The Ladies of Desperate Housewives: Where Are They Now?

Longoria was catapulted into superstardom when she scored a lead role in the ABC show, which lasted eight seasons. 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. She is currently expecting her first child with husband José Bastón. 

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.”

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 — has earned praise for her performance in American Crime, which also earned her two Golden Globe nominations.

In her first major TV role since Melrose Place, 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 been married to husband Tom Mahoney since 2006, and they share two kids Eden and Savannah.

Earning a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award during the show’s run, Hatcher — who played Susan Mayer a.k.a. the emotional anchor of Desperate Housewives — has recently been plagued by rumors that she’s “broke, homeless and living out” of her van. Hatcher — who is mom to daughter Emerson, with ex-husband Jon Tenney — has denied these claims, which were first reported by a tabloid.

“On the cover yesterday [Star magazine has] an article that says exactly that — it’s totally absurd — that I am broke and homeless and living out of my van,” said the actress, who has been shooting her YouTube series, Van Therapy, in a televised interview that aired March 2018. “They said they were going to run this story about me being broke, and I think they even used the word suicidal and homeless and whatever. And my lawyer and my publicist said, ‘Categorically not true, you can’t print that, she’s doing a YouTube show, that’s her van, she has many homes in many states all over the country. There’s nothing about this that’s true,’ ” explained Hatcher, adding: “And then they went and ran it anyway. And that is even more egregious that it was so purposefully hurtful.”

As for how she feels about a potential reboot of the show? “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 that same month.

In March 2018, Sheridan — who played fan-favorite Edie Britt, a rival of Hatcher’s character, on Desperate Housewives — recently spoke of drama surrounding her dramatic exit from the show, 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 2017. She is currently working on appealing it.

Following her exit from the show, Sheridan retreated to her farm in Hidden Hills, California, 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. “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.”