Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis
Gabrielle Solis is played by Eva Longoria on the show,
Desperate Housewives. Gabrielle is the youngest housewife residing in Wisteria Lane. Before she tied the knot with Carlos Solis, she was working as a high-fashion runway model in New York. She decided to leave her modeling career behind and marry Carlos because she believed that he, given his affluence, would be able to take care of all her needs and wants.
Upon settling down in the suburbs of Wisteria Lane, Gabrielle soon found herself spending many lonely hours at home while Carlos was busy at work. Her boredom led her to engage in an extramarital affair with their gardener, John, who was a minor at the time. Fearing Carlos and the neighborhood would find out about her affair, Gabrielle took extra efforts in hiding her adulterous relationship. However, John, who had begun to express more serious feelings for Gabrielle, tried to convince her to leave Carlos. Gabrielle refused, worried about the consequences (especially about having to let go of her wealthy lifestyle) should Carlos become wise to their exploits.
Carlos did come close to finding out about Gabrielle and John, but Gabrielle was spared from having to confess when Carlos was arrested. Upon Carlos’ arrest, Gabrielle was forced to start working, but having no real work experience aside from modeling, she failed to hold down a job, may it have been selling mattresses for Valentines’ Day or modeling for Buicks at a local shopping mall.
She faced more hardship when Carlos, who had been mourning his mother’s unexpected death, began pressuring Gabrielle into having children. Gabrielle, who had not gotten along well with Carlos’ mother, had always been upfront about her desire to never bear children (an attitude that would later on change after a miscarriage). However, because Carlos tampered with her birth control pills, she later found out that she was pregnant. The problem was, she didn’t know if the baby was Carlos’ or John’s.
Carlos eventually found out about Gabrielles’ affair, and this consequently caused him to become indifferent to Gabrielle’s problems following his incarceration for importing slave labor. Although they were able to overcome their problems eventually, events following Carlos’ return home, including Gabrielle’s miscarriage, a failed adoption and their housekeeper’s Xiao Mei surrogate pregnancy, ultimately pushed Gabrielle to file for a divorce.
(Photo courtesy of ABC)