Gabrielle Medina

Gabrielle Medina is a fictional character from the ABC soap opera One Life to Live. The role was played by actress Fiona Hutchison, who debuted in the role February 20, 1987. She played the role until 1991, and returned from 2001 to 2004. Hutchison briefly reprised the role for the series finale January 6 and 9, 2012. Gabrielle's storylines have included her romances with Max Holden, (James DePaiva/Nicholas Walker), Asa Buchanan (Philip Carey) and Asa's son Bo Buchanan (Robert S. Woods), a feud with Tina Lord (Andrea Evans), the introduction of her mother, being trapped in the lost city of Eterna and being murdered by the Music Box Killer.

The role was played by actress Fiona Hutchison, who debuted in the role February 20, 1987. Medina had previously appeared in soap operas Guiding Light and As the World Turns. In March 1991, it was reported that Hutchinson would be departing One Life to Live' at the end of that month as she and the soap had been unable to come to contract terms. Hutchison refused to accept a five per cent pay increase from ABC during her contract renegotiations. She felt that she was treated "shabbily".

Hutchinson returned to One Life to Live as Gabrielle in 2001. In October 2003, it was reported that Hutchinson would leaving the soap again. Her departure aired in 2004, when the character was killed off by the Music Box Killer. In October 2011, Hutchinson announced on social media that she would be returning to the role, with her filming dates on October 25 and November 15 of that year, although she did not know in which circumstances the character would be returning in. The following month, in response to viewers asking her questions about her return, Hutchinson wrote on Facebook, "I simply cannot give away any spoilers for my upcoming appearances on "One Life to Live" but I can say that it has been a beautiful experience for me thus far! Being around my "OLTL" family, the cast, the crew, the producers, the directors, the writers, the staff, it has really touched me. I am having moments of... sheer happiness, sadness, nostalgia, creativity... all of it. This place, these people are all a part of me as are all of you whom I cherish so very much". Hutchinson's return coincided with the soap's finale. Her return aired on January 6, 2012, when she appeared as an angel along with Susan Batten and Jessica Tuck as Luna Moody and Megan Gordon, respectively.

Gabrielle was introduced into the series via a storyline set in Argentina. Hutchinson and several other cast members filmed in the country for the storyline. The story explores other characters attempting to begin a new life there where they become embroiled in a cocaine supply operation run by the kingpin Medina. It was the first time a US soap opera had filmed in Argentina. Other scenes Hutchinson filmed in the country included scenes of Gabrielle in a mountain hideaway. Writers created a storyline in which Gabrielle has a child with Max Holden (James DePaiva) and the baby is taken from her. Then Gabrielle marries Max's brother, Steve Holden (Russ Anderson) and Hutchinson believed it is a "slightly misguided" choice on Gabrielle's behalf.

In one of her early storylines, Gabrielle has a feud with her foe, Tina Lord (Andrea Evans); in real life, Hutchinson and Evans were close friends, with Evans being a bridesmaid at Hutchinson's wedding and throwing her a bridal shower consisting of One Life to Live cast and crew members. The character's mother Julia Medina (Linda Thorson) and sister Debra Medina (Lucinda Fisher) were introduced in August 1989. A writer for Soap Opera Digest said the storyline would show that the relationship between Gabrielle and her mother is "strained, to say the least." During her time on the soap, Gabrielle has romances with both Asa Buchanan (Philip Carey) and his son Bo Buchanan (Robert S. Woods); Gabrielle was one of several characters that the father and son both had romances with. When Gabrielle is murdered, her body is found by Bo. In 1989, Gabrielle was part of a storyline which saw her and several other characters trapped in the lost city of Eterna. The storyline also sees Gabrielle and Tina falling in a hole during their time in Eterna.

Hutchinson noted that she felt "truly blessed" to play both Gabrielle on One Life to Live and Jenna Bradshaw on Guiding Light; when asked to choose between them, Hutchinson said, "I cannot choose between them. In fact, I will not. Both Jenna and Gabrielle were two richly woven characters with so many exquisite layers that I must say, as an actress... Characters like Jenna and Gabrielle come along in those rare, unexpected instances when the writer uses the canvas as a magnificent kaleidoscopic tool, with which every emotion one could possibly imagine surfaces and then subsides, only to be enriched by the raw sensuality of the storyline. It would be like asking William Shakespeare if he preferred Ophelia to Lady Macbeth". Hutchison told Nancy M. Reichardt of The Gainesville Sun that she liked Gabrielle's personality, saying "What I loved about Gabrielle was that she was up, she was down, she was all over the place." However, she disliked that many crying scenes she had to do and it became "drudgery" for her.

Gabrielle also has a long-running romance with Max, played by DePaiva; who explained in 1998 that when he would do love scenes with Hutchinson, they would "clear the set of all nonessential people" beforehand. In one storyline, Max ends up getting shot after trying to protect Gabrielle from the Wymans, who are running a baby-selling operation. The role of Max was also portrayed by Nicholas Walker during Hutchinson's first stint on the soap; the producers felt that a lookalike of Max would not be able to be developed into a new storyline for Gabrielle. The recast was explained by having Max change appearance through plastic surgery and pretend to be "Matt" in 1990; Gabrielle ends up having a romance with Matt, unaware that he is really Max. Hutchinson found it humorous when she met Walker's twin brother when he came on set and said she could not take him seriously as she remembered the love scenes she had done with Walker. Gabrielle and Max marry in July 1990 after Max' near death from a crash. However, Max is torn between his business and his love for Gabrielle. In August 1990, it was reported that Gabrielle, who had returned to her "evil ways", would make an "ill-fated decision" and that her scheming would cause "disaster" to Max' business, the tabloid paper "The National Intruder".

After announcing her departure from One Life to Live in early 1991, Hutchison admitted that she had regrets that her character would not get together with Asa (Carey). She reckoned they would have been "a dynamite duo". She also thought that she had been "extremely lucky" to get the leading men she had on the show, whose actors had become good friends, including John Loprieno (Cord Roberts) "with whom Gabrielle had a brief but memorable fling." The character's departure storyline saw her sent to jail, after taking the fall for Carlo Hesser's (Thom Christopher) treachery. Of Gabrielle's exit, Hutchison stated: "I do think they will give her the intense therapy she needs to straighten out. The writers really did a great job in writing her out of the show. They didn't have too much time to turn the story around because we were negotiating in good faith right to the last minute and nobody knew whether I would stay on with the show or leave." Hutchison called her four years on the show "the most pleasurable of my career", and she said she was looking forward to new job opportunities.