DAYS Exclusive: Martha Madison Says Shawn-Belle Breakup Is ‘Right Way to Go’

It’s splitsville for Days of our Lives’s Shawn and Belle — again. The once happy couple has opted to end their marriage, which means the actors who portray them, Martha Madison and Brandon Beemer, will be heading off in separate new storyline directions. Soap Opera Digest spoke to Madison about Belle’s decision to divorce, her reaction to the plot turn, and what her hopes are for her character moving forward.

Soap Opera Digest: What are your feelings about Shawn and Belle being over? Do you think it was time and that a breakup was inevitable?

Martha Madison: Shawn and Belle had kind of been written into a corner. I mean, they’ve been pretty awful to each other for a very long time. In order to make the couple relatable again, should that happen, we’d have to do a reset. We’d have to start over. I think breaking up the couple is the right way to go. Let them explore other people and who they are. Then, if they organically come back together, there’s something to root for, because they’ve grown and learned.

Digest: The characters’ love story began when they were teens in high school. They’ve obviously changed a lot since then.

Madison: Exactly. My high school days feel like [I was] a completely different person. The fact that the couple was sort of predestined and have been focused on only each other for decades leaves very little to know about each of them individually.

It’s really cool that we finally get to crack the egg open and see what’s on the inside of each of these people independently before, or if, they ever decide to go down that [romantic] road again. It seems like a natural thing to do, and it’s great for drama.

Digest: Have you gotten any fan response to the breakup yet?

Madison: Shawn and Belle’s determination to get a divorce just aired [the other] week, so I don’t know how they’re going to respond to it. I know there are die-hard Shawn and Belle fans who don’t want to see the couple split up. I’m sure that will be hard for them at first. But I also think there are a lot of people who have disliked one or both of our characters because of how awful they’ve been to each other. So this could be a lovely change. I would just encourage the fans to keep an open mind and go for the ride, because it’s really fun.

Digest: What about your hopes for Belle once she’s single again?

Madison: Well, the more the merrier, right [laughs]? I like that they’re writing Belle as an intelligent, strong and confident woman. Adding onto that that she’s newly single will speak to a lot of single moms in their [middle age] who might be watching the show. It’s been really fun for me, because I’ve gotten to work with so many different people and really explore who Belle is as a person. I just got a script yesterday where I read something and was like, “What? I didn’t know that about Belle.” I’m learning things about her that I never knew.

Digest: Is there anybody on the canvas that you think might be a good next leading man for Belle?

Madison: Well, the [extended DAYS] preview showed that Belle and EJ have a connection, and they’ve tangoed with that in the past. So I would expect to see some of that. As far as a long-term partner, I don’t know. I would really like to see who this professor [who she had an affair with] was from 2015, which caused Shawn and Belle’s first divorce. That is something I would love to explore. Of course, Philip is back in Salem. I’m sure we’ll explore some of that. But I don’t know. I mean, I’m not in the writers’ head or the writers’ room. I don’t really know what the plans are, but I think it’s a wide-open canvas right now.