DAYS’s Raven Bowen Says EJ Crisis ‘Solidifies Johnny and Chanel as a Unit’ (Exclusive)
EJ’s shooting and the pending attempted murder trial of his assailant is going to cast plenty of gloom and doom over Salem, but Days of Our Lives actress Raven Bowens (Chanel) promises that one good thing will come out of the dire situation. “It solidifies Johnny and Chanel as a unit, because they have to fight for each other,” she says. “They have to defend each other. They have to stick by each other.”
While the actress reveals that there’s a lot of strong story coming down the pike for the couple, she also notes that they’ll be severely tested. “This is a big challenge for them, because what happens in a whodunit?” poses Bowens. “We have to know who did it, and then you have to have a trial. There’s a lot that’s going to happen with this whole trial.”
Stand By Your Man
Of course, it will involve a vast array of Salem citizens, since the majority of them had strong motives to want EJ dead. “Many people could have shot EJ, so it’s like picking and choosing and not knowing who [could have actually shot him],” says Bowens. “But I think, ultimately, Chanel does stand by her husband, whether or not he turns out to be guilty. And they are able to build a deeper connection just based on the things that they share and the vulnerability that they have with each other throughout this whole shenanigan.”
As the storyline unfolds, Chanel becomes the rock in her and Johnny’s relationship. “Although initially, she is upset with certain things and the way that Johnny moves throughout this whole unit of time,” Bowens acknowledges. Initially, it does create a lot of friction between the two of them. But once they have a dialogue about [everything that’s happened] and he opens up to her, Chanel is able to be that rock. Once she knows what’s actually what, then she’s able to become that rock. And then, at some point, I think it transitions, and he has to be the rock for her.”
The strife and strength that comes out of the situation is a refreshing change for Bowens, because it shows Chanel and Johnny dealing with something other than a third party coming between, which has been a plot point that they’ve endured a few times in the past. “I think that it’s unique, because in soaps, we love a love triangle,” reflects Bowens. “And I’ve been in a few of them, two with Johnny and two with Allie, and those were fun. I always say that I like them, because I win them every time. I always come out the winner, so I don’t mind them. Carson [Boatman, Johnny] hates them, because he’s lost like two or three. But I love when we get a new storyline, when it’s juicy and it’s all of the things that are soapy, but just in a different way. I love the family drama. I love that stuff.”
What about the family they were hoping to build for themselves? Because, as viewers know, Johnny’s been questioning his fatherhood credentials ever since he learned that his dad is a rapist. “He doesn’t feel like he had a good example of what a father is,” explains Bowens. “He feels like he was conceived out of a lie, and he doesn’t feel like he is in a space right now to raise a child with that new kind of information. He doesn’t want to really bring a child into that type of environment. He doesn’t want to ever feel like he could do to a child what he feels his father did to him in any way.”
Hence, it will be up to Chanel to build her husband’s self-worth back up and convince him that he is a good, honest and deserving man. “There’s a lot of words of affirmation and just trying to make him see himself the way that she sees him,” says Bowens. “That’s Chanel’s biggest challenge, because Johnny’s been in a very dark place. She is just very determined, because she loves him so much and knows that he’s so far off with the insecurities that he’s experiencing. In being that rock and just reassuring him with words of affirmation, I feel like she’s trying everything that she can to pump him back up and to help him see who he really is.”
And the Johnny that Chanel sees and knows is a very impressive and honorable young man. “Chanel always says that Johnny is so pure and genuine,” recounts Bowens. “She knows that he’s loving and creative and generous, and that he’s all of the things that would make a good parent. He’s patient, he’s kind and all these great things, but he doesn’t believe that about himself anymore, because of this truth that he got about his conception.”
Conversation
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