DAYS Next Generation: Julie Williams and Nicole Walker DiMera

Julie Williams is currently one of Days of our Lives’ best-loved grandmas. And great-grandmas. But she wasn’t always someone good for advice, hospitality, and dropping your kids off for DAYS (yes, we’re looking at you, Chad). Before she was Julie Williams, she was Julie Olson, a troubled teen…and an all-around bad girl. Kind of like Nicole Walker. Why do we expect the latest Mrs. EJ DiMera to follow in this veteran’s footsteps?

Helping the Needy

Both Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes) and Nicole (Arianne Zucker) pulled their early dirty tricks because they so desperately wanted love. Julie was raised by her doting and nurturing grandparents, Tom (Macdonald Carey) and Alice (Frances Reid). But she still felt the sting of being abandoned by her mother, Addie.

Nicole had an abusive father and a mother who was less than there for her. No wonder they threw themselves at inappropriate men. And, did whatever they felt they had to, in order to keep those men away from women they thought were inappropriate for them. Like, say, when Julie wanted David Martin. Who just happened to be married to Julie’s best friend, Susan (Denise Alexander). But why should that stop her?

Growing Up

You know what really changed Julie? It was giving birth to her son, David. And giving him up for adoption. (David Sr. had died in the meantime. Killed by Susan. But not over Julie.) David was adopted by the Banning family. When Janet Banning died, Julie married her widower, Scott, so she could get her son back.

Losing David and then reuniting with him is what forced Julie to grow up. She matured so much that, years later, when Julie’s mom, Addie, was married to Doug (Bill Hayes), the man Julie loved, Julie stepped back from fighting for Doug when she learned Addie was pregnant with Doug’s baby. (That would be Hope.) See, she’s a good girl now!

Second Chances

We expect the same thing to happen when Nicole is reunited with the son she thinks was stillborn, but he’s actually being raised by Eric (Greg Vaughan) and Sloan (Jessica Serfaty). The loss and the miracle of getting him back will mature Nicole like it matured Julie. Why, Nicole will be on track to becoming everybody’s favorite grandma in no time!

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