into Celeste and asked her if she knew her from somewhere. Celeste said no, and scuttled off.

Also at this time, Celeste began contacting Tony, and told him that his father was alive. She also knew that he was pretending to be blind to be able to spy on John and Kristen. One night, she followed Tony and discovered that he and Charles, his chauffeur, had trapped John and Kristen inside Baron's Department Store to see if they succumbed to their passion. Tony, who was watching them from the TV in his limo (via a hidden camera in the store), was going to kill John after he found out the truth. Celeste prevented this by breaking the TV antenna on the limo just before Kristen admitted her true feelings to John.

Finally, Stefano decided to come back to Salem. He stayed with Celeste at the Salem Inn while his new penthouse was being prepared. His new penthouse was next to Marlena's. Celeste's next job was to find out Marlena's alarm code. She did this by pressuring Mike into giving to her. With this, Stefano was able to build a passageway connecting Marlena's bedroom to his through her armoire. Stefano then began to pay Marlena surreal night visits.

Celeste voiced her opinions to Stefano, who did not listen. She feared for him, and claimed that the Evil One was in Salem and would "overcome" him. In fact, she even saw the Evil One one night outside of the Brady Pub. This Evil One was a dark figure, with glowing red eyes. Soon after, the Christmas tree at Salem Place was burned, and some Christmas presents for the Horton Center kids were burned as well. Celeste said the Evil One caused this, and begged Stefano to stop his game with Marlena because it would bring disaster to Salem. She was right, for Marlena started behaving strangely soon after.

In early 1995, when Stefano tried to take Marlena away, her eyes turned green and she tried to strangle him. Celeste saved him by crying out God's name. She was convinced that Marlena was possessed by the Devil, but Stefano just thought that Marlena was ill (as did everyone else). They did succeed in getting Marlena in Stefano's apartment, which no one knew of, however. But at one point, Stefano had to leave and told Celeste to stay and watch Marlena. Celeste pleaded with him not to leave her alone with her, but Stefano just ignored her again. After Stefano left, "Marlena" woke up and tried to leave. Celeste tried to stop her, but MarDevil slapped her so hard that she flew across the room and was knocked out! When Stefano came back, Celeste was bleeding and groggily told him that Marlena was possessed. "You're drunk," Stefano said.

In the meantime, Stefano ordered Celeste to make sure that Alice Horton didn't stop Bo and Billie's second wedding by announcing Gina was Hope again. Celeste completed this task by stealing Gina's puzzle box (which would prove she was Hope), and threw it in a garbage can in an alley.

Finally, Marlena was placed in the hospital. Stefano tried to kidnap her from there, and asked Celeste to help him. However, she put her foot down. She said if she helped him, it would damn her soul. Stefano saw this as an act of defiance and told her to leave and never come back to him. Desperate, Celeste gained Stefano's trust back by helping him escape Marlena's building when John and Kristen discovered his hideout. Soon after, Celeste was arrested because her fingerprints were all over Stefano's pad. Peter came to her rescue, under orders from Stefano, and she was released. She once again kept a watchful eye on Marlena, who was now being held by Stefano at the lighthouse. Once again, Stefano left, and the Devil revealed herself to Celeste. This time, MarDevil admitted that she was the devil, and levitated in front of a livid Celeste. Celeste rushed out and got into her car, determined to tell Stefano. But before she could reach him, MarDevil caused her car to crash.

While in the hospital, Caroline Brady and Lexie saw her and they recognized as someone named "Frankie"! Lexie called her "Aunt Frankie". Celeste was her larger-than-life aunt, who had left Salem many years ago without telling anyone of her whereabouts. She had been very close to Lexie when Lexie was just a young girl. Caroline had known Frankie; they had been very good friends. Lexie and Caroline had many questions for Celeste, but she subtly brushed them off. Meanwhile, Abe stopped by the hospital after Celeste was discharged and arrested her for aiding Stefano. However, Lexie bailed her out of jail, hoping to reestablish a relationship with her aunt.

During this time, Celeste finally convinced Stefano that Marlena was possessed. She was distraught after Stefano was pushed from Marlena's balcony by MarDevil. He fell ten stories, losing his memory and becoming paralyzed.

Celeste received a letter from Lexie. It contained another letter, which Lexie's parents had left with her before they died. They had given her specific instructions to never open that letter, for it was addressed only to Aunt Frankie; it would be Frankie's choice to tell Lexie the information in the letter. Celeste read the letter...and then burned it. Lexie saw her doing this, and read Celeste the riot act. Although Lexie assumed that the letter had been about Celeste's past, Celeste told her that she burned it for her (Lexie's) own good. Lexie asked Celeste to explain herself, but she refused to. Lexie went to work on this mystery by going through a box containing her parents' papers. Celeste burned the papers in the box, although she denied doing this to Lexie.

Some time later, Lexie discovered that she had been adopted, and grilled Celeste, who deemed this a silly belief. However, she knew it was true and spied on Celeste. She discovered that Celeste had visited a lawyer named James Murchison, an old friend of the Brooks family. Frightened, Celeste needed to find a way to keep Murchison from telling Lexie the truth about her parents, since Murchison had handled her adoption. Knowing that Murchison had worked for Stefano in the past, Celeste intended to blackmail him. She searched Stefano's files and found Murchison's, detailing all the crimes he committed for Stefano; this file could get Murchison disbarred. Celeste then visited the lawyer, who was now clean, and blackmailed him into giving her Lexie's adoption papers, which she burned. While burning them, the audience saw that the adoption had taken place in Aremid Township.

But this didn't put a stop to Lexie, who was determined to find the truth at the Hall of Records. Celeste managed to get a job at the Hall of Records overnight, and went to work at shredding all the files on Alexandra Brooks. When Lexie got there, she screamed at Celeste to stop. Lexie managed to save one document, her birth certificate. Lexie was the daughter of John Prescott Warfield and Priscilla Hopkins Ashcroft, and had been born in Aremid. Celeste followed Lexie to Aremid, for there was plenty more to uncover.

When Celeste arrived in the mysterious town of Aremid, she heard that Tony had just been shot and killed by John Black. Celeste briefly mourned Tony, but also showed concern for Stefano. Still plagued with amnesia, he had fallen in love with Marlena, who was his physical therapist.

While in Aremid, Celeste also tried to cover the gravestones of Lexie's parents. However, Lexie found their graves...and saw that they had died in the 19th century. Thus, John Prescott Warfield and Priscilla Hopkins Ashcroft were not Lexie's parents. Lexie then decided to continue searching for her real parents. Frantically trying to keep everything under wraps, Celeste went to the orphanage. She had been a benefactor of the orphanage for many years and carried a lot of weight there. She tried to steal Lexie's adoption files, but found that they were missing. Unbeknownst to her, Logan Michaels, the odd "Parrot Man", had possession of the file. She was worried that he might tell Lexie something, for Celeste had known Logan when he had worked at the orphanage.

One night, Celeste returned to the Blake house to discover Stefano laying on the ground in the garden, twitching. He had been struck by lightning! Although he said he only had a headache, Celeste and Peter took him to his bedroom and called Mike Horton to help him. Later, Celeste found something odd about Stefano; he seemed different, and she suspected that he had recovered his memory. Eager for the real Stefano to return, and get rid of this gutless, good Stefano, Celeste gave him his Phoenix insignia ring.

Despite Celeste's warnings, Logan Michaels helped Lexie. He gave her the adoption file, which revealed Celeste as Lexie's mother! Lexie confronted Celeste. Though Celeste denied it at first, she tearfully broke down and said it was true. When Lexie asked her why she had put her up for adoption, Celeste responded, "Because I loved you and wanted you to have a good life!" Celeste's sister, Grace Brooks, and her husband had been trying unsuccessfully to have children; Celeste had known that they could give Alexandra a healthy environment and gave her to them. Celeste begged Lexie to forget that she was her mother. Lexie noticed that the adoption papers did not say who her father was, and Celeste refused to tell her. That was something Celeste vowed to take to her grave. Later, Celeste informed Stefano that she was a mother. Although Stefano felt sorry for Celeste, he was too busy with Marlena and John to care. Seeing his uncaring attitude, Celeste swore to herself to never tell Stefano that Lexie was his daughter.

Unfortunately, this secret came out much sooner than Celeste hoped. One night while in the Aremid graveyard, Celeste spoke to a picture of Lexie's father when Lexie arrived along with Logan Michaels. Logan had just told her, through some very confusing rhymes, that Stefano DiMera was her father. Wanting concrete proof, Lexie grabbed the picture out of Celeste's hands and was disgusted to see that Logan had been right. Celeste explained that she had kept her parentage a secret because she had not wanted Lexie to become entangled in the DiMera family. Soon after this, Celeste ran off to look for Stefano, who had gone missing with Marlena. She finally found him in a cave near a deserted beach, awaiting a helicopter that would take him and Marlena to a faraway island. Celeste begged Stefano to take her with him, but he told her that it would be best for her to stay with her daughter. At this point, Celeste told Stefano that Lexie had finally discovered who her father was. Intrigued, Stefano asked Celeste who the father was. "It's you," said Lexie in a cold tone as she arrived at the scene. She had followed Celeste.

Stefano seemed overjoyed at having yet another child and tried to take Lexie along with him. However, Celeste stopped him. Furthermore, Lexie proclaimed that he was under arrest, pulling out a gun, as she noticed an unconscious Marlena behind him. Sadly, a cave-in separated Celeste & Lexie from Stefano & Marlena. Soon after, John, Abe, and Kristen arrived. Celeste & Lexie informed them of Stefano's plans. After the entire ordeal (which ended in John rescuing Marlena), everyone returned to Salem. Lexie remained angry at Celeste for keeping such a monumental secret from her.

Though tension remained between Lexie and Celeste for a while, they did work out their problems. In fact, Lexie began to call her "Mom." She also sought Celeste's help in dealing with the fact that she was a DiMera. Celeste warned Lexie that although she shouldn't dwell on her biological lineage, she should remember that Stefano would never leave her alone. Indeed, Stefano would begin doing favors for Lexie. Lexie would eventually end up in Paris searching for Marlena and her father.

As the summer proceeded in 1996, Celeste began to sense danger for several loved ones through her psychic abilities. Using her tarot cards, she realized that she must hurry to Paris in order to save Lexie. When she arrived there, she stopped sensing the danger. Upon meeting with Abe and Lexie, she told them that she didn't feel Stefano's presence in Paris. They were convinced he had died in a gas explosion a few days earlier, though his body was not found. Meanwhile, she told Carrie's fortune by reading her tea leaves, and warned her to marry Austin right away if she wanted to keep him. Of course, Carrie didn't heed her warning and soon Sami was Mrs. Austin Reed. Meanwhile, she was also receiving visits from Peter asking her if Stefano was still around, to which she replied, "no."

One evening, Celeste went to a hotel bar to have a drink, when a stranger decided to buy her a drink. Celeste felt an intriguing aura surrounding this man and decided to get to know him better. The two hit off surprisingly well, and soon enough they decided to get romantic. Celeste and Daniel Scott left the bar together and returned to her bedroom! After an evening of lovemaking, Daniel told Celeste that she was a remarkable woman and vowed to see her again. In the meantime, Celeste used her psychic powers to assure Austin and Sami that Will was alive, and to tell Billie that her life would change if she returned to Salem. A short time after this, Peter held a party in Paris, and Celeste brought Daniel as her date. She didn't know of Daniel and Peter's connection. Before anyone could see Daniel, he disappeared. Later, he would tell Celeste that he had been uncomfortable. This made Celeste uneasy, and began to believe that Daniel was hiding some sort of past connection with Peter. She wanted to know what this connection was, since Daniel had asked her to live with him in Monte Carlo. Working with Jack, Celeste lured Daniel into a casino, knowing that Daniel was a compulsive (and lousy) gambler. Their plan was to drive Daniel into debt and offer to pay his gambling debts in exchange for the information they desired. Unfortunately, Daniel decided to stay in debt. Although he feared the people he owed money to, he feared Peter much more. After some time, Daniel finally revealed that he had been Peter's accomplice in a plan to drive Laura insane 2 years before. After Daniel's debts were paid, he disappeared once again...and Celeste was left alone.

Over the next year, Celeste forged a stronger relationship with Lexie and strove to keep her away from Stefano's influence when he suddenly re-appeared in Salem again. In the Fall of 1997, she became involved with Vivian Alamain whe sought to perform a séance at her boyfriend Jonesy's townhouse. In February of 1998, Celeste began receiving psychic vibes from that very house. She believed that Peter, now a fugitive from the police and utterly insane, was hiding there. When she arrived at the house, she only found Kristen and became convinced that Kristen had helped Peter escape. Celeste and Kristen proceeded to exchange harsh words and wound up fighting. During their tiff, Celeste felt a prick that she believed had been Kristen's nails. In reality, Kristen had accidentally pricked her with a syringe containing the Jungle Madness disease (the same disease that had caused Peter to go insane.) In no time, Celeste began hallucinating and seeing all kinds of colors. One night, she woke up in a snow bank with no idea of what had happened to her. Sister Mary Moira Banks, Susan's sister, found her and took her to her convent to recover. As she suffered of delirium, Celeste saw visions of Kristen being killed. Shortly after, she was told that Kristen had been murdered the same night she'd had her blackout in the snow. Celeste began to believe she might've killed Kristen.

After some time, Stefano found her and gave her the cure for the Jungle Madness. As she recovered, they reminisced about the love they had once shared, but Celeste refused to allow herself to be sucked back into his world. Suddenly, she began remembering the night of Kristen's murder with more clarity. She had witnessed Laura Horton attempting to shoot Kristen but missed; also, one of the bullets had grazed her head, which is why she had passed out on the snow. Upon hearing this, Stefano took Celeste to the courthouse in order to give her testimony, since Laura had been charged with the murder. Celeste's account of the events cleared Laura's name.

Soon after this, Celeste was approached by Hope, who was once again looking for answers in regards to her four missing years. Celeste wasn't able to give her many answers because she had only been with Hope at Maison Blanche a few weeks before John and the others showed up. However, Celeste did send Hope a box of items that she, as Gina, had treasured while staying in Maison Blanche. Stefano soon discovered that Celeste was trying to help Hope and ordered her to lie to Hope and tell her that she had been at Maison Blanche for all four years. Initially, Celeste did as Stefano told her to do, but then admitted to Hope that Stefano was desperately trying to keep her from finding out about her missing years and warned her to give up the search.

Following this, Celeste was offered a secretarial job by Vivian at her new company Alamain International. As Vivian's secretary, Celeste grew to be her friend. When Vivian began to be wooed by Stefano, she began acting erratically and Celeste received vibes that Stefano was somehow harming her. Working with Ivan, Celeste deduced that Stefano was in some manner driving Vivian crazy so that she'd marry him; by marrying her, Stefano would regain possession of Jonesy's townhouse. Celeste and Ivan tried to stop their wedding, but eventually Stefano succeeded. Finally, Celeste and Ivan contacted Dr. Wu, an old acquaintance of Vivian's, who diagnosed her with an illness. Furthermore, they discovered that Stefano was controlling Vivian's emotional state via a remote control device implanted in her teeth, which was why Vivian acted irrationally. After removing the implant, Celeste helped Vivian get rid of Stefano. Meanwhile, she began dating Ivan. Unfortunately, the relatinship with Ivan didn't progress since he remained in love with Vivian. In February of 2000, Ivan won the lottery and left Salem with Vivian. Celeste, in the meantime, continued to keep a watch on Lexie, who had begun to fall under Stefano's influence.

The character of Celeste Perrault was played by Tanya Boyd from 1994 -1999, and again in 2000. She continues to recur.

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