Shane Donovan and Kimberly Brady Donovan are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American soap opera Days of our Lives. Shane was portrayed by Charles Shaughnessy. Kimberly has been primarily portrayed by Patsy Pease (1984-90, 1991-92, 1994, 1996, 1997-98, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2010). Anne Marie Howard took over the role from Pease in 1990, until Pease returned in 1991. Actress Arianna Chase portrayed Kimberly from 1992-1993.
Kimberly Brady arrived in Salem in 1984. Kimberly met Shane Donovan when Shane, a secret agent for the ISA, was spying on her. Kimberly was a prostitute and many of her clients were working for the infamous Stefano DiMera, whom Shane was trying to capture. Soon Kimberly discovered Shane's mission and agreed to help him on his quest. The two grew closer after Kimberly revealed that she had been molested by her uncle as a child. In 1985, Stefano was eventually presumed dead and Shane and Kimberly eventually fell in love while chasing a terrorist known as the Dragon in the United Kingdom. Before the Dragon was captured he revealed that Shane's supposedly dead wife Emma was still alive. Emma began terrorizing Kim, who soon suffered from a case of hysterical blindness. During Kimberly's bout with blindness, she became close with mobster Victor Kiriakis and after she had recovered, Shane decided to use Kimberly's friendship with Victor in order to bring him down. The plan quickly went awry and Kimberly ended up sleeping with Victor in order to save Shane's life. When Kimberly became pregnant; she did not know if Shane or Victor was the father. In addition, Kimberly was horrified to learn from her mother Caroline that Caroline had also had an affair with Victor and that Kimberly could be Victor's daughter. However, it would later be revealed that Kimberly's brother Bo was the result of the affair, not Kimberly.
Kimberly ended up giving birth to a son after a helicopter crash in the wilds of West Virginia. Shane was at hand for the delivery. Emma continued to terrorize Kim, and manufactured false medical reports that indicated that Victor was the father. Emma then tricked Kimberly into signing adoption papers and stole her baby. When Emma was murdered, Kim went to jail for the crime but was innocent—the killer proved to be Shane's spy partner who was in love with him.
In 1987, Kimberly and Shane finally wed after learning that Andrew (Kimberly's child) was Shane's and not Victor's. However, their happiness was short-lived as Shane's illegitimate daughter Eve caused trouble and caused Kim to miscarry. By August, 1988, Eve and Kim had reconciled and became close, but Shane was thought to be dead following an explosion. Kim was devastated and in her vulnerable state, succumbed to the advances of Cal Winters. Cal Winters turned out to be a psycho and kidnapped Kim shortly after Shane returned. Shane rescued Kimberly, but their newfound happiness was short-lived when Kim learned she was pregnant again. Kimberly and Shane were tricked into believing Cal was the child's father and separated shortly before Kim gave birth to Jeannie in 1990. Later, Kim and Shane divorced and he began a relationship with Kimberly's sister, Kayla. In 1991, Cal eventually returned and took both Kim and Kayla hostage, but they were eventually rescued by Shane, Roman, and John.
Shortly afterwards, Kayla revealed that Cal had told her that Shane was Jeanie's father. However, this did not lead to Kim and Shane reuniting. Eventually, Kayla and Shane broke up, but by this time Kim had a new fiance, Phillip Collier. After a hit and run accident, Kim's memories of her sexual abuse at her uncles hands once again came to the forefront and she developed Multiple personality disorder. One of Kimberly's alters, Lacey, arranged for Shane to be sent out of town and later murdered a man who tried to rape Kimberly. Eventually, another of Kimberly's alters ended up shooting Roman and Kimberly and was put on trial for the crime. However, Marlena was able to prove that Kimberly was mentally ill and, upon her recovery, Kimberly reunited with Phillip and left town with him and her children in 1993.
Kimberly has since returned over the years for various events such as Tom Horton's funeral in 1994, as well as Bo and Hope's failed wedding in 1996. In 1997, Kimberly returned to Salem for a much longer period of time after her brother Roman was suffering from a rare Jungle illness. Kimberly spent several months in Salem, giving her advice and support to various members of her family. One notable incident involved Kimberly helping her nephew Eric convince a teenage runaway (played by Country superstar LeAnn Rimes) to return home. In 1998, Kimberly left town again but has continued to make visits to Salem over the years.
Shane briefly returned to Salem in July 2002 when he had learned of the death of an ISA agent and came to investigate it. When Billie thought he was checking up on her mission he told her that the person that gave her the mission was long dead and later Billie confessed to having involment in Hope's kidnapping and helped Shane worked with the others to free Hope from Larry Welch.
In June 2010, Kim came back to Salem to attend Alice's memorial service. Her return coincided with Shane's return and the two reconnected. Shane resigned from the ISA and committed himself to being a better family man. They decided to rekindle their romance and live together as a family in Los Angeles.