Missing in action from the Salem scene since 2021, when his mom quietly shipped him off to a mental institution after he tried to set up Brady for his murder, Philip Kiriakis is finally back at Days of our Lives. And this time around, John-Paul Lavoisier, the actor who played the character from 2015-2016, will be back in the role. Need to brush up on all things Philip as he steps foot back inside the Kiriakis mansion? Here are seven key things to know about him.
The high school Philip (then played by Jay Kenneth Johnson) first introduced to viewers was suave and spoiled, courtesy of his indulgent mom, Kate (Lauren Koslow). His dad, Victor (John Aniston), finally had to step in and cut off his son’s cash flow.
As a result, Philip took to gambling to make a quick buck but ended up owing a not-so-nice bookie, who had him roughed up. After Victor paid off Philip’s debt, the teenager learned his lesson and started walking the straight and narrow.
Although originally interested in Belle, Philip’s first love was actually Chloe (Nadia Bjorlin), the odd new girl in town and recipient of lots of taunting and teasing by the mean kids at school.
After losing a bet with Shawn, Philip was forced to take Chloe to the Last Blast Dance, where she literally let her hair down and emerged as a brunette bombshell. Philip was instantly smitten, and the pair became a couple. That is until Brady got into the mix, and a triangle developed.
After losing Chloe to Brady, Philip enlisted in the Marines and exited Salem. During one of his tours of duty, he ended up in a minefield explosion. As a result, Philip had to have part of one of his legs amputated. However, that aspect of the character’s past is rarely referred to, let alone even mentioned.
Philip has an intriguing past with Belle (Martha Madison). In fact, the twosome ended up married after Shawn was kidnapped by Jan, and Belle turned to Philip for comfort. And when Belle later turned up pregnant, Philip was initially believed to be the child’s father. Of course, he wasn’t, and Shawn and Belle eventually reconciled. However, over the years, Philip and Belle have hit the sheets a few times, unable to deny their attraction for each other.
Chloe and Belle aren’t the only women handsome Philip has romanced over the years. For a while, he was hot and heavy with Steve (Stephen Nichols) and Kayla’s (Mary Beth Evans) daughter, Stephanie (Shelley Hennig; now Abigail Klein). And he was once married to Maggie’s (Suzanne Rogers) granddaughter, Melanie (Molly Burnett). Plus, he dated a girl named Cynthia in high school and had a brief relationship with a college girl named Morgan (Kristen Renton).
Philip actually has a son somewhere out there in the world, who’s the biological child of him and Mimi (Farah Fath) due to an in-vitro switch. A surrogate bore baby Tyler back in 2006. At one point, Philip tracked the child down and considered acquiring custody of him, but he quickly realized he wasn’t ready for fatherhood and selflessly gave the tyke up for adoption.
During his go-round on Days of our Lives that ended in 2016, things were pretty dicey for Philip. First of all, he was being blackmailed by his devious uncle Deimos (Vincent Irizarry) to take down Victor. Then he got involved in Chloe’s wild scam to keep the baby she was carrying for Nicole (Arianne Zucker) and fathered by Daniel (Shawn Christian), by pretending it was her own. Chloe didn’t want Nicole and her new boyfriend, Deimos, to raise the child. The whole mess resulted in Philip being kidnapped by Deimos and forced to reveal the truth about the infant. After the whole ordeal was over, Philip decided to leave town.
When he returned to town a few years later, he became fixated on Chloe once again. His jealousy over her bond with Brady caused him to lose his mind. He set things up to look like he was murdered, framing Brady. By the end of 2021, Kate had to clean up his mess and ship her supposedly dead son out of town to get the help he so desperately needed.
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