Kimberly
Brady is the daughter of Shawn and Caroline Brady. She is the sister
of Roman and Kayla
Brady, the half-sister of
Bo
Brady, and the adoptive
sister of Frankie and Max Brady. Kimberly is the mother of Andrew and
Jeannie Donovan. She is the ex-wife of Shane Donovan, and has also
been illegally married to Paul Stewart.
At
a young age, Kimberly Brady left Salem to try out her luck as a
photographer in Europe, where she had befriended Daphne
DiMera. During the summer of
1984, Kimberly returned to Salem on an invitation from Daphne. She
pretended to have come to work for Anna DiMera Designs (ADD). But in
reality, Kimberly was fleeing from something from her life in Paris.
While at ADD, Kimberly came into contact with a hideous necklace
belonging to Daphne that was being used in photo shoots. Kimberly
actually found the thing attractive and decided to wear it to a
social function. At this time, someone broke into her apartment and
ransacked the place, while a different person watched the apartment
and seemed particularly interested in her. Kimberly was unaware that
several people were after the necklace. She eventually loaned it to
Melissa
Anderson. Meanwhile, the
Brady family was concerned about Kimberly's distance from them. Since
her arrival, she had spent very little time with any of them.
Furthermore, Kimberly soon began inviting men to her apartment to
show them a good time. It soon became clear that Kimberly was a
prostitute; that's what she had done in Paris when her photography
career failed. No one in her family knew, but the secret would be
very hard to keep. Several people in Salem knew Kimberly from Europe.
Kim was soon introduced to Captain Shane Donovan of the ISA, who was
working on locating three powerful prisms. One of those prisms was in
the necklace that Kimberly had borrowed from Daphne. As it turned
out, Shane was the person who had been surveilling her home. When he
confessed this to her, Kimberly realized that he knew she was
prostituting. However, he promised to keep her secret. What he truly
wanted from her were some negatives from a Caribbean photo shoot
she'd once done. Shane needed those negatives to find the hideout of
Stefano DiMera. Not long after this, a group of people from Salem
crash landed on that island. While trying to rescue them, Roman was
shot and killed by Stefano
DiMera.
Kimberly was naturally broken up about her brother's death. But his death brought someone back into Kimberly's life whom she hated: her uncle Eric. In confidence, Kimberly told Shane that her uncle had sexually molested her as a little girl. Meanwhile, she kept a watchful eye on him, especially when Marlena (Roman's widow) allowed him to babysit her kids. She was right to be wary; Eric was soon caught trying to molest a little girl. After he was arrested, Kimberly testified to the police that Eric had molested her as a child. He was promptly arrested and carted off to prison. But despite being right about her uncle, the accusations that Kimberly made were met with anger from her own family. Shawn even suffered a heart attack when he was told. Luckily, she had Shane to comfort her. Meanwhile, Linda Anderson, who had been living in Salem for several months under the name Madame DuPrix, revealed herself to Kimberly. Linda just happened to have been Kim's madam in Europe and now wanted to blackmail her. Linda had in her possession a video tape in which Kimberly was making love to a stranger. To keep that video from being distributed, Linda wanted Kimberly to work for her again. At first, Kim gave into Linda's blackmail. But after deciding that she didn't want to continue with such a seedy life, she sought Shane's help. Without letting Shane know that she was being blackmailed, he told her an easy way to erase tapes with magnets. Shane's tip worked and Kimberly was able to stop hooking.
During this time, the mystery of the prisms was still hanging over Salem. Shane was especially preoccupied with it. This worried Kim, who had become quite chummy with Shane. However, his preoccupation was not about the Prisms per se; it was about an order he'd received. Shane told Kimberly that ISA chief Nickerson wanted her help in recovering the last prism. It was being brought through an ice skating troupe owned by Leopold Bronsky. Bronsky just happened to be a former client of Kimberly's. The plan was for Kimberly to seduce Bronsky in order to figure out the location of the prism. Kimberly was disgusted by Shane's suggestion that she go back to prostitution and told him to leave her alone. However, he reminded her that Roman had died trying to prevent Stefano from recovering those prisms. This really got through to Kimberly and she decided to help. But, she was determined to do it without sleeping with Bronsky. And she did, by drugging him and telling him afterwards that they'd made love. Kimberly found out that Bronsky called the prism "Diamond Ice", because it needed to be encased in ice; the third prism was a potent bomb that would explode if its ice casing melted. After many mishaps, the prism, disguised in an ice-skating costume, wound up being carried by Hope Williams. However, the prism was no longer in its casing and was about to explode. When Bronsky saw this, he forcefully took Kimberly and left the auditorium, intent on leaving the country with her before the prism exploded. Fortunately, Shane stopped him and later halted the prism's detonation process. Following the resolution of the Prisms, Shane finally admitted that he cared for Kimberly. But with the Prisms case over, Shane was no longer had to stay in Salem and was given an assignment overseas. Kim was saddened to see Shane leave because she, too, had begun to care for him. But shortly after, Shane returned. He missed Kimberly and had decided that she was reason enough to stay in Salem.
Kim
and Shane continued their timid relationship, never quite admitting
their obvious feelings to each other. During this time, a nobleman
was murdered in Salem at a fashion show where Kimberly was taking
photographs. The killer was presumed to be a British anti-monarchist
named The Dragon, whose identity remained a mystery. All that was
known about the Dragon was that he planned to eliminate all members
of the British royal family. This episode was especially disturbing
for Shane because his wife, Emma, had been killed in an explosion
caused by The Dragon. As luck would have it, Kimberly saw the
Dragon's face but then suddenly suffered a temporary attack of
blindness. She kept the attack a secret, and simply claimed that she
couldn't really remember what the Dragon looked like. Soon after
this, Shane received a call from his butler in England asking him to
come urgently. Since this also gave him a chance to check up on the
Dragon, Shane asked Kimberly to come with him. Kimberly was still
unsure of where they stood and didn't give him a definite answer.
Frustrated, Shane told her to meet him at the airport. However,
Kimberly suffered yet another attack of blindness and didn't show up.
Later, after speaking with Bo, Kimberly realized that she couldn't
let go of Shane and decided to go to England to find him. When she
appeared on his doorstep, they argued about their yo-yo-like
relationship. Finally, Shane admitted to Kimberly that he loved her,
dispelling all of her fears once and for all. Following this
admission, the couple at last made love.
Following this, Shane wanted to give Kimberly a special memento to show her how much she meant to him. He was going to give her his late mother's cameo. But when he went to the safe to retrieve it, he found the safe to be almost empty of its contents. Shane confessed to Kimberly that it was odd since only his dead wife, Emma, had known the safe's combination and the emotional value of its contents. Meanwhile, Kimberly continued to suffer from sporadic attacks of blindness, which only became worse as she stressed over the possibility that Emma was still alive. At this time, Shane and Kim received word that the Dragon was in Salem and had tried to kill Hope, so they decided to go back home. Once back in Salem, Kimberly went to see Dr. Neil Curtis about her blindness. Neil told her that she might be suffering from a condition called Papillitis, which could either go into remission or cause total blindness. He recommended that she try to remain calm and stress-free, which wasn't easy considering the circumstances. Meanwhile, Shane gave Kimberly his mother's cameo to let her know just how much she meant him. After finding out that the Dragon's next target was Lady Joanna Clapton, Shane, Kim, Bo, and Hope planned another trip to England. Despite Neil's warnings not to travel, Kimberly went along and continued to keep her condition a secret.
Once
back in England, the group figured that the Dragon would strike next
at a charity masquerade ball. While looking through the attic at
Donovan Manor, Kimberly found an extravagant gown and decided to wear
it to the ball. When she showed it to Shane, he was somewhat nervous
about it but allowed Kim to wear it anyway. At the ball, a mysterious
woman wearing a mask caught Shane's attention. Meanwhile, Kim also
spoke to that mysterious woman, who said that she had a dress similar
to the one Kimberly was wearing. Later on, the unmasking was held and
Shane saw that the mysterious woman was Emma. Suddenly, the Dragon
tried to attack Lady Joanna. While Bo and Hope took care of the
Dragon, Kimberly and Shane took Emma into a parlour. Kim was shocked
at the fact that Shane's wife was alive but tried to remain calm and
helpful. Emma seemed to be drugged or under a hypnotic spell; she
didn't recognize Shane and constantly repeated that she needed to
carry out her "duty." Kimberly was suspicious about the fact that
Emma had reappeared at the same time that the Dragon was trying to
kill Lady Joanna, and deduced that the two events were connected.
Eventually, Shane got through to Emma and took her back to his home.
Kimberly was unsure about where she stood with Shane, especially when
he saw her taking care of the fragile Emma. Kimberly also realized
that the dress she wore to the ball had belonged to Emma and felt
humiliated for not having been told the truth. Shane apologized to
Kim and let her know that nothing had changed; he still loved her.
Soon after this, Bo captured the Dragon and he was sent to prison. As
a reward, the royal family rewarded Bo and Hope with a wedding.
Kimberly and Shane attended the wedding while leaving Emma at home to
recover. But as the wedding ended, Emma appeared a the church
brandishing a gun. Still under a post-hypnotic suggestion implanted
by the Dragon, she was about to kill Bo and Hope. Luckily, Shane
subdued his wife. Again, he doted over her, leaving Kimberly shaken.
As a result, Kimberly's bouts of blindness worsened. After this,
Kimberly decided to return to Salem alone to let Shane and Emma work
everything out. Emma knew that Shane and Kim were involved and subtly
let Kimberly know that she wasn't willing to give up Shane. Despite
Shane's protests, Kimberly returned to Salem.
Convinced that there was no hope for her and Shane, Kimberly stressed even more, and became almost totally blind. However, she refused to let anyone know of her condition, especially Shane, who continued to call and try to talk to her. Shane eventually returned to Salem with Emma, but sought Kim out anyway. Pretending she could see, Kim met with Shane and told him to stay with Emma and leave her alone. After that, Kimberly and Neil travelled to Cleveland to see an eyesight specialist. She was given the terrible news that she would be blind indefinitely. After this, Kimberly decided to tell her family about her condition. However, she continued to hide it from Shane. He finally discovered her secret when he visited her and she thought he was Neil. Nevertheless, the fact remained that Shane was a married man. Although he pledged his love for Kimberly, she couldn't ignore his marriage to Emma and pushed him away. Meanwhile, Emma got continously more jealous of Shane's love for Kimberly. Her jealousy finally exploded one day when she visited Kimberly to tell her that she was an obstacle in her marriage to Shane. During their fierce argument, the once-fragile Emma spotted Shane's cameo and decided to take it from Kimberly, since Shane had originally given it to her. When Kimberly demanded Emma to return the cameo, a furious Emma threw it against a window, breaking the glass. She then told a blind Kimberly to find the cameo, and proceeded to take it with her. The cameo meant so much to Kimberly that she got on her hands and knees and searched for it through the broken glass. Shane eventually found the cameo in Emma's possession and returned it to Kim as a sign that he still loved her.
More information to follow!
The character of Kimberly Brady was
played by the following:
Patsy Pease (1984-1990; 1991; 1992; 1996; 1997; 1998)
Anne Howard (1990; 1991)
Arianna Chase (1992-1993)
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