‘Days of Our Lives’ Star Raven Bowens Warns ‘It’s Going to Get Even Bumpier’ For Chanel and Johnny (EXCLUSIVE)
Soap star talks firehouse baby adoption drama, love triangles and that pesky biological clock
As Chanel Dupree sets her heart on adopting the firehouse baby on Days of Our Lives, Raven Bowens talks to Woman’s World about her character’s love story with Johnny DiMera and warns their Salem roller coaster will continue to roll. Could Baby Tesoro’s foster dads Leo and Javi have something to do with this next ride . . . or will it be Grandpa Brady catching on to Sofia’s ruse?
The 35-year-old soap opera beauty, who had a recurring gig on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, also gets candid about how Chanel’s biological clock is affecting her own, getting to play family with Sister, Sister alum Jackée Harry, and creating the drama with leading man Carson Boatman.
Raven Bowens warns Chanel and Johnny’s life is ‘going to get even bumpier’
Raven and Johnny’s attempt to adopt Sophia and Tate’s baby on Days of Our Lives soured when EJ’s reputation ruined their chances. Now that Johnny’s finally been cleared of EJ’s shooting, however, Chanel isn’t looking to waste any more time.
“That whole case put a pause on their life,” Raven Bowens says. “And they’re a newly married couple, so Chanel is very interested in starting a family and taking those next steps. Now, with room to breathe, she’s like, ‘Let’s keep it moving.’”
Unfortunately, while she’s set her sights on Tesoro, so too have his foster dads, Leo and Javi—who aren’t past playing dirty! To complicate matters even more, no one has a clue this is the very same baby Chanel and Johnny tried to adopt, to begin with . . . but Grandpa Brady’s awfully suspicious.
Whatever’s coming for Channel and Johnny, Carson Boatman recently told us they’re set to get thrown “right into another scandal” after that courtroom debacle.
“Oh, it’s going to get even bumpier,” Bowens promises with a grin. “And then it might seem like it starts to get better . . . and then it gets bumpier again. It’s definitely a roller coaster!”
Raven Bowens on making magic with Carson Boatman
This relationship has been a bit of a ride since Johnny first laid eyes on his twin sister Allie’s girlfriend, Chanel, and fell into a familial love triangle.
“I’ve felt so blessed to have those two as my main love interests, because I love them both so much, and they’re so easy to work with,” Bowens says of Boatman and Lindsay Arnold, who played Allie and is also her roommate. “Our friendships resonate on screen, so I didn’t care which way it went . . . but I was definitely surprised! I thought Chanel would end up with Allie, and when it switched to Johnny, people were very supportive—which isn’t always the case! I feel grateful.”
“When you are tied with somebody like that in story, so much of what your experience is based on your actual relationship with that person,” she adds. “Sometimes I think about the fact that if they were to split us up, he were to leave, or anything, I don’t know what I would get!”
One thing is for sure: Whatever the future holds for her character, she’ll always be Auntie Raven to Boatman’s daughter.
“It’s been so interesting to watch Carson from when he started the show,” she marvels. “When he auditioned, he was on his bachelor party, and then right after we started, they got married, and then now they have a baby! And she’s the best. I have some of the cutest videos of her.”
Raven Bowens is ‘constantly aware’ of her own biological clock
While Bowens is having a blast playing Auntie in the real world, the 35-year-old is not quite where Chanel or her costar is in life.
“As women, we are constantly aware of our biological clocks,” she concedes. “And then people are always asking you, ‘When are you gonna do this and do that?’ So it’s always in the back of your brain, even if it’s not in the front.”
“Right now, I’m more career-oriented,” she adds, “but it is something I think about . . . and sometimes when you start playing it, it makes you think about it even more!”
For the time being, Bowens is doing just what she always wanted to do . . . sort of.
“I always wanted to be a performer. I grew up dancing and I wanted to be a singer—but you don’t want to hear me sing,” cracks Bowens, whose leading man is in the Day Players Band. “Carson’s always singing, and I always join in to see if he’ll get any ideas . . . but he doesn’t!”
Raven Bowens says, ‘I knew I was going to be on a soap’—and it was almost ‘GH’
Thankfully, Bowens found acting.
“I fell in love with it, and I knew I was going to be on a soap,” she recounts. “My acting coach would give me soap magazines to read and say how getting on a soap opera is a perfect training grounds for any actor, because once you do a soap, there’s nothing you can’t do. So then I was like, ‘Okay, I want to do that,’ and started manifesting it for many years of training as an actor.”
“I thought it would be General Hospital, because I got close on GH a couple of times, and I had never auditioned for Days,” she adds. “The one time I got an audition for Days, I worked on it, but then the role was canceled. Then two or three years later, I came in to audition . . . and it was the same material that I had worked on! I was like, ‘Wait, I recognize this.’ It was funny. The role wasn’t ready for me, yet.”
Raven Bowens talks ambition and what’s so great about being on a soap
After appearing on All Rise and Insecure, Bowens joined Days of Our Lives as Chanel in 2021, and it’s been all she’d hoped it would be.
“Days has changed my life in so many ways,” she says. “Mostly it’s built my confidence, because of the amount of material that we have to shoot and then getting to the emotions and playing all kinds of different things. You could be on a show for four years and use the same muscle every day, but on a soap, what’s required of you is always going to shift and change. It’s been fun to roll with those punches.”
Never one to rest on her laurels, Bowens is also still working on her craft outside of Salem.
“I’m part of a theater group, so I’m always doing theater, and I go to class twice a week,” says the actress who also got to strut her stuff as Tilly in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel season 4. “I would love to, at some point, do something on Broadway. I love classic material. I would love to do everything! I just want to experience as much as possible.”
“I’m trying to grow so I can be ready for anything—even here,” she adds. “Sometimes it’s like, ‘OK, today I have to speak a language I have never spoken, and I have to act like I’ve spoken this language my whole life.’ You never know what you’re going to be doing at Days!”
Raven Bowens loves making ‘Days’ magic with Jackée Harry
Speaking of things she never expected, Bowens still can’t quite believe she landed Jackée Harry as her onscreen mother.
“It’s been amazing—and surreal,” she admits. “I grew up watching Sister, Sister and just being a fan, and now I hang out with Jackée! She actually took me, my mom, my cousin and the hairstylist here, Amber, to the Magic Castle for my birthday.
“It was so sweet, and my mom and my cousin, this isn’t their life,” she adds. “So whenever I get to bring them in and share experiences like that, it makes me feel like I’m walking in purpose. I get to expand the lives of like the people I care about.”
‘Days’ star Raven Bowens is loving Chanel’s 2026 drama!
Having gotten to enjoy some food, dancing and boating adventures with her sister this summer, Bowens isn’t complaining about back-to-school season. In fact, she can’t wait for fans to see what’s coming for Chanel and Johnny on Days of Our Lives—and with production several months ahead, she doesn’t just mean this fall.
“I really love my storyline I’m shooting now . . . which I can’t talk about,” Bowens tells Woman’s World with a sly grin. “It’s one of the things I’m having the most fun with in my life right now. It’s fun, emotional, deep stuff, so that’s exciting—even though it will be almost another year before you’ll get to see it! I’m loving it, and some of the stuff we have coming is really good for Johnny and Chanel, as well.”
In the meantime, with so many people tied to baby Tesoro on Days of Our Lives, things are sure to get interesting as Chanel and Johnny throw their hat into the adoption ring alongside Leo and Javi.
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