DAYS Exclusive: Elia Cantu On Jada’s Romantic Future, Possible Role In EJ’s Shooting

Jada opted to come clean with Rafe about her one-night stand with Shawn on Days of Our Lives, a move that has blown up the once-solid couple’s relationship. Of course, EJ set the whole thing in motion by swapping Rafe with look-alike Arnold, whose “cheating” made Jada turn to Shawn in the first place, leading to Jada being one of many suspects in EJ’s shooting. Elia Cantu weighed in to Soap Opera Digest about the current state of the Rafe/Jada relationship, what’s next for the duo, and her character’s possible role in EJ’s attempted murder.

Soap Opera Digest: It’s rare on soaps that someone ‘fesses up to their significant other about cheating on them. How did you feel about Jada dealing with the situation head-on?

Elia Cantu: One of the traits that I really admire about her is her honesty. She takes the moral high road. She faces things head-on and is not afraid to face the consequences of her actions. I like that, because it takes courage. Also, at that point, how many people knew [about the tryst]? First, there were two people, then it was three and four. The next thing you know it would have gotten back to Rafe.

Digest: Rafe has blamed Jada for not being able to decipher between him and Arnold. Does Jada feel like Rafe is justified, or is she disappointed that he hasn’t seen things from her perspective?

Cantu: She’s definitely disappointed. She did admit that she should have told him sooner, but she doesn’t understand why he was so hard on her when [the Arnold switch] was so convincing. Even Rafe’s family members, who have known him his whole life, didn’t know [it was an impostor]. So she felt Rafe was a bit too hard on her, that it was a bit much.

Digest: What is your take on where this leaves Rafe and Jada?

Cantu: She still has a lot to figure out. It’s too soon to say, because she has a lot of emotions running through her right now. It’s going to be almost like stages of grief. Now she’s just hurt. There was some anger, but I would say also passion; there was just so much passion in that scene between Rafe and Jada. There was hurt, pain, anger, love… It was a very passionate scene. I really enjoyed it when we did it.

Digest: What stood out about your experience when you were shooting it?

Cantu: Galen [Gering, Rafe] and I were really in the moment. We were very present as actors from an acting perspective and [from a] technical standpoint. The scene really flowed. We just let go and went at it. It felt good as an actor to do that. There’s a moment you get sometimes when you are truly present. You’re not worried about the words. You’re not worried about, “Oh, do I do this? Look this way?” You’re just truly in the moment, and, honestly, as an artist, that is the best place to be. I’ve been a runner. I used to run track, and there’s a runner’s high. It’s the same thing with actors. There’s an actor’s high. When you have that, there’s just that moment and you’re in it, you’re not even in your head at all. It’s almost like you blank out, but that’s when the magic happens. That’s the beauty.

Digest: After confessing to Rafe, Jada told Paulina about her fling with Shawn, and Paulina pointed out that EJ was to blame for all of it. Did that infuriate Jada even more?

Cantu: It just confirmed her feelings. Jada’s angry at the situation, and she’s definitely angry with EJ, as are many others.

Digest: Shawn found Jada drowning her sorrows at Small Bar, and she opened up to him about what went down with Rafe. Why?

Cantu: They’re developing a bond for sure, and she trusts Shawn. They’ve built a friendship. She feels safe with Shawn, I’ll say that much, but we don’t know what will come out of it. As of right now, he’s a safe person to talk to and a safe person to be with, because she got kicked out of Rafe’s house. She really doesn’t have that many [friends]. She doesn’t have family in Salem.

Digest: After Shawn tells her that EJ was shot, did she wonder, “Could I have done it?”

Cantu: Jada had already been drowning her sorrows because of the night she had with the breakup. And she was off-duty. So when Shawn came in with that news, she kind of momentarily drew a blank. She kind of went to, “Did I do this? Did I go there?” Her memory’s spotty from drinking. Also, if you’re in a highly stressful situation, very distraught, and go through something traumatic, you can experience some kind of loss of memory. It’s like you’re on autopilot. That’s what Jada was experiencing. So she might very well have been like, “Wait. Could I have [shot EJ]? I don’t know, because so much has happened in a short period of time.” Her emotions were high and mixed with alcohol. So that’s going to be the mystery for the audience.

Digest: There are a lot of people on the suspect list. How do you feel about Jada being among them?

Cantu: It’s interesting, because this is the first time Jada’s ever being considered of possibly committing a crime herself. So you’ve got to look at the stakes and her motivation. Everyone had a different reason why they were upset with EJ. I wouldn’t say we all wanted to kill him, but it alluded to that. We all wanted revenge. Jada definitely wanted revenge. Is this something that would make Jada go over the edge? It’s very interesting to play with that. She has been the morally good one, and there hasn’t been any villain in her. She’s always been honest and trustworthy from the beginning. So to see that this could possibly be the one thing that sets her off, it’s really interesting to play that.

Digest: Do you like the idea that she could have been pushed to go over to the dark side?

Cantu: Yeah, because that gives layers to the character. It’s a different side.

Digest: Meanwhile, Jada ended up sleeping off her drunken stupor at Shawn’s house.

Cantu: I know people are going to make assumptions, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens. Shawn was being a gentleman when he offered to let Jada stay there. He cares for her. He is not going to let her just go out onto the street drunk. He cares for Jada as a friend, and he’s worried about her.

Digest: What did you think about the whole twist of Jada sleeping with Shawn?

Cantu: I was very open to expand the men in her life, for sure. And Brandon [Beemer, Shawn] has been great. Brandon’s really good. He’s a great actor. He’s always open to go over lines and prepare. We ave a good back-and-forth, a good chemistry, I feel, and it works well. It’s always nice to switch things up.

Digest: What can you tease about what Rafe and Jada’s future has in store for them?

Cantu: They’re going to be tested, and there’s going to be another obstacle coming around the corner. Right now, they’re on a break. He wants space, so they’re just having space [from each other]. Plus, you’re going to see how Rafe is going to deal with the news he received about Jada and Shawn. We still have to see that unfold. Shawn is his friend… or was. You’ll see Rafe’s side of dealing with what happened.