What Happened to Sheila on DAYS OF OUR LIVES

Viewers of DAYS OF OUR LIVES can be forgiven for thinking that the actress playing ex-con Sheila looks familiar. That’s because she’s Tionne Watkins, better known as T-Boz, one-third of the popular R&B girl group TLC who had multiple hits in the ‘90s like “Waterfalls” and “No Scrubs.” The performer turned a couple of brief appearances into a more substantial role on the soap, but her time in Salem came to an end in May of 2019. However, she’s scheduled for a comeback in April of 2020.

Watkins made her debut in November of 2016 as hardened prison inmate Sheila Watkins, who made life difficult for Hope Brady when she was sentenced for the murder of Stefano DiMera. Hope had some support from fellow inmate Hattie Adams, who was imprisoned after being framed by her boyfriend for embezzlement. After fellow inmate Chille was murdered, Hope tried to get the upper hand on Sheila and her partner, Coco, but they ambushed and stabbed her! Luckily, Hope recovered and was eventually freed.

The Grammy winner returned to DAYS beginning in September of 2017 when Sheila was seen once more, still behind bars but celebrating her imminent release. Bonnie Lockhart asked her to take a message to Justin Kiriakis after she got out, but when Sheila arrived at the mansion, she quickly put two and two together and realized that Bonnie had switched places with her double and was comfortably residing in the lap of luxury while Adrienne was the one who was really stuck in prison! Bonnie covered for Sheila’s arrival by claiming she was there to interview to be the new maid, and Sheila agreed to take the job but demanded money to keep her silence about Bonnie’s scheme.

Sheila wasn’t really interested in doing any work, and Bonnie was struggling to put the cash together for her. So the con returned to the prison to visit Adrienne and tell her she never shared the message. Adrienne warned her she couldn’t trust Bonnie, but Sheila wasn’t bothered. Things took an interesting turn when Sheila ran into Eli Grant in Horton Square and Gabi was surprised to learn that the two were old friends from back in the day. 

Sheila’s cushy job as a maid that doesn’t really do much work at the Kiriakis mansion came to a swift end when Bonnie’s scheme was ultimately uncovered, but she made another unexpected return to Salem in September 2018, when she arrived at the police station with the baby girl Bonnie claimed Lucas fathered! Of course, that turned out not to be true, and Sheila was left looking for another way to stick around town. Luckily, her old friend, Eli, offered her a place to stay until she could find a job.

Of course, finding a job turned out to be a little bit tricky, but after a series of near-disasters, Sheila eventually landed at the Salem PD working for Abe Carver. Heck, she also did a little moonlighting officiating for Sonny and Leo’s shotgun wedding! While Sheila wasn’t always particularly good at her job, the friction between her and Abe started to turn into a tentative friendship.

Sheila was solidly behind Abe during his run for mayor, but her attempt to prove that there was nothing between them backfired when the kiss she planted on him was captured on film and used by Jack to humiliate his opponent! Sheila resigned from her job to help Abe save face, but it also had the unfortunate side-effect of ruining his relationship with Valerie.

Sheila hasn’t been seen in Salem since then, so stay tuned to see what happens next, and for more DAYS news, keep reading Soaps In Depth magazine!