What Happened to Maggie on DAYS OF OUR LIVES
Maggie Horton has been on DAYS OF OUR LIVES for decades, so newer viewers can be forgiven for not being completely up on the character’s long history in Salem. Maggie first appeared in 1973 when Suzanne Rogers joined the cast of DAYS as the crippled farm girl. In 1979, the actress earned a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her work on the soap. And in 2023, Rogers celebrated her 50th anniversary on the soap!
Crippled as the result of a car accident in her childhood, Maggie took on hired hands to help run her farm. This is how she met Mickey Horton, who arrived suffering from amnesia and calling himself Marty Hanson. The two fell in love and were married, but when he suggested she visit Salem University Hospital to look into a surgery that could help her walk again, she saw a photo of Mickey and realized who she had married. Maggie hoped to keep him in the dark, but his family tracked him down and brought him home. After the surgery, Maggie learned that her paralysis was no longer physical, but mental, and not only was she finally able to overcome it and walk again, Mickey divorced Laura and officially married the redhead.
Maggie and Mickey adopted a daughter, Janice, but her birth mother tried to take her back. This stress led Maggie to start drinking, and she was arrested when she caused a car accident while Janice was in the car with her. She joined Alcoholics Anonymous, but fell off the wagon when Janice’s custody hearing neared. A desperate Maggie kidnapped the little girl and fled town, though Tom Horton convinced her to come home. After Janice fell into the water at the pier and slipped into a coma, Joanna and Maggie fought for custody, and Maggie sadly lost.
Years later, Maggie agreed to act as a surrogate for an anonymous donor, and became pregnant. Dr. Evan Whyland came to Salem and began to spend a lot of time with Maggie. Mickey learned that Evan was the baby’s father, but Maggie still wanted to keep it. Mickey agreed to love the baby as if it were his own, and in 1981, Sarah Horton was born. Following a custody battle, Mickey and Maggie were awarded the little girl. The following year, the couple also took custody of a young woman named Melissa Anderson, who had run away from her mother.
Tragedy struck when Stefano DiMera had Evan killed and when Mickey investigated, the villain had him kidnapped and made everyone believe he’d died in a car crash! Mickey’s partner, Don, began spending time with the widow and soon fell in love with Maggie himself. Just after they both professed their feelings for each other, Mickey escaped and returned home! Maggie divorced Mickey, but soon realized that was a mistake and dumped Don to return to her true love. On Valentine’s Day, 1986, Mickey and Maggie were remarried in a double ceremony with Melissa and Pete Jannings.
As time went on, Maggie was feeling neglected by Mickey and found solace in the arms of doctor Neil Curtis. Sarah caught them together and planned to expose their affair, but they revealed to the girl that Neil was actually her real biological father. She still exposed them, and a devastated Mickey realized he was partly to blame for driving Maggie away. They patched things up and Maggie got into the restaurant business, opening Alice’s Restaurant and later buying Tuscany.
When Maggie was apparently killed by the Salem Stalker, Mickey started a relationship with Bonnie Lockhart. After Maggie was found alive with the other “victims” and returned to Salem, she immediately set her mind to winning back her husband, who had since married Bonnie. With Doug’s help, Maggie was able to convince Mickey that Bonnie was just after his money and he eventually dumped her.
In 2010, Maggie was devastated when Mickey died of a heart attack. When she later struck up a friendship with Victor Kiriakis, his wife, Vivian Alamain, tried to get rid of Maggie by burying her alive. Victor divorced Vivian and courted Maggie, and while she struggled to accept his criminal past, they eventually became engaged. Maggie also learned that she had a son, Daniel Jonas, from an experimental program decades earlier where she’d harvested some of her eggs. Sadly, Daniel was killed in a car accident and Maggie agreed to donate his heart to save the life of Brady Black.
Victor’s brother, Deimos Kiriakis, poisoned Maggie and she took a fall that left her paralyzed again. Victor agreed to turn over his assets to Deimos in exchange for an antidote to save his wife. Eventually, Maggie regained the ability to walk and Victor continued to stand by her. For her part, Maggie also stands by Victor, doing her best to keep him from getting out of line!
After a time jump of a year, Maggie couldn’t remember much about the previous Mother’s Day aside from an emotional visit from her daughter, Summer, who revealed that she was dying from her drinking. Devastated, Maggie hit the bottle again and drove drunk, running Adrienne Kiriakis off the road as she was driving a pregnant Sarah Horton to the hospital. But she had no memory of the accident, and Will Horton believed he was responsible for Adrienne’s death. Victor and Xander Kiriakis tried to cover up her involvement, but when Maggie remembered what she’d done she immediately confessed! And despite everyone’s attempt to talk her out of it, she insisted on facing her punishment and going to prison!
While behind bars, her loved ones tried to keep her from learning the truth but eventually, Xander visited and she got him to confess that Kristen had stabbed Victor because they had switched her baby with Sarah’s, and Sarah’s baby had died the night of the accident that Maggie caused. Grief-stricken, Maggie decided to take her own life not realizing that the real truth behind that fateful night was that Orpheus had drugged her and after accidentally causing the accident himself, put her in the driver’s seat!
Thankfully, Xander found Maggie in time to save her life and told her the truth about what had happened. And once Maggie was out of prison and back home with her family, she offered advice to Xander and Sarah as they found their way back together and also tried to keep Bonnie from sniffing around Justin Kiriakis. However, following Summer’s death, Maggie returned to Salem in the fall of 2021 and, having softened towards Bonnie, officiated her and Justin’s nuptials!
After Sarah left town, Maggie tried to be happy for Xander’s new relationship with Gwen Rizczech, but was soon horrified to learn that Sarah was actually missing! Once Sarah was found, she’d been drugged and thought that she was Renee DuMonde, so Maggie reluctantly had her daughter committed and then took her to a clinic in Florida for treatment. Ultimately, an antidote was found and Maggie injected her daughter, bringing back Sarah’s memories. Once Sarah was fully herself again, Maggie urged her to reconcile with Xander and offered her money to help start their future, which Sarah refused.
Victor named Maggie CEO of Titan and she immediately began butting heads with Alex Kiriakis over business matters. After leaving him in charge while she went to Greece with Victor, Maggie came home to find he’d blown a big deal and fired him. After reluctantly agreeing to rehire Alex, she also offered Chad DiMera a job. During a visit to Chicago, Maggie discovered that Sarah was pregnant and immediately knew it wasn’t Rex’s baby. She was tempted to tell Xander about his child but then news came that Victor’s plane had gone down and he’d died in the crash!
Stay tuned to see how Maggie’s story continues!
