‘Days of Our Lives’ Star Melissa Reeves Says Playing Jennifer ‘Set the Course for My Life’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Soap opera beauty talks honoring ‘heroes’ like Drake Hogestyn and her country life with Scott Reeves
Melissa “Missy” Reeves just finished shooting Days of Our Lives 60th-anniversary episodes that will stream on Peacock in November, but her character Jennifer Horton is also set to return to town in early June to say goodbye to John Black.
Here, Reeves opens up to Woman’s World about what it’s like to reunite with “Cuz” Kristian Alfonso and the rest of her Days of Our Lives family for the show’s big celebrations and heartfelt farewells like the one honoring Drake Hogestyn’s beloved character.
The soap opera beauty who joined Salem’s teen scene at 18 also reflects on how four decades of Days of Our Lives have shaped her life, and how her leading man Mathew Ashford helped turn Jack and Jennifer into a super couple.
Plus, the grandma of five and counting opens up about living the country life with her husband Scott Reeves—a General Hospital and The Young and the Restless soap hunk and Nashville musician and manager—and the spiritual pilgrimage that’s on her growing travel bucket list.
Melissa Reeves on landing on ‘Days of Our Lives’: ‘It set the course for my entire life’
When Melissa Reeves landed a role on the soap Santa Barbara in 1984 and moved to Los Angeles at age 17, the Jersey girl who only started acting to pay for dance classes still dreamt of returning to Broadway. Instead, she went on to join Days of Our Lives as Jennifer Horton and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I went, ‘Well, I guess I’m never going to be in Cats,” Reeves recalls with a laugh. “That was the Broadway show that I’d looked at out of my Phil Black Dance Studio windows at Broadway and 50th, every day of my life. That dream was over, but I found a better, completely unexpected dream. I look back now and realize it set the course for my entire life.”
Not only would Jennifer become an iconic character and half of one of Days of Our Lives’ beloved super couples, but Reeves has grown up alongside a family of Salem lifers who are still on the show or continue to come back to town for big celebrations, sad goodbyes, and juicy drama (like that faux Abby business!), as she does.
The actress also found her real-life husband, Scott Reeves, during the short stint he did on her show before he joined The Young and the Restless in the ‘90s.
“When I met Scott, we both said our dream was to live on a farm one day and have animals, but we never thought it would come to fruition,” Reeves admits. “We were working actors. This was our life. But then my husband started doing music in Nashville and I was at work so much. In 2006, we were like, ‘Let’s sell it all, move to Nashville, and give our kids a different life.’ And they’ve loved it.”
‘Days’ star Melissa Reeves talks country living and country music
While Reeves often visits Days of Our Lives and her husband recently brought General Hospital’s Steve back to Port Charles again, their family hasn’t lived in Hollywood in almost 20 years.
“We have five grandbabies, with a sixth on the way, and we live way out in the country,” she says. “I never wear makeup, so it is a treat when I get to come to Days and get my hair and makeup done! Our life is very quiet, very sweet, but I still have this incredible show I get to come be on.
“My husband also manages our cousins’ band, The Reeves Brothers,” she adds. “They’re amazing, so I’ll travel with him sometimes because it’s fun to go on the road and watch them play.”
‘Days’ star Melissa Reeves talks remodeling and making a spiritual pilgrimage
When they’re not on the road, onset, or cuddling their grandkids, the Reeves might be found tending to their farm or tiling the bathroom as they renovate a 70s-era ranch that marks their sixth Nashville-area home.
“We call it The Velvet Ranch, because there’s these little baby bucks in our yard all the time, and we have torn it apart, inside and out,” Reeves shares. “We usually stay for a couple years while we’re remodeling, and we do all the work ourselves, and then we sell it. We love it. My husband kind of wants to stay in this one, but my dream has always been to do a historic house, so I hope we have one more in us.”
As she approaches the big 6-0, Reeves has also set her sights on taking some big adventures.
“I have these crazy dreams of doing the Camino de Santiago with my husband,” she says, referring a Christian pilgrimage across Europe that goes back to the late Middle Ages. “I’m like, ‘Honey, I feel like we need to just get on a plane and go travel and see the world now.’ I’m starting to have a bucket list. Both of our 60th birthdays are coming up and that’s a blowout birthday, so we should go on a fun trip for that.”
Melissa Reeves talks Drake Hogestyn and saying goodbye to ‘Days’ Heroes
With new dreams brewing, Reeves is next set to appear on Days of Our Lives in early June when Salem locals mourn the passing of John Black, who was played by the late Drake Hogestyn.
“Let me tell you, Drake was the highlight of our makeup room,” Reeves shares. “He just had the best stories, the sweetest family, and was so open to sharing everything about his life with all of us all the time. Drake was our superhero.
“That has been the sad part, the last couple years,” continues the actress, who also returned to honor onscreen uncle Bill Hayes in 2024. “We’ve lost so many of our heroes—so many of our great men on our show. Losing people is horrible, but it’s wonderful to celebrate someone’s life.”
It also eases the heartbreak to go through it together.
“It’s wonderful to walk through this grief with this family—because after all these years, that’s what we have become,” says Reeves. “So many of us have gone off and live in different places, but [executive producer] Ken Corday is so kind to bring everybody back for these wonderful shows. We get to share our stories, our laughter, and our sadness and just be together.
Melissa Reeves dishes the magic of ‘Days’ super couple Jack and Jennifer
After coming home for John Black’s heartbreaking goodbye in June, Jennifer Horton will next show up in Salem for a blowout celebration—Days of Our Lives 60ths anniversary in November, which promises a week of juicy flashbacks and returns, fabulous looks, and of course, another reunion for super couple Jack and Jennifer.
“What I love about Matt Ashford is that he always bucked the shirtless, macho man thing,” Reeves raves of her leading man. “There is so much humor in real life. He taught me to embrace that, so our coupling was something so different. We also had our kids at the same time, and we were just doing life together. It was amazing. Now, we come back and we fall right back into it.”
The same can be said of lifelong Days of Our Lives pals like Kristian Alfonso and Mary Beth Evans, who play Hope and Kayla.
“Kristian and I call each other ‘Cuz’ and ‘Cuzzy,’” Reeves tells Woman’s World. “We were 18 when we started, so we have a lot of history. And Mary Beth’s been my idol since I started, but now, we just grandma out when we’re at work together!
“Whenever everyone’s in town, we all try to get together,” she says of her Days of Our Lives costars. “‘Let’s meet here!’ ‘Let’s have lunch!’ ‘Let’s have dinner!’ We’re literally cramming in work, friendships, and everything into that time, and it’s so fun. This is my history, so it’s incredible to just be here and love on everyone.”
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