Deidre Hall Recalls the Gut-Wrenching ‘Days of our Lives’ Story That Had ‘Never Been Told’ Before

Days of our Lives fans know Marlena (Deidre Hall) as the mother of Eric (Greg Vaughan), Sami (Alison Sweeney), and Belle (Martha Madison), while also thinking of Brady as her son, as she raised him as if he were her own. However, before twins Eric and Samantha were ever born, Marlena had a son named Don Craig Jr, whom she called DJ, and whom she tragically lost when he was an infant.

Marlena’s Loss Was a Daytime Television First

More than four decades later, Marlena rarely mentions the son she lost in 1980 when he was only a few months old. At the time, Marlena was married to lawyer Don Craig (Jed Allen). Their son, DJ, was born premature, but seemed to be thriving after Don and Marlena brought him home. However, one day, Marlena went to check on him in his crib to find that he was not breathing.

DJ had died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which is the death of an otherwise healthy infant under a year old, per the Mayo Clinic. The tragedy tore Don and Marlena apart, but it also shed light on what was also widely called “Crib Death” at the time. When the producers first proposed telling the story, they spoke with Hall about how it would be presented.

As Hall looked back on her many years on Days of our Lives to mark her 50th anniversary with the show, she recalled a behind-the-scenes dilemma.

“There was a meeting and they said, ‘We’re not sure how to handle this,'” Hall said during an interview with Access Hollywood. “Because it’s so big and it’s a story that’s never been told on television and we don’t know if we should warn the audience. And a decision was made that it happens to women without warning. We got so much mail about that and it was really told in a beautiful way…We teach lessons all the time. We’ve had so many first on our show.”

With 50 years behind her as Marlena, we still expect many more soap opera firsts to come for Deidre Hall.