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Brody Lovett
Brody Lovett
Mark Lawson as Brody Lovett]]
One Life to Live
Portrayed by Mark Lawson
(2008-present)
Duration 2008-present
First appearance April 2008
Profile
Gender Male
Age 32
Occupation Police Officer
Residence Angel Square Hotel
Llanview, Pennsylvania


Brody Lovett is a fictional character from the original ABC daytime soap opera, One Life to Live. The character has been portrayed by Mark Lawson on contract status since April 2008.

Storyline[]

Arrival[]

Brody is a former Navy SEAL brought to Llanview by Adriana Cramer to distract Gigi Morasco from Adriana's fiancée Rex Balsom. A hardened veteran of the war in Iraq, Brody had been "stop-lossed" several times during his tours of duty.

Gigi establishes in 2007 that Brody, the father of her son Shane, had died heroically overseas while she had still been pregnant. Threatened by Gigi's connection to her high school sweetheart Rex, Adriana sends her mother Dorian Lord to get information on the deceased Brody in 2008. Meeting Brody's sister Nadine, Dorian discovers that Brody is in fact alive; disapproving of the match, Brody's mother had told Gigi he had died, and had told Brody that Gigi had moved on to another man. Further, Adriana's suspicions that Gigi had already been pregnant when she had met Brody — and that Rex is most likely Shane's father — are confirmed. She is even more discouraged to discover that Brody and Gigi's relationship was platonic, despite Brody's willingness to give her son a name and his hopes of building a family with Gigi.

With her wedding to Rex approaching — and Gigi and Rex getting closer — Adriana pays the hard-drinking and volatile Brody to come to Llanview. Adriana hopes Brody can distract Gigi from Rex and help keep the secret of Shane's paternity from coming out, which she fears will cement Gigi and Rex forever and doom Adriana's relationship with him. Traumatized by his experiences in the Iraq War and embittered by what he believes was Gigi's abandonment of him, Brody still has feelings for Gigi but is hesitant to disrupt her life. Convinced by Adriana that Gigi and Shane need him, Brody finally makes his presence known to a shocked Gigi and elated Shane at Rex and Adriana's wedding. With Rex married to Adriana, Gigi and Brody keep up the pretense that Brody is Shane's father; Gigi feels as though she has no choice but to allow Brody back into her life, as she is unwilling to disrupt Rex's marriage or crush her son's hopes and dreams of finally knowing his "father." Brody hopes to pursue a real relationship with Gigi, but she is soon wrapped up again with Rex, who separates from Adriana after discovering her machinations. Meanwhile, Brody focuses his attentions and affection on Shane, to whom he grows very close, thinking of the boy as "his son" in every respect. Brody sees in Shane an opportunity for a new start, and takes the initiative to find employment and begin attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. When Gigi leaves town to pursue the missing Rex to Texas, a jealous Brody takes charge of Shane and the household. Having grown dependent on Shane's love and validation, Brody fears that if Gigi and Rex are to reunite, he will lose access to the most important person in his life. When local psychic Madame Delphina cryptically warns Brody that Gigi and Rex may be "gone for good," Brody panics, fearing that Social Services will put Shane into the foster care system if he is unable to assert paternity. Brody uses Rex's DNA from a toothbrush to fake a paternity test which "proves" Brody to be Shane's father and therefore, his legal guardian in Gigi's absence. Brody's hopes are dashed, however, when Gigi and Rex return to Llanview together, Rex knowing the truth about Shane's paternity and the couple ready to tell Shane.

Despondent, Brody suffers a mental breakdown, trashing Gigi's house and accidentally injuring her friend Marcie McBain. Lapsing into "combat mode," Brody outmaneuvers Gigi and Rex by picking up Shane from school and taking him to Llantano Mountain. Once there, a delusional and armed Brody dons his old combat fatigues and begins to tell Shane about his experiences in Iraq. Losing track of reality, Brody suffers vivid hallucinations from his tours of duty, including the image of an Iraqi boy he had accidentally killed during a raid. Brody is cornered by the Llanview Police Department, accompanied by Gigi and Rex; initially, Brody uses Shane as a human shield, but soon declares he could never hurt "his son" and sends the boy to his mother. Police Commissioner Bo Buchanan, a former Vietnam vet, tries to talk Brody down, but an unstable Brody fires wildly, accidentally shooting Rex. Brody is arrested and taken into custody, where his condition worsens due to his severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Now aware of Brody's deep trauma stemming from his war experiences, a recovered Rex decides not to press charges, and a stabilized Brody is admitted to St Ann's sanitarium for treatment.

Meeting Jessica[]

At St. Ann's, Brody befriends Jessica Buchanan, who is recovering from her latest bout of dissociative identity disorder following the death of her husband. Brody was visited by his old war buddy, Wes Granger. Sadly Wes was murdered by Powell Lord III just weeks after his arrival in Llanview. Brody blamed himself for the death because he couldn't remember where he was at the time of Wes' death. Realizing his conflicting memories of the encounter in which he had shot an Iraqi boy, Brody learns that the boy had not been armed as he had been led to believe; a fellow soldier had put a gun in the child's hand to protect Brody. Brody met Tess, Jessica's alternate personality, who tries to convince him to help him escape. After the two are released, Jessica helps Brody find a place to stay but it just happends to be in the same room Wes was murdered in. The two shared a kiss but they later agreed to stay friends.

After Shane is diagnosed with Leukemia, Gigi is blackmailed by her sister Stacy to dump Rex in order to get Stacy's stem cells to save Shane. Gigi asks Brody to pretend they're sleeping together to convince Rex that she doesn't love him. Unfortunately, Jessica arrives as Gigi is leaving. She tells him that he was right and they should have stayed friends. When Brody finally tells Jessica that the affair was fake, they admit their true feelings and make love for the first time. But, to help Gigi, they decide to keep their relationship a secret. Jessica's sister Natalie never approved of the relationship thinking Brody was a lying cheater. Shortly after Jessica tells her the truth, they discover that Chloe has been kidnapped. By the time, Chloe is returned, Jessica's entire family has found out that Chloe isn't Jessica's daughter at all. Jessica's alternate personality, Bess emerges and runs off with the child. Brody leads them directly to her in Morgan Town, West Virginia, which is were her late husband Nash Brennan's parents live. Brody is the only person who can get through to Jessica. When Jessica is forced to give Chloe back, she finds comfort in Brody's arms. After her recovery, Jessica persuades Brody to apply for a job at the Llanview Police Department assuring him that her uncle Bo would hire him. Before he is fully trained, his fellow officer, John McBain enlist Brody and Cole Thornhart to work undercover to expose a drug trade.

References[]

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