It looks like Days of our Lives' Abe Carver (James Reynolds) will once again be losing a woman he loves, as Vanessa Williams (Valerie Grant) has reportedly been cut from contract status at the long-running series.
As viewers of the NBC soap opera know, after Valerie received a dream job offer to become chief of staff at her old hospital in Washington, DC, she and Abe agreed to try to make a long-distance relationship work. While many fans hoped that Valerie would eventually come to realize that she missed Abe too much and that the pair would reunite, it looks like the long-distance arrangement was too much for the couple to endure: both eagle-eyed viewers and the DAYS' fan site Jason47 noticed that Williams' name was removed from the contract credits in the November 26 episode of the series.
DAYS introduced the character of Valerie in 1975 as the love interest for David Banning, a pairing that created quite the stir, as they were daytime's first interracial couple. The character was originally played by Tina Andrews, but Rose Fonseca took over the role just two years later. Valerie accepted a scholarship to medical school and left the canvas when David got another woman pregnant.
DAYS brought the character of Valerie back again in 1981 with Diane Sommerfield in the role, and it was this time around that the character started a romance with Abe. However, Valerie's lingering feelings for David complicated things, and the character was written out just one year later.
Williams took on the role of Valerie in October of 2016, when the cardiologist came back to Salem to help save an ailing Abe's life. The couple rekindled their relationship and managed to survive many setbacks, such Abe's son, Theo, disapproving of their romance, and Valerie's son, Eli Grant (Lamon Archey), being furious to find out that his mother had lied about his paternity for years and that David Banning was his biological father.
While both situations with their sons were incredibly stressful, it seems the long-distance situation will be the nail that seals Abe and Valerie's coffin. Williams did make a post from the DAYS set in June, which has fans speculating that perhaps Valerie will be giving Abe a final phone call from Washington in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned to find out if that's how DAYS will bring the pair's romance to an end this time around.
What do you think about Williams reportedly being dropped from contact status at DAYS? Were you hoping Valerie and Abe could make their relationship work? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
