Her transformation was believable because we saw it play out over time.  She had been victimized by Tina, who stole her baby, by Delilah, who stole her designs, and by Max, who stole her heart.  She went from disappointment to hope numerous times.  After Max and Tina broke up, Gabrielle came straight out and told Max that she loved him, not Steve.  Max was dumbfounded -- if there was any chance of them getting together, that went down the drain when she married his brother.  So Gabby took a few small steps to help things along. Told a little lie here, wrote a fake letter there.  Plied Max with a little alcohol one week; tried to snuff out her comatose husband the next.  And when she kept coming up empty handed, she turned on Max with a vengeance.  She took his hotel right out from under him, using Steve to do it, thus getting revenge on both of the Holden brothers.

Her greed in Eterna finally woke up Max's parental instincts and thus began my favorite all time soap custody battle.  Emotions were running high.  Max paraded her string of babysitters through the court. She told the court he was nothing more than a gigolo.  And when it looked like she was about to lose custody she pulled out her trump card; info that would save a dying Roger Gordon in exchange for full custody of Al. As she told Max, "For my son I would do that and much much more!"   And I bet there wasn't a fan watching who didn't believe that one! Max relinquished custody - temporarily, and then he pulled the rug right out from under her. My favorite Gabrielle scene happened on the day that Max got full custody of Al.  Gabrielle was over the edge by the time Max came to pick him up.  She ran off a litany of wrongs he had perpetrated against her and she swore he would not walk out of the house with her son.  When he tried, she hit him over the head with a vase, knocking him out cold!

And that was only the beginning.  The writers were so very adept at having Gabrielle walk the fine line of villainy and being totally irredeemable.  For me she never crossed the line although the baby switching came close, no matter what her rationalization.  Oh how I enjoyed watching Max play her like a fiddle to get her to confess what she did because I wanted to see Brenda get her son back.  But somewhere in the middle of it she got to me and I started rooting for Max to get caught in his own trap.  And did he ever.  He fell for her hard, really for the first time.  Gabby was suddenly so vulnerable, wondering if he was sincere, should she risk everything once more and put her faith in Max.

There were plenty of times that I lost patience with Gabby but not for long because she was her own worst enemy. So much of what she did came out of her inability to let go and move forward. But she paid for her sins. She suffered losses. She lost total custody of her son, did jail time, spent time in a halfway house, and actually spent years in prison. But Gabrielle also was able to forge some interesting relationships as well. Gabby and Tina were quite the pair...forever joined by their shared experiences in the jungle.  Gabrielle and Michael Grande's relationship ran the gambit, from passionate lovers to warm friendship to bitter enemies.  There was her grandmother who she loved, and her mom with whom she shared a testy relationship.

Her story goes on and on. Fiona's talent and confidence grew so much while she was on OLTL. I loved watching her blossom right before my eyes. I loved her style, the way she could chew up the scenery, her mascara and tear-stained face, the way she said ranch as though it rhymed with launch, her passionate nature, and the way she loved hard and forever.  Her tongue was sharp, and it cut. I remember she once called Megan an "actress" like it was the lowest thing on the planet - and she wasn't even trying. There have been a lot of pretenders to Gabrielle's crown ...some have come close, and are darn good in their own right, but all of them can take a number and stand in line behind the one and only Gabrielle. (Angela Earlye)

Gabrielle Medina (1987-1991) started out good and the audience was able to see her descent into villainy first hand.  First, everything that she loved was taken away: her father, her love, her son, her work.  Then we saw her tentatively begin to turn the tables and decide she wasn't going to be victimized any longer.  She began to assert herself in her relationships and go after what she wanted.  When her dealings failed to bring her the love that she wanted, she sought money and success through legal and then shady channels.  Many of the "crimes" Gabrielle committed were crimes of the  heart, i.e. kidnapping her son so that Max wouldn't take him away from her or switching babies in the hospital nursery so that Michael would have something to live for after Alicia's death.  I understood what made Gabrielle tick and why she did the things she did and that's part of why she was so great.  And that she did it all with such style and pizzazz didn't hurt her.  She is truly one of OLTL's most unforgettable bad girls.

Max and Gabrielle are one of OLTL's most passionate couples.  They battled endlessly.  They knew just where to strike to cause each other the most pain and the most joy.  But despite it all, they couldn't stay away from each other.   Max was everything to Gabrielle. For years she yearned for him, pulling out all the stops to get closer to him.  Max seemed oblivious to Gabby's feelings as he pursued other relationships.  And even when their storylines seemed to move in different direction they'd collide in some major, passionate encounter.  It was passion that defined them.  It dictated their every reaction move and every reaction.  Like the day Gabrielle finally had to tell an obtuse Max that she never loved Steve, only him.  Or the day she plied Max with liquor and seduced him while Steve was in a coma.  Or how about the when Gabrielle escaped Eterna only to find out that Max had her son and he refused to give him up.  They had a battle royale that day and every day of the custody battle that followed, but none more emotionally draining than the day Max received total custody of Al. (That's described elsewhere in the tribute.)

Their most passionate scene took place in Max's Bar.  She contemptuously told him that she was going to marry Michael and when she did she would be coming after him to take back custody of her son.  Max, in a desperate attempt to halt the wedding used everything at his disposal and when that seemed to be failing he kissed her resistance away.  It was seduction on a grand scale.  I'll never forget that scene.  In between kisses, Max looked into Gabby's eyes and I saw desire, passion and love for her that I'd never really seen before.  There was confusion was there as well, which probably explains why it took him months to admit he loved her.  But I was happy for Gabby that day because her passion for him was finally being reciprocated.

Max and Gabby were caught up in something that wasn't good for either of them but it was certainly emotionally involving and entertaining for the audience. They are truly one of OLTL's most memorable couples. (Angela Earlye)