Gabrielle Solis

Gabrielle Solís (née Márquez, previously Lang) is a main character on Dirty Little Secrets. She is portrayed by Eva Longoria Parker.

Early life
Gabrielle Márquez was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in 1976, where her family was very poor. It is said that she has a brother and sister in You Gotta Get a Gimmick.

When she was five, her father died of cancer. Since then, her mother began having multiple affairs/boyfriends. When Gabrielle was 15 years old, she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather, Alejandro, and left home the next day. Her mother, Lucía, blamed Gabrielle, thinking she was jealous. Five years later, she seduced a fashion photographer and became a successful model. She attracted the affections of businessman Carlos Solis, whom she married and moved to Wisteria Lane in 2003.

Overview
Gabby Solis is portrayed as a passionate, lively, extrovert woman; often appearing vain, shallow and materialistic but can be sympathetic and supportive, particularly towards her friends and family. She is often reckless, thinking of herself first but regretting it later and making amends. She is very attractive and can wrap men around her finger and uses sex as a mean to get what she wants. In hard times, Gabby actually shows her strength and becomes reliable.

Season One
At the start of the series, Gabrielle is having an affair with her teenage gardener, John Rowland. She feels that John treats her with respect while Carlos is constantly away on business and unwilling to discuss emotions. Carlos, however, suspects Gabby is having an affair and gets his mother to watch her. Gabby does her best to keep Juanita busy but Juanita photographs Gabby and John together, just as they are ending their affair. John goes after her and, not looking where she is going, Juanita is knocked down by Andrew Van de Kamp and slips into a coma. Gabrielle takes the camera but is forced to admit her affair with John to his mother, Helen, after she attacks Susan.

One of Carlos's business associates, Tanaka, is not what he seems and Carlos is arrested for their activities. He is released on bail and builds a case with his lawyers. As the authorities are unable to find the proceeds, they offer a plea bargain. Gabby insists they take it and Juanita, coming out of her coma, dies after an accident at the hospital while unsupervised. The hospital offer Carlos and Gaby $1.6 million, which they take. Unfortunately the money doesn't come through immediately and, needing to pay the bills, Gabby returns to work as Carlos is under house arrest.

Gabrielle finds she is pregnant because Carlos, wanting a family of his own, meddles with her birth control. When she finds out she is so angry that she almost leaves but makes Carlos promise to look after the baby in return for testifying at his trial for gay hate crimes. Unfortunately, John tells Carlos about their affair and that he could be the father of Gabby's baby. In a fit of rage, Carlos goes after John and is convicted, leaving Gabrielle in an uncertain situation.

Season Two
Carlos is in jail and unwilling to forgive Gabrielle for her affair. He also insists on a DNA test, which she manages to fake by stealing someone else's results. After discovering John is sleeping with another client named Joan, she apologizes to Carlos and he forgives her. Gabrielle loses the baby after falling down the stairs while running away from Caleb Applewhite, who broke into her house.

Carlos is released from prison, thanks to a nun called Sister Mary and a Catholic early release program. Sister Mary dislikes Gaby, telling her that she is responsible for Carlos going to prison, trying to fund the lifestyle she wanted. She suggests an annulment to Carlos and in revenge, and Gabby tells her priest that she is concerned about Carlos's feelings for Sister Mary so Sister Mary is transferred to Alaska.

She and Carlos agree to try for another baby once she is convinced that Carlos wants children with her, not just any convenient woman. This plan is shelved, however, when they discover she is unlikely to get pregnant due to injuries suffered when she miscarried. She and Carlos try adopting but Helen Rowland works for the adoption agency and, angry about Gaby's affair with John, warns them she will make sure that they never adopt so they look into surrogacy with Gaby's mother offering to be surrogate but Gaby refuses to even consider it. Carlos, not believing Gabby's mother blamed her what happened with Alejandro, visits her and is horrified to realize Gabby was right. Their next option was to adopt pole-dancer Libby Collins's daughter, who they named Lily. They are granted temporary custody after Libby tells her boyfriend, Frank, that he isn't the father but his brother, Dale, is. Dale says he wants Lily back but Gaby blackmails him to sign away his parental rights but Frank, determined to be Lily's father, persuades Libby to change her mind and reclaim her daughter. Finally, they ask their maid, Xiao-Mei, to be surrogate after she admits that she is in danger of being deported. Xiao-Mei gets pregnant but Gabrielle discovers that she and Carlos are having an affair. Following this, she throws Carlos out but tells Xiao Mei that she is staying with her until the baby is born.

Season Three
Xiao-Mei's baby is born on Orson and Bree's wedding day. However, the baby is black, forcing the doctor to admit that the wrong embryo was implanted in Xiao-Mei. Unfortunately Carlos and Gaby's embryo didn't take so the baby is given to its biological parents. Carlos and Gabrielle divorce.

Gabrielle changes her surname back to Marquez and tries returning to modelling but as punishment for walking out on her agent years before is forced to model as a frumpy cake decorator in a portrait of another model. She begins mentoring young girls in beauty pageantry instead. She also returnes to the dating scene, first dating the father of one of the pageant girls, and then her "stalker", (Zach Young). Later, in the season, she meets mayoral candidate Victor Lang, who pursues her despite her insistence that she isn't interested. She eventually accepts his proposal, and they marry during the season finale on May 19, 2007, although shortly afterward she overhears Victor saying that he married her because she would be useful for the "Latino vote" in the upcoming election for governor, and, distraught, goes to Carlos for comfort (who, in the meantime, had been dating Edie Britt).

Season Four
Gabrielle Lang and Carlos Solis plan to escape together; however, Edie stages a suicide attempt, and Carlos refuses to leave her, though he continues the affair with Gaby. They are discovered when Edie catches an STI from an infected sun bed which she accidentally gives to Carlos. He passes it to Gabrielle and she gives it to Victor. Carlos and Edie separate but when she realizes Victor has her STI, she hires a private detective and shows the photos to Victor. He takes Gabrielle out on a boat trip, where she assumes he will murder her, so she hits him over the head with an oar and calls Carlos for help. They fight Victor and he falls overboard, nowhere to be seen and is presumed dead but later is found, washed up and claiming to have amnesia to everyone but Gabrielle. She decides, after Victor threatens her, to leave town with Carlos, but this turns out to be unnecessary because Victor is killed during the tornado that hits Wisteria Lane. In the aftermath, Carlos is blinded, and Gabrielle and Carlos remarry.

Also in season 4, it is revealed that Gabrielle's father died of cancer when she was five. Her mother told her not to cry so as not to upset her dying father. She insisted Gabrielle be perpetually smiling, and so (she admits to Lynette) that's the way she's been ever since. She feels uncomfortable around cancer patients because of her father.

Five years following the events of Season 4, Gabrielle’s life has changed dramatically. Despite previous medical doubts, Gaby unexpectedly becomes pregnant twice. She is initially shown as being worn down, having gained some weight and taken on massive responsibilities that her blind husband cannot assist her with. She and Carlos are essentially “broke” and Carlos becomes a massage therapist. Gaby is shown ill-adjusted to her new life.

Season Five
Both her daughters, Juanita and Celia, are overweight. Gaby is concerned but Carlos seems to be less worried. Through his work at the Country Club, he meets Mrs Virginia Hildebrand, a wealthy client. She is lonely, due to her estrangement from her own family, and takes Carlos, Gaby and their daughters under her wing. Unfortunately Gaby tells her to leave them alone, after Virginia tries to insist on sending the girls to a private school and Gaby doesn't want them to go. The girls get fatter.

Early in the season, while fighting, Carlos is injured during the storm by a large wooden splinter and a CAT scan reveals that he can have an operation that will return his sight. Gabrielle is worried by this, fearing Carlos will no longer find her attractive, so she begins a slow transition towards her former appearance. It seems to be that Gabrielle was pregnant with Juanita right before the five-year jump because she is 4½ years old. When Carlos' vision is restored, Gabrielle’s efforts throughout the past five years are not unnoticed. She had sold nearly all her designer wardrobe in order to keep her family afloat. Carlos ultimately quits his job as a masseur and takes a high-paying business job so that he can support his family as Gabrielle did. With a large income and more relaxed lifestyle, Gabrielle succeeds her goal of regaining her former beauty but realizes motherhood and years of looking after Carlos has changed her for the better.

Gabrielle also covers for Carlos's boss, Bradley, when she discovers he is having an affair. She does it so Carlos will receive a higher wage and more time off. Eventually Gabrielle comes to her senses and tells his wife, Maria. Later, Carlos and Gabrielle are horrified to learn that Maria killed Bradley when he told her that he was leaving her for his hair dresser. Gabrielle later gets jealous when Carlos hires his ex-girlfriend, Lucy, as his right-hand lady which he took over from Bradley. Gabrielle gets Lynette a job with them so she can spy on Carlos and Lucy but is soon fed up with Carlos constantly being at work, due to Lucy insisting everyone works more hours. Gabrielle is happy when Carlos decides to let Lucy go due to the way she treats people.

Gabrielle is highly affected by the death of Edie Britt and remembers the friendly competitions for men they once had. She recalls Edie insisting that she wouldn't survive past fifty and is saddened to realize that she was right.

At the conclusion of the season, Gaby agrees to take in Carlos's teenage niece, Ana, who was being raised by Aunt Connie. Ana immediately tests Gaby's patience when she is asked to do some chores, she gets the Scavo boys to clean the house because "they asked to hang out with her".

Season Six
Ana continues to test Gaby's patience by wearing inappropriate clothes, stealing money and sneaking out of the house at night, which causes Gaby to refuse to become Ana's legal guardian. However, when Ana reveals her intentions of rushing through life, Gaby sees herself in her and signs the paperwork making her Ana's legal guardian. Ana thinks Gaby is too mean, and Gaby explains that she wishes someone had been mean to her at that age.

When John Rowland returns, this causes problems with Gabrielle and Carlos. He thinks that she still wants to look nice for her ex-lover. When Gaby shows up at John's restaurant, (where Carlos is having his business dinner) she doesn't put any effort into her look. She tells Carlos that she has stood by him for 11 years. She stayed with him when he was poor, blind and when he "knocked her up twice." When Ana begins to fall for John, Gaby intervenes and tells John to stay away. He then tells her he was only flirting with Ana to see if she still had feelings for him. He then asks her to run off with him and kisses Gaby just as Ana walks in. She confesses her past affair with John to Ana, and the two finally mend fences as Gaby declares her love for Carlos. Gaby then answers John by sending a photo strip of them together, torn right down the middle.

When Gabrielle finds out Lynette is pregnant, she is angered her friend kept this secret rather than risk her job. She does try to make peace but when Lynette sues Carlos, she angrily rejects their friendship. In "Boom Crunch", while Gabrielle and Lynette are fighting during a Christmas block party, a plane crash-lands on Wisteria Lane. Lynette pushes Celia out of the path of the plane.

In "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" Gabrielle told Carlos she didn't want to be reminded of her Mexican heritage - because of how poor she was, not wanting her girls to know she lived like that. Carlos told her they should know where their mother came from and the sacrifice her father made, to which Gabrielle agreed.

Gaby got involved in the Bolen's secret when she overhears Angie and Nick discussing their cover. Later, in "Chromolume No. 7, when Angie and Gaby traveled to New York, Gaby was treated badly by her old co-workers, super-models Heidi Klum and Paulina Porizkova, she realizes that she married Carlos because her career was on the verge of failure. While returning to Fairview, Angie reveals to Gaby that Patrick Logan, the "very bad guy" she's been running away from, is actually Danny's father.

In "We All Deserve to Die", Gaby decides to donate eggs to Bob and Lee so they can have a child but after changes her mind, leading them to break up. Gaby saves the Bolen family and is the one to say goodbye to them when they are leaving for Atlanta (and Danny New York). Bree finally tells Gaby about the hit and run accident that happened 10 years before.

Season Seven
Gabrielle is told the truth of Andrew killing Carlos' mother but decides to keep it quiet, fearing Carlos' reaction and not wanting to hurt him. She is unaware of Carlos learning that Juanita was switched at birth with another baby and that Carlos is keeping that secret from her. When Juanita is hospitalized after accidentally run over by Bree's car, Gabrielle is stunned when the nurse tells her that there's no way she and Carlos can be the parents with their blood types. Gabrielle worries she slept with a man eight years earlier on a ski trip and he might be the father. Carlos finds out how she ripped up a hospital form and confronts her. When Gabrielle claims to not know she cheated, Carlos tells her the truth, devastating her. She agrees to sign a deal with Carlos not to reveal the truth in exchange for a settlement from the hospital. However, Gabrielle soon realizes she wants to meet her true daughter and convinces a lawyer to find the other family. Carlos is angered when he finds out, telling her that the family could take Juanita away and if that happens, he'll never forgive Gabrielle. When they meet the family they automatically know that Grace is Gaby's daughter as she is throwing a fit over a jumper.

Trivia

 * Actress Roselyn Sánchez auditioned for the role also but the producers thought she wasn't right for the role because of her heavy Puerto Rican accent.
 * Actress Laura Harring also auditioned for the role of Gabrielle