Donna Hayward's Age

The following is every piece of evidence I can summon regarding Donna Hayward's age. She is a difficult character to age because of conflicting pieces of information.

Given the scope of data available within the series, scripts, novels, and cast and crew interviews, it is likely a citation has been overlooked. If I come upon a neglected mention of Donna's age in the future it will be added to this post. If anyone can help provide additional information, they are welcome to leave a comment. 

The revised first draft of the pilot script does not mention Donna's age.

A very smart and very pretty girl, DONNA HAYWARD, daughter of Dr. Hayward, looks up and responds.

The first mention I can find of Donna Hayward's age is in the 4th draft of the pilot script. 

INT. HIGH SCHOOL CORRIDOR - MORNING

Before home room, the corridors teeming with kids. As she comes around a corner we pick up and stay with DONNA HAYWARD, Dr. Hayward's seventeen year old daughter, a very smart and very pretty girl, as she moves to her locker, opens it and takes out some books. 

In the aired pilot, Dale Cooper states that a curfew will go into effect for anyone under the age of 18. When Donna makes to escape the Hayward house, her sister Harriet reminds her of the curfew. Donna replies, "I know there's a curfew, Einstein, that's why I need you to cover for me." This indicates that Donna is under 18. 

Though Donna is stated to be 17 in the pilot script, that does not necessarily mean her age remains the same throughout the series. Audrey was scripted as 19 in the same fourth draft of the pilot script that included Donna's age but is 18 throughout the series and in Mark Frost's novels. I believe some characters in the Twin Peaks pilot are like those in any other series pilot in that they hadn't yet completely grown into who they would become. Cooper's behavior, for instance, is in my opinion, different from how we know him later in the series, with lines such as, "Who's the babe?" regarding Josie Packard. Audrey also seems different, and less mature. What I am suggesting is that not all that is written or performed concerning certain characters is necessarily set in stone. We know Lynch and Frost are not afraid of change. There are many examples of conflicting facts within the series itself. 

In episode 12 (2.005, The Orchid's Curse), when Donna tells the story about her evening with Laura and the boys by the lake, she says she was 13 or 14. In The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, the night Donna describes takes place on October 20th, 1985, correlating with Donna's story. The diary famously continues past Laura's canonical death in 1989, making it difficult to date matters. Most set events a year later, but some are impossible to set back a year without conflicting with other information, such as Hank Jennings' year of arrest - which occurs in 1987 throughout canon. If we set the diary entry in the year it's written, 1985, Donna would have been thirteen. Laura writes in the same entry that she is also thirteen, which would require us to set the entry in the year it was written. 

In the script for episode 21 (2.014, Double Play), Donna tells Evelyn Marsh she is 18. 

EVELYN 
You look like someone in need of help.

Donna studies her for a moment.

DONNA
Do I?

EVELYN
How old are you?

DONNA
Eighteen.

The televised scene contains a slightly awkward silent exchange that I believe may be an indication the dialogue was filmed and deleted. 

I uploaded the moment to YouTube. 

 
The Star Pics trading cards state Donna's birthday is September 2nd, 1972. If we set the information as though it is from the year 1989, this would make Donna 16. It is confusing as to which year the cards are set. The card for series co-creator Mark Frost states, "Bats right - throws right. Coached the Twin Peaks Softball Team to a near perfect 24-and-14 record in the 1989-1990 season." This seems to set the cards in the year they were released, 1991. However, we have a conflicting piece of information on Nadine Hurley's card which sets her second trip to high school in 1989. Audrey Horne's birthdate is 8/15/72 - making her 16 as well - when she is explicitly said to be eighteen in the series. Laura Palmer's birthdate matches with the date given in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. In the series, Laura's tombstone has the same birthdate, 7/22/72. 

When the Star Pics card lists Donna's accomplishments, it states:

I qualified for the Twin Peaks High School Honor Roll in each of my four years. I was also voted "Most Likely to Succeed" in my senior class. It's very flattering to have received that vote of confidence from my peers. Now I only hope I can live up to my full potential.  

The Women of Twin Peaks card also states that Donna is a senior in high school.

My understanding is that yearbooks are usually distributed in March and students graduate in May or June, depending on where a person lives. 

In a diary entry dated April 10th, 1988, Laura wrote that Donna told her about "her trip out of town next week to check out colleges." From what I understand, high school students should apply for college the summer before their senior year. As already stated, the diary continues beyond 1989.

When Donna finds her birth certificate in episode 27 (2.020, The Path to the Black Lodge), we can see that September 2nd is listed as her birth month and day. Unfortunately, the year of her birth is outside of view. 

In Mark Frost's The Final Dossier, Donna's file opens with, "Arriving in New York City in 1992, Donna Hayward began taking undergraduate classes at Hunter College. She had just turned eighteen." If she turned eighteen in '92, she would have been fifteen during the original series, making her born in '74. If we use her birthdate of 1972, she would have been nineteen or twenty, depending on the month. 

Frost continues, "Near the end of the decade, as she reached her late twenties and her modeling career slowed, Donna married a man nearly two decades her senior..." If she were eighteen in 1992, she would have been in her mid-twenties in '97 -'98, as she would be twenty-five in 1999. I can't help but think 25 is slightly young for one to be in their late 20s. 

Frost states that Donna encountered Lana Milford "right before the turn of the century," at a charity event. "Donna's fairy-tale New York existence [...] unraveled shortly thereafter, exposing the reality of a much harsher inner life: Four years into the marriage, Donna discreetly and, at first, voluntarily entered rehab for drug and alcohol dependence. This proved to be only the first of Donna's four stints in rehab over the next five years [...]" 

Frost writes that Donna marries near the end of the decade and then follows with "right before the turn of the century" she is four years into her marriage. Frost writing "near the end of a decade" insinuates, in my opinion, not more than a few years, though four years may be considered a short amount of time to some. 

It is written that Donna never reconciled with Eileen Hayward in the seventeen years since her departure from Twin Peaks. This would make Donna 36 or 37 - if we place her date of birth in 1972. If we set her DOB as '74 she would be 35 in 2009. When Frost writes that she is "approaching forty" it is apparently three years after Eileen's death in 2009. However, again, it is difficult to take all of the facts in The Secret History and The Final Dossier to heart because of their discrepancies with the series and even each other. For instance, in the novels, Eileen Hayward is given two causes of death: pneumonia and heart failure.

Some set the character's birthdates back a year. When Showtime released keyart for Twin Peaks: The Return, Laura Palmer's birthdate is stated to be July 22, 1971. In The Secret History of Twin Peaks, Mark Frost, writing as Dr. Jacoby, stated Laura Palmer was 18 when she sought the doctor's therapy. One could say he fabricated her age, but The Washington State Medical Association could easily uncover Laura's true age if that were the case. 

Mark Frost states in Conversations with Mark Frost that some inconsistencies within his novels were intentional. 

In conclusion, in the pilot, Donna seems to be 17. In the series, she may be 18. Mark Frost, or Tammy Preston, age her as 15 during the original series which seems far too young and conflicts with all other information. As stated in this post, in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, Donna and Laura are 13 at the same time. The Star Pics trading cards state that Donna and Laura were born in 1972. With Laura's birthday being in July, she was three months older than Donna. If we take Dr. Jacoby's account in The Secret History to heart, Donna would also be 18. It's difficult to say if Donna is 17 or 18.