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| Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius) Eric Mabius as Daniel Meade
Background Daniel is the son of magazine publisher Bradford Meade. His father picked him to become editor-in-chief at MODE, the fashion magazine that Bradford publishes (his mother Claire is the true owner of the magazine), after the mysterious death of Daniel's predecessor, the well-respected Fey Sommers. Sensing that Daniel will need help because of his inexperience in the fashion industry, Bradford decides to hire a personal assistant to guide him. However, due to his son's habit of womanizing, he knows that the assistant he chooses should be one that his son would never be attracted to - so he chooses Betty Suarez. Bradford figures that by having Betty as an assistant, he is confident that MODE will continue to thrive. Additionally, he knows that Daniel would never sleep with Betty because she has very little sex appeal. At first, Daniel resents having Betty work for him, but he eventually reconsiders and realizes how valuable an asset Betty would be to the company. Due to the unusual combination of Daniel's business savvy and Betty's wealth of knowledge and ideas, the duo becomes the "darlings" of the fashion industry. Daniel is also reminded by his father and Wilhelmina about his late brother Alex, who was the editor-in-chief of sister publication Hudson. Daniel hopes that by being in charge of MODE, he can prove to them that he can hold his own without living in the shadow of his late brother. However, he is unaware that Alex is not only alive and had a sex change, but plotting to have Daniel removed from the job. When Alexis does show up and reveals herself to Daniel, he is not happy about this and explains to Alexis that they really cared about him and blames him for their mother's drinking problems, which happened after "Alex's" death. When Alexis attempted to fire Daniel, he fired back with an injunction because the family buried "Alex" and therefore Alexis cannot fire Daniel or claim ownership of the company, thus leading to a sibling rivalry which prompted Betty to play mediator between the two. For now Daniel has agreed to a truce with Alexis until the matter is settled. In addition, because their mother owns MODE he and Alexis must share co-EIC duties, despite Daniel not trusting Alexis because he feels she'll try to top him. Daniel is strongly hinted throughout the series that he is not just a "womanizer", but unfortuntely his lothario ways would catch up with him, as it almost cost him his EIC duties after learning that a model he slept with was 16 and that the sister that accompanied her was actually her 38-year-old mother. But thanks to Betty and Henry, her passport was revealed to be 20 and thus averted a scam, along with Alexis taking over his job. While Daniel may have been saved by Betty, Betty believes that he using his womanizing to cover for his family problems, and has an actual physical sex addiction. Seeking the advice of a doctor who works at a sister publication, Daniel takes his recommendation and is prescribed a bottle of pills to end his addiction, unaware that he may have found a new one (drugs) to replace his old one (sex). In the season 1 finale, Daniel overdoses on the drugs he uses to control his sex addiction, and stumbles into Alexis' office on the verge of dropping dead, blubbering nonsensical things to Alexis. Alexis then decides to take him to the hospital. On the way, the man Alexis hired to killer Bradford Meade had cut the brakes on the car and therefore the car is crashed, and in the last shot, he is lying unconscious beside his sister in the totalled car, no ambulances in sight. Residency Daniel Meade's letters and magazines are sent to his address at 6767 West End Ave., New York, but it is not specific on whether its his apartment or his workplace. Connections
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