On the August 6 episode of Days of our Lives, Susan pretended to be Kristen so she could say goodbye to Rachel. Brady figured it out right away. But this isn’t the first time the two women have impersonated each other. The show never gave a good reason for why they look so much alike. But we think we know.
Key Takeaways
- Susan and Kristen have been impersonating each other since Susan’s arrival in 1997.
- Stacy Haiduk skillfully let Kristen’s identity peek through her latest disguise.
- A wild family theory could finally explain why Susan and Kristen look identical.
Double Trouble: Susan and Kristen
DAYS viewers first met Susan (then played by Eileen Davidson, now The Young and the Restless‘ Ashley) in 1997, when Kristen (also played by Davidson, who explains how she came to play both roles) found a homeless, pregnant woman who happened to look just like her, and hired her to pretend to be Kristen, who was claiming to be pregnant with John’s (Drake Hogestyn) child.
That baby turned out to be EJ (now Dan Feuerriegel). His real father turned out to be Stefano (the late Joseph Mascolo), and the plan blew up in Kristen’s face.
Kristen Hides in Plain Sight
Most recently, Kristen (now Stacy Haiduk) impersonated Susan when she came to deliver a message from her missing mother to Rachel (Lorelei Olivia Mote). First, a shout-out to Haiduk (who’s nominated for a 2026 Daytime Emmy) for so skillfully telegraphing who was who even before Brady (Eric Martsolf) called her out on it.
That’s not easy to pull off, and she did it solely through letting Kristen’s facial expressions bleed out under the Susan act. It also got us thinking…
Is Susan and Kristen’s Connection Deeper Than We Think?
What if Susan is Kristen’s biological mother? Ages on DAYS are always screwy. For instance, when Kristen was trying to trap John via a faked pregnancy, John’s son, Brady, was all of five years old. He saw Kristen as a mother figure. Now they are both Rachel’s parents.
So is it outside the realm of possibility that Susan had Kristen as a teenager, gave her up to the Blake family, then reunited with her long-lost daughter when Susan was still young enough to give birth to EJ? The math is possible. At least in Salem….
MORE: Here’s what’s next on DAYS.
