Who is Jesse Metcalfe?
Jesse Eden Metcalfe is an American musician and actor born in December 1978 in Carmel Valley Village, California, USA. The West Coast native’s best-known role is as John Rowland on “Desperate Housewives”, while other notable roles include his work in “Passions”, “Chesapeake Shores”, and “John Tucker Must Die”.
Jesse is of English, Irish, French and Italian descent on his father Jeff’s side, whereas his mother Nancy is Portuguese and Italian. During his adolescence, Jesse had a bright future as a basketball player and was part of several Connecticut leagues. He later graduated from Connecticut’s Williams School and furthered his studies at New York University before dropping out to play Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald in “Passions”.
“Chesapeake Shores”
In “Chesapeake Shores”, Jesse played Trace, Abby’s first love who left town shortly after she did. When season one of the show commences, he has been living in Chesapeake Shores for six years and is working as a contractor. Over time, Trace and Abby rekindle their old relationship – but if viewers were hoping for a happy ending, they were no doubt bitterly disappointed when Jesse was written out of the series in 2021 and replaced with a new love interest.
Wild rumors regarding Jesse’s departure began circulating online shortly after the announcement. In August 2021, the last episode featuring Jesse’s character aired, and he gave an interview shortly afterwards to explain why he’d left the successful soap opera.
“I just felt that there wasn’t really anything else I could do with the character, and we did go through three showrunners in five seasons on the show,” he said. “Getting to know a new showrunner and create a working relationship with a new person was not necessarily something I wanted to do. I just felt like it was time to turn the page and start the next chapter of my career.”
In early 2022, Jesse gave another interview in which he insinuated that he’d be open to return to the series, adding that it made sense for his character to end up with the show’s protagonist. However, it was later announced that season six of “Chesapeake Shores” would be its last, and the final episode aired in October 2022.
“Passions”
From July 1999 to July 2004, Jesse played Miguel in the mystical NBC soap opera “Passions”. Miguel was Martin Fitzgerald and Pilar Lopez-Fitzgerald’s youngest son and had four siblings: Antonio, Luis, Theresa, and Paloma. Growing up, the local tomboy Kay Bennett was one of his closest friends, and secretly fell in love with him at a young age. Although Kay wanted to be Miguel’s girlfriend, he fell head-over-heels in love with Charity Standish, much to Kay’s dismay.
Kay would spend five years plotting to take Charity down and have Miguel to herself. In July 2003, she even successfully became pregnant with Miguel’s child, a daughter named Maria. This still wasn’t enough to ensnare Miguel, as Charity left town in 2004 and Miguel followed her, leaving Kay a disgruntled single mother.
Miguel returned to town months later and was a loving father to Maria and good friend to Kay. While bonding with Maria, Miguel finally realized he had feelings for Kay; however, he was still trying to find Charity and couldn’t act on his feelings. In the end, he left Kay and Maria behind in January 2005 and pursued his true love: Charity.
However, Miguel and Kay’s complicated story didn’t stop there. Just when she had found love again with Fox Crane, Miguel returned to town in February 2006, announcing that he would no longer search for Charity, and that he wished to be a proper father figure for Maria. In a shocking turn of events, Miguel also wished to convince Kay that he loved her and planned to marry her. Despite denying the truth, Kay’s feelings for Miguel returned.
Another plot twist came when Miguel fell off a fishing boat and drowned before being rescued by a mysterious young woman. The woman, Siren, was actually a mermaid who instantly fell in love with Miguel. Later on, Miguel and Kay were unexpectedly electrocuted; Kay developed amnesia and thought she was engaged to Miguel, completely forgetting that Fox was her fiancé. Fox and Siren were infuriated, but Miguel played along, thinking that Kay would later regain her memory.
#Passions memories: The three faces of Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald (@jessemetcalfe, @gerardocelasco & @Blair_Redford) pic.twitter.com/UfM7DHPbuv
— Tarrell Eugene Bellinger (@olderbrother21) November 24, 2019
By the time Kay’s memories came back, Miguel realized just how much he really loved her. Siren attempted to put him under the mermaid’s curse, but Kay broke him out of the trance by confessing her love for him. When Fox complained that Siren had complicated his relationship with Kay, the mermaid was zapped into a fish tank. Meanwhile, Miguel finally won Kay over, and they made plans to marry and buy a house.
Fox couldn’t come to terms with Kay leaving him for Miguel and faked an illness so that she would pity him and stay by his side. Kay and Fox married in January 2007; Miguel began suspecting that the illness was fake, but was unable to prove it. Showing that there were no lengths he wouldn’t go to get what he wanted, Fox faked a hit and run and blamed Miguel for the accident. However, Kay wasted no time in leaving Fox when his lies were exposed.
In September 2007, Kay was forced to tell Miguel that she was a witch, after their close friend Endora Lenox was kidnapped. Miguel was stunned but determined to rescue Endora; nevertheless, his rescue mission went terribly wrong and he, too, was kidnapped. Eventually, Miguel and Endora returned to Earth, and he discovered that Fox was dead and that he and Kay could finally be in a relationship.
After returning to Earth, Miguel began suffering from memory loss and tried to check himself into an insane asylum. Using her magic, a desperate Kay returned his memory, and Miguel remembered being in Hell and being told that she, Endora, and Endora’s mother Tabitha were witches. Upon regaining his memory, Miguel made Kay take a sacred oath to never use magic again if she wanted to be with him, and she agreed.
However, Miguel realized that he would also have to make Tabitha stop using magic. Tabitha refused, but Miguel blackmailed her until she agreed, for fear of being exposed. Miguel wanted Tabitha and Kay to stop using magic as he believed that it was the root of all the evil in their hometown.
Miguel and Kay married in July 2008; shortly after their nuptials, a volcano erupted in their hometown of Harmony, so Miguel gave Kay permission to use magic, thus helping save Harmony, and so became used to his wife being a witch.
“Desperate Housewives”
Shortly before leaving the cast of “Passions”, Jesse joined the comedy-drama series “Desperate Housewives” as John Rowland, a teen gardener who embarks on an illicit affair with Gabrielle Solis, played by Eva Longoria. His scandalous portrayal of John was deemed good enough for a Teen Choice Award in the Breakout Performance category, turning the actor into a household name.
For a while, Jesse juggled his roles on “Passions” and “Desperate Housewives” before leaving the former for good. After season one, the show’s creator, Marc Cherry, confirmed that Jesse would become a recurring character. Jesse’s final appearance in the show came in October 2009.
John Rowland begins working for Gabrielle and Carlos Solis after his mother, Helen, requests that he be given a chance. After an explosive argument with Carlos, Gabrielle one day decides to seduce John, which is when their clandestine affair begins after several episodes of sexual tension. After having sex, they lie together in bed to discuss her unhappy marriage. When Gabrielle lights a cigarette, John asks for a drag and she tells him he’s too young to smoke, thus revealing that he’s underage.
On one occasion, Gabrielle and John are almost caught by Carlos. Gabrielle visits John’s house afterwards while his parents are gone, telling him that they need to be more discreet with their affair. After having sex again, John gives her a rose and calls her “perfect”, which is when Gabrielle realizes that the gardener is falling in love with her.
In the episode “Who’s That Woman?”, Gabrielle and John are taking a romantic bath when John hears the doorbell ring and jumps out to get dressed. However, he leaves a sock under Gabrielle’s bed, which is found the next day by Carlos, who’s immediately suspicious, but Gabrielle convinces him that their maid uses it for cleaning. She then appears at John’s soccer practice, and forbids him from wearing socks when coming over. Carlos, thinking that Gabrielle is having an affair with the cable guy, interrogates him for answers and beats him up when he declines to comment; the cable guy then reveals that he’s gay.
Nevertheless, Carlos is relentless and invites his mother, Juanita, to stay with them and spy on Gabrielle. Gabrielle arranges to meet John at a motel, but her plans are sabotaged by her mother-in-law. Undeterred, Gabrielle promises to meet John at the mall. While shopping with Juanita, she slips a blouse in the latter’s bag and suddenly leaves the store. Juanita tries to follow her out but is apprehended by security.
John stops returning Gabrielle’s calls, and suggests that they should take things slowly to avoid making Juanita suspicious; however, Gabrielle convinces him that she has everything under control. Juanita soon deduces that Gabrielle is cheating on Carlos with the underage gardener when she sees them interact.
Juanita’s suspicions are confirmed when she gets her hands on Gabrielle’s phone and redials the last number. On the same day, Gabrielle discovers that John is dating Danielle Van de Kamp, her friend Bree’s daughter, and tries to put distance between them. When John finds out, he breaks up from Gabrielle; however, she convinces him to make love to her one last time while her husband is at a work function.
While Gabrielle and John kiss on her marital bed, Juanita enters the room and snaps a photo of them with her digital camera. Chasing her down the steps, John tries to grab the camera; Juanita dashes out onto the road and is run over by a drunken Andrew Van de Kamp, immediately slipping into a coma. Feeling no remorse, Gabrielle takes her mother-in-law’s camera away.
A guilt-ridden John visits Juanita and asks Carlos if they can pray for her together. He then breaks up with Gabrielle, telling her that he confessed their affair to a priest. However, that’s not the end of their story; while hosting a charity fashion show to raise funds for the local hospital, Gabrielle is approached by John, who tells her that he’s uninterested in continuing their affair.
While flirting with him at the fashion show to try and change his mind, Gabrielle is spotted by fellow housewife and close friend Susan Mayer. Upon being confronted by Susan, Gabrielle confesses to the affair. As it happens, John has also told one of his friends about his sexual escapades with Gabrielle, and the friend makes a crude comment which is overheard by John’s mother Helen. When Helen sees John and Gabrielle hug, she attacks the latter, and Gabrielle finally admits to having slept with her son on several occasions.
In another plot twist, John moves out and quits school. His parents visit Gabrielle and blackmail her: persuade him to return, or they’ll go to the authorities. Gabrielle agrees and visits John at his new apartment, where he tells her that he wants to set up a gardening business. He proposes to Gabrielle and is upset when she says no, but she tells him that she still loves her husband.
John quits his gardening job with the Solis family, and sends his friend Justin as a replacement. Justin blackmails Gabrielle and tells her that if she doesn’t sleep with him, he’ll tell Carlos about the affair. Gabrielle refuses, and it’s later revealed that Justin only wanted to sleep with her because he had doubts about his sexuality. In another episode, Carlos’s mother dies in hospital without awaking from her coma.
Time passes, and Carlos forces Gabrielle to sign a post-nuptial agreement. She takes revenge on him by hooking up with John yet again; little does she know that Carlos has been tampering with her birth control. When Gabrielle discovers that she’s pregnant, she tells John that she doesn’t know who the father is, which is when John decides to come clean and tell Carlos about the affair.
Gabrielle throws salsa into John’s eyes to stop him from leaving. In the same episode, an oblivious Carlos invites John to work for the family again. When Gabrielle leaves Carlos and visits John’s house, Carlos follows her and sees her hugging Justin, who is the only person at home. Believing that Justin is the guy Gabrielle has been cheating on him with, Carlos beats him up, and is arrested.
At Carlos’s court date, John appears and confesses to the affair. Carlos then tries to attack John and is sent to jail. Afterwards, John arrives at Gabrielle’s house with his belongings and says that they can be a real couple now. Furious at his courtroom stunt, Gabrielle kicks John out, but weeks later, she realizes how much she misses the gardener and drives over to the house where he’s currently working.
While sitting in her car and observing the situation, Gabrielle realizes that John is having sex with another housewife, and so wrecks the lawn he was working on. When John sees Gabrielle, he tells her that he was only trying to make her jealous as he still loves her. However, she turns him down.
John and Gabrielle’s affair slowed down considerably in later seasons of “Desperate Housewives”, as they only interacted three times between seasons three to six. Carlos eventually forgives John for sleeping with Gabrielle, and John moves on and becomes a restaurant owner, while Gabrielle tries to lead as normal a life as possible.
In season six, Gabrielle and Carlos go to John’s restaurant with their two daughters and her niece, Ana. John begins flirting with Ana, and offers her a waitress job; when Gabrielle declines on her behalf, Carlos claims that she’s jealous, and still has feelings for her former gardener.
Ana takes the job, and Gabrielle sees John drop her off from work one day. Furious, she decides to pick Ana up in the future. Upon discovering that Ana is in love with John, Gabrielle visits his restaurant and tells him to leave her alone. Believing that Gabrielle has feelings for him after all those years, John kisses her but she turns him down. Ana witnesses the kiss, and Gabrielle comes clean about the affair, thus concluding the thrilling but controversial storyline.
