How Rachel's reckless is art imitating life for Days of our Lives' Eric Martsolf

Rachel's done it again on Days of our Lives. The precocious offspring of Brady Black and Kristen DiMera has her parents in a tizzy as she often does — this time it's because she ran away from home.

Will Days of our Lives' Rachel ruin another romance?

Rachel already got in the way of Brady and Chloe's relationship | Image Source: JPI Studios

Rachel (Finley Rose Slater) has spent the last few years determined to get her parents back together, but Brady's (Eric Martsolf) forever-wandering heart and penchant for falling in love at the drop of a hat always get in the way. Rachel did everything she could to get Chloe Lane (Nadia Bjorlin) out of Brady's life and actually succeeded. Now that Brady is dating Ava Vitali (Tamara Braun), Rachel is at it again.

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As soon as she realized that Ava could be competition for Kristen (Stacy Haiduk), Rachel developed a plan. She started sending Ava anonymous threatening texts telling her to stay away from Brady. Ava immediately thought Kristen was behind them, but Kristen denied all wrongdoing. It was even Kristen who deduced Rachel was the culprit before taking away her phone and convincing her daughter to go to therapy.

At least Kristen thought she convinced Rachel to see a counselor. Instead, Rachel ran away from home, causing terror for Brady and Kristen.

Eric Martsolf feels Brady's pain

Brady wants to do his best with Rachel | Image Source: JPI Studios

Eric Martsolf admits that Rachel can be quite a handful and understands where Brady is coming from, story-wise.

"This was very reminiscent of what happened with Chloe," Martsolf told Soap Opera Digest. "Brady and Chloe were trying to rekindle their relationship, and Rachel got in the way. Chloe essentially decided that Brady’s relationship with his daughter was more important...So this is a rinse and repeat for Brady, and he really doesn’t want to keep sacrificing potential love just because his daughter doesn’t like it. I don’t think that’s his style of parenting. He’s loyal to his daughter’s needs, but enough is enough."

Martsolf also has real-life experience to help him play an exasperated father with not one, but two wayward children. While Rachel shows she is a chip off the old Kristen block, his son Tate (Leo Howard) is about to become a teenage dad. While Martsolf's real life is not as soapy as his reel life, he does know what it's like to parent teenage sons. His 19-year-old twins, Chase and Mason, give the actor a run for his money.

"I can tell you point blank, not to this extreme, that this is life imitating art for me. I have boys that are cunning and try to get away with things that they shouldn’t," Martsolf said. "There’s fibs and there’s tall tales...They just push boundaries and they want to see how far they can get away with things. Eric definitely has stricter boundaries [with his sons] than Brady does with his daughter."