Gabby Wright (Christy Carlson Romano) is the main villainess in the 2014 Lifetime film Deadly Daycare (airdate December 28th, 2014).
Backstory[]
Gabby was happily married to Troy and the couple had a three-year-old daughter named Crystal. One night while the family was driving through the desert, they got into a horrific accident with Rachel, who was heavily pregnant, and her estranged husband Daniel Miller (the main protagonists), which resulted in Crystal dying and Troy becoming paralyzed from the waist down (also preventing him from having children ever again). Gabby mourned her daughter's death and blamed not only Daniel (the driver), but also Rachel. She became enraged when Daniel's charges over the crash got dropped partly because he is an attorney, with the court ruling it as a tragic accident. Gabby then swore revenge on him and Rachel, believing her family's ordeal was both of their faults.
Introduction/Events[]
Three years later, Gabby works at a local daycare where she encounters Rachel bringing her daughter, Mia. Though Gabby recognizes Rachel, Rachel doesn't remember her at all. Gabby quickly becomes fixated on Mia and favors her over all of the other children. At home that evening, she tells Troy that she recognized Rachel from the accident and of her master plan to take Mia so the couple can raise her as their own daughter, believing God gave them a second chance at having a family.
Gabby starts treating Mia as a replacement for Crystal but viciously abuses her whenever the girl doesn't play along with her fantasies. A teaching assistant named Rebecca Hart grows concerned about Gabby's obsessive behavior and confronts her. Gabby warns Rebecca to stay out of her way, or the latter will lose her job if she continues to poke her nose into Gabby's business. Gabby then instructs her husband to kill Rebecca, which Troy attempts by running her over with his car, leaving Rebecca hospitalized. Once Rachel hears the news, she talks to Gabby about Rebecca's condition. Gabby lies that Rebecca needed the time off and that she will pray for her.
One day when Rachel goes to pick up Mia, she sees Gabby aggressively handling her daughter, leaving bruises on her. Gabby claims that Mia took another child's toy and she was putting the girl in time out, and that child might have hurt Mia. Mia tells her mother that she fell and Gabby helped her with her injuries. Later, Gabby unexpectedly shows up at Rachel's home with a jacket, claiming that Mia left it behind, and invites herself inside the house. When Daniel comes to visit Mia, Gabby makes an awkward first impression and assumes that she was going to have dinner with the couple when Rachel tells Gabby that she can leave.
Rachel watches the hidden camera she placed in the daycare and hears Gabby referring to herself as Mia's mother while also telling Mia that her new name is "Crystal". Rachel finally remembers Gabby as the mother from the accident three years earlier. Rachel rushes to the daycare and picks up Mia while also warning the owner, Barbara, to call the police once Barbara confirms that Rebecca died of her injuries the next morning.
Climax and Reveal[]
Gabby holding Daniel at gunpoint during her reveal
Rachel takes Mia home and informs Daniel that Gabby is the mother from the car accident. Gabby and Troy arrive at the residence despite his reluctance, with the former approaching the door armed with a gun. Gabby tries to get inside but Daniel tells her that he doesn't need her to watch Mia and tries to close the door. Gabby starts to have a breakdown, introducing her husband and wondering if Daniel remembers crippling him in the accident before pulling out her gun. She blames Daniel for killing Crystal and paralyzing Troy, as well as not taking any accountability for what he did to her family. She also accuses Daniel of talking on his cell phone while driving his car that night. Daniel tries to sympathize with her while also insisting what happened was an accident, enraging Gabby.
Troy has second thoughts and calls for his wife to come back to the car but she refuses. When Daniel slams the door shut and Troy drives off without her, Gabby shoots Daniel through the door and heads inside. She taunts Daniel that her shooting him was an "accident" before going off in search of "Crystal". Rachel hides Mia and uses a doll to pose as her daughter as Gabby pursues her with the gun. Outside the house, Rachel drops the doll, much to Gabby's horror, until she realizes the deception.
Gabby demands to know where Mia is while holding Rachel at gunpoint. She also blames Rachel for Crystal's death and claims that what happened wasn't an accident, and everything leading up to that moment was fate. As Rachel tries to reason with her, Gabby once again demands "her" daughter and expresses her envy of Rachel's seemingly perfect life, claiming life doesn't make sense and this is her chance to make things right for herself. Rachel reveals she remembers Gabby's anguish when Crystal died in the car wreck and that she almost lost Mia that day as well, but Gabby coldly retorts that Rachel's baby survived while hers didn't. Rachel apologizes but Gabby refuses to listen and asks where "Crystal" is. Rachel breaks it to her that Crystal went to Heaven, and maybe Gabby can one day be with her. After flashing back to her memories with her daughter, a grief-stricken Gabby attempts to commit suicide but is stopped by the police, who arrest her.
As Gabby is being put into the police car, she continues to blame Rachel, ranting that Rachel took everything from her, but is ignored.
Trivia[]
- Christy Carlson Romano also appeared as the evil Jenna McCarty in 2010 film Mirrors 2 and redeemed villainess Gloria in the 2019 Lifetime film Cradles For Cash.
- Gabby Wright is similar to fellow Lifetime villainess Victoria Jones from 2023's A Nurse to Die For. Both women were involved in a car accident that resulted in their children being killed, became obsessed with revenge on the other party involved, and planned to steal the protagonists' daughters to raise in order to fill the void of their loss. The only differences are that Gabby's husband survived and was left paralyzed, with her seeking revenge on the also alive Rachel and her husband, while Victoria's husband died along with their daughter and her plan attempted to fill another void left by her deceased husband by targeting the late Amy's family.
Gallery[]
