Exclusive: DAYS's Eric Martsolf Reveals Brady's 'Turning Point'

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Brady’s confessed to a crime he thinks he committed on Days of our Lives : Running down Sarah with his car while he was in a drunken stupor. The horrific turn of events has thrust actor Eric Martsolf onto the front burner, a spot he’s quite familiar with, having portrayed the highs and lows of Brady for nearly 16 years. Martsolf discusses his character’s downfall, Fiona’s role in orchestrating it, and how it’s all “a turning point” for Brady.

Soap Opera Digest: How does this story rank among all the drama and angst you’ve played as Brady?

Eric Martsolf: It's got a lot riding on it. Given the predicaments that Brady has been in, more than ever he's at his wit's end and he’s definitely not thinking rationally. He's very much assuming, much to his family and his father's chagrin, that he's guilty of this crime. He doesn't want to listen to the evidence. He doesn't want to listen to anybody's story about it. He's pretty much convinced himself that he's a horrible guy. He got drunk again, he got behind the wheel, he mowed down a family member in the process and there's no coming back from this."

Digest: Brady wouldn’t listen to John’s plea to reconsider. He was adamant about admitting guilt. Why?

Martsolf: It was about standing up for what he believes is right. But it was primarily about showing his son and his daughter what kind of man he is, that when you screw up you have to suffer the consequences and face the wrath of your punishment. Brady’s philosophy is, “What kind of dad would I be if I tried to get myself out of this through some slick attorney and some slick legal moves? That's not the kind of man I want to be to my kids, Dad.” That's basically what he said to John, and John pleaded with him not to jump to the conclusion that he's guilty. John's been around long enough to know that it's not always black and white. Maybe there's a gray area here, something he’s not seeing. But Brady's got very dark-tinted glasses on as far as what happened. He sees it only one way, that he is the villain in this.

Digest: It’s sad to see Brady resign himself to taking the fall for a crime he doesn’t remember and, more importantly, didn’t even commit.

Martsolf: To me, Brady's always been a fighter. He's fought for people and for himself, but he's ready to throw the white towel into the ring and say, “You know what? Put me away. I'm a menace. I'm a danger to society. I'm a bad guy.” And so this is a turning point for him. It's almost just like this is the straw that's breaking the camel's back for him.

Digest: How do you see it as a turning point for him?

Martsolf: It's a turning point in the sense that he's losing complete faith in himself just as a decent person. He's ready to give up and go to jail for this. He's okay with it. Pretty much he's thrown his hands up in the air and said, “Come what may.” He turned himself in to the police and said, “You don't need to have some thorough investigation. I did it. Here's the proof. How else could this have gone down?” We all know it did go down a different way, but he's not seeing that as a possibility.

Digest: What about the Fiona factor? Right now, Brady has accepted her account of the night of the accident. Is that trust going to start to waver?

Martsolf: Their relationship is so new. I'd love to be able to tell you that, yes, they have this deep, resounding trust with one another after a couple nights of debauchery and drinking together. But no, that was never developed and that can't be stated. What I can say is they formed a friendship. They enabled one another to be themselves around each other. It’s much like the early history of Theresa and Brady, where they allowed each other to drink and use drugs, and they accepted that about one another. Fiona comes along and is like, “Hey, I'll make you a cocktail. I'll even serve it to you, but don't tell my son Xander that I'm doing this, because I am supposed to be clean as well.” So they take solace in that. But then the friendship obviously takes a very, very dark turn when Fiona decides to sabotage Brady .