Losing a Beloved Character: Remembering Izzy B

While Staci Greason was only on “Days of Our Lives” for three years, she created a character who was beloved and whose loss is still felt to this day.

Isabella Toscano loved John Black fiercely and went through many ups and downs during her life in Salem. Let’s revisit and learn more about Brady’s gone-too-soon mother.

Rough Start
When we first encountered Isabella, she was in a mental institution thanks to her sister, Marina. Jack Deveraux (Matthew Ashford) realized Isabella was sane and helped her escape. He then found the key to her family’s fortune, and ventured to Italy to get the fortune and a diary. She gave a copy of the key to Victor (John Aniston) in exchange for Kayla’s (Mary Beth Evans) safe return.

On the Case
Unable to believe that Kayla could murder her sister, Marina, Isabella teamed up with John Black (though everyone thought he was Roman at the time) to find out the truth. It turned out Isabella herself had killed Marina (she blocked it out), but it was in self-defense. Her father Ernesto wanted the diary and planned to make all of his enemies pay while on a cruise. Only Victor knew who this man was as everyone gathered.

Cruise of Deception
Knowing the truth had to come out, Jack returned the missing diary pages to Isabella, and she learned she was Victor’s child. She confessed to Ernesto that she killed Marina, and later he kidnapped her, dragging her away. On an island, he held her prisoner and poisoned her just like he did her mother. Roman/John rescued her, they fell in love, and she later bonded with Victor.

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Their lives were turned upside down when Roman/John’s wife returned from the dead. Marlena was alive, leaving Isabella out in the cold — until it turned out Roman Brady was also alive — meaning John Black (Drake Hogestyn) wasn’t who he thought he was.

Isabella became pregnant, but John felt he couldn’t marry Izzy B (his nickname for her) until he knew who he was so their baby would have a name. After another identity misadventure, the two were married in 1992. Soon after having giving birth to their son, Brady Victor Black, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died in John’s arms.

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