The Ladies of Desperate Housewives: Where Are They Now? (2024)

Eva Longoria as Gabrielle Solis

Eva Longoria was catapulted into superstardom when she scored a lead role on the ABC show. She starred as Gabrielle Solis, a former model-turned-housewife who begins an affair with her gardener — played by Jesse Metcalfe — when she grows frustrated in her marriage.

Following the end of Desperate Housewives, Longoria turned her sights to producing and directing — doing so on shows like Devious Maids, Jane the Virgin and Black-ish. Longoria made her feature film directorial debut with 2023's Flamin' Hot.

But leading a life behind the scenes doesn't mean the actress wouldn't flirt with the idea of a Desperate Housewives reboot. "Of course! Who wouldn't do it? I loved Gabby Solis. I miss Gabby Solis," Longoria told ET Canada when asked if she'd participate in a future reboot of the show that made her famous. "I would always love to be in Gabby's shoes again."

In 2018, the actress welcomed her son Santiago with her husband José Bastón.

Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo

Felicity Huffman garnered critical acclaim for her performance as Lynette Scavo, winning an outstanding lead actress in a comedy Emmy in 2005, as well as an Oscar nod and Golden Globe win the following year for her portrayal of a transgender woman in Transamerica. Following the end of Desperate Housewives, the wife of Shameless actor William H. Macy — with whom she shares two daughters, Georgia and Sofia — earned praise for her performance in American Crime, which also earned her two Golden Globe nominations.

She faced legal consequences when she was implicated in an infamous college admissions scandal, and pleaded guilty in 2019 to paying disgraced admissions consultant Rick Singer $15,000 to have a proctor change daughter Sophia's SAT answers after she took the test.

On Sept. 13, 2019, the actress was sentenced to 14 days in federal prison, plus a $30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and a year of supervised release. She completed her full sentence by October 2020, and one month later, was cast in her first post-scandal role. She later signed on to star in the TV series spin-off of The Good Doctor titled The Good Lawyer.

Marcia Cross as Bree Weston

In her first major TV role since Melrose Place, Marcia Cross played the part of Bree Weston — a thrice-married housewife who struggles with alcoholism on the show. Three years after the finale of Desperate Housewives — which earned the star Emmy and Golden Globe nominations — Cross returned to the small with a recurring role on Quantico. She has also appeared in episodes of The Edge of Sleep, You and Monarch.

Cross has been married to her husband Tom Mahoney since 2006, and they share twin daughters Eden and Savannah.

In 2017, Cross was diagnosed with anal cancer, but as of 2018, was in remission, speaking out about the cause.

Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer

Earning a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award during the show's run, in real life Teri Hatcher — who played Susan Mayer, the emotional anchor of Desperate Housewives — is mom to daughter Emerson, with ex-husband Jon Tenney.

In the years since Housewives, she's appeared on a slew of TV shows including The Odd Couple, Supergirl and Fantasy Island. Hatcher has also worked as a voice actress, playing Beatrice Le Beak on the animated series Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates and the voice of Dottie in Planes (2013) and Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014).

As for how she feels about a potential reboot of Desperate Housewives? "I'd be the first person [to return]. I never wanted it to be over. I love those characters," she told ITV's Loose Women in March 2018.

In 2021, she reunited with on-screen love interest James Denton for Hallmark's movie A Kiss Before Christmas, revealing to fans she had a crush on him during the show's run.

"Mine wasn't innocent," Hatcher quipped, while Denton added, "The answer is yes [I had a crush on her], absolutely."

Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt

In March 2018, Nicollette Sheridan — who played fan-favorite Edie Britt, a rival of Hatcher's character, on Desperate Housewives — spoke of drama surrounding her dramatic exit from the show after season 5, claiming creator Marc Cherry killed off her character after she complained about a physical altercation involving the two.

"I was the victim of assault and battery on the set of Desperate Housewives by the creator of the show, my boss," Sheridan told Entertainment Weekly. "I reported him and was retaliated against for doing so and fired off the show. That is against the law." Sheridan filed a lawsuit in 2010, which was thrown out by a judge in 2012. She worked on appealing it and the lawsuit was revived in 2015, only to be tossed out again in 2017.

Following her exit from the show, Sheridan retreated to her farm in Hidden Hills, Calif., to contemplate whether she wanted to leave the industry she'd been part of for decades. "What happened at the end of Desperate Housewives was degrading and demoralizing," Sheridan told EW. "It sent me under a rock. I really grappled with what happened, losing faith in people and really not trusting the business at all. I didn't know that I wanted anything to do with the business for some time."

While spending some time away from the business, Sheridan wrote and produced a few of her own projects with Hallmark. It wasn't until The CW offered her the role of Dynasty's notorious matriarch Alexis Carrington that she thought about making a return to series TV —the actress ultimately ended up appearing in the first and second seasons of the soap's reboot. "When Edie Britt died on Desperate Housewives, I feel like the audience felt like Nicollette died with her," she said. "And I thought [Dynasty] was such a splashy, fun, strong comeback. It was just the right thing at the right time."

Sheridan was married to Aaron Phypers from 2015 to 2018, though they had been separated since June 2016.

Brenda Strong as Mary Alice Young

Brenda Strong, whose Mary Alice Young served as the show's narrator, also appeared in flashback sequences throughout the series after her mysterious character's death in the pilot episode. Strong's narration was critically acclaimed, and she was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for outstanding voice-over performance.

The actress has remained very busy since the end of Desperate Housewives, appearing on a number of TV series, including Scandal, Bones, Fear the Walking Dead and The 100, and main roles on Dallas, 13 Reasons Why and Supergirl. She also kept up her narration skills on the murder documentary series Blood Relatives.

Ricardo Chavira as Carlos Solis

Gabrielle's husband, Carlos Solis, faced a roller coaster of drama throughout the run of the series, from infidelity to prison to temporary blindness to murder. It's fair to say that viewers never quite knew what shady business Carlos would end up involved in next.

Ricardo Chavira, who played Carlos, has been working constantly since the end of Desperate Housewives, most notably appearing in multiple episodes of Jane the Virgin, Scandal, Santa Clarita Diet and Kevin Can Wait. He portrayed Abraham Quintanilla, the father of singer Selena Quintanilla, in Netflix's Selena: The Series.

Chavira and his wife, Marcea Sietzel, have been married since 2007 and share two children.

James Denton as Mike Delfino

Audiences quickly learned in the first season of Desperate Housewives to be skeptical about everything they learned about Mike Delfino and his mysterious past — which might be why Mike became such a fan-favorite character and remained part of the series for its entire run.

Denton, who portrayed Mike, starred on a number of series before Desperate Housewives, including The Pretender, Philly and Threat Matrix. When Desperate Housewives ended, Denton was part of the main cast of the Hallmark series Good Witch and had a recurring role on Devious Maids.

Denton and his wife, Erin O'Brien, share two children.

Doug Savant as Tom Scavo

Tom, Lynette Scavo's husband, only made a few appearances in the first season of Desperate Housewives, but he joined the main cast in season 2 and became a key focus of later story lines that showed the highs and lows of their marriage.

Like Cross, Doug Savant was a veteran of Melrose Place before starring on Desperate Housewives. Since the end of the series, Savant has been a guest star on many popular shows, including Vegas, Criminal Minds, Hawaii Five-0, Scorpion, The X-Files, 9-1-1, NCIS and The Rookie, just to name a few.

Savant has been married to his Melrose Place costar Laura Leighton since 1998. The couple has two children, and Savant also has two older children from a previous marriage.