What Happened to Philip Kiriakis on DAYS OF OUR LIVES
Philip Kiriakis hasn’t been on DAYS OF OUR LIVES for years, so now that he’s back, newer viewers might need some background and longtime fans might need a refresher. The character was born in 1995 and played by a series of child actors before being struck with a case of SORAS and returning as actor Brandon Tyler in 1999. Jay Kenneth Johnson took over the role from Dec. 1999 to Dec. 2002. Next, Kyle Brandt played Philip from May 2003 to Oct. 2006, and Johnson returned for another stint from Jan. 2007 to April 2011. The most recent actor to portray the Kiriakis heir was John-Paul Lavoisier, who was on from Dec. 2015 until Dec. 2016. Philip resurfaced in the online DAYS spinoff LAST BLAST REUNION at the end of 2019, again played by Johnson, and in the summer of 2020, the actor was back on the soap proper!
Philip is the biological son of Kate Roberts and Victor Kiriakis. However, when Kate struggled to get pregnant, she turned to in vitro fertilization, and unfortunately, her egg ended up in Vivian Alamain, who was hoping to keep Victor for herself!
As a teen, Philip joined friends Jan Spears and Jason in teasing new girl Chloe Lane until he ended up falling in love with her. Their relationship didn’t go well as she falsely accused him of rape and Philip later dumped Chloe after nude photos of her were publicly revealed. Seeing that she had fallen in love with Brady Black, Philip left Salem to join the military. However, he wasn’t gone long and returned to develop a crush on Belle Black. In addition to being a military cadet, Philip was also secretly working for the ISA and proved Tony DiMera — well, Andre DiMera posing as Tony — guilty of illegal activities around town.
Philip fell in love with Belle but just as they got engaged, he was called to active duty in Iraq. They moved up their wedding so they would be man and wife before he had to ship out. When Philip returned, he was missing the lower part of his leg thanks to a Tony DiMera plot. He was overjoyed that Belle was pregnant, but after Claire‘s birth, blood tests revealed that Shawn Douglas was really the babydaddy. Claire’s health continued to deteriorate, but she was saved by a liver transplant from Bo and Hope’s son, Zack Brady, who had died in a car accident.
When he learned the truth about Claire’s paternity, Philip was crushed and disappeared. Belle and Shawn struggled to raise the little girl and Philip returned to take custody of Claire having received facial reconstruction surgery following his injuries in battle. Shawn and Belle tried kidnapping Claire, and Philip did whatever he could to bring her home. He tried to win back Belle, but she ended up marrying Shawn. When they left with Claire, Philip threw himself into work at Titan where Victor had made him CEO.
In addition to various corporate intrigues, Philip found himself dating Stephanie Johnson and the focus of Melanie Layton’s affection. Firing Melanie from Titan, he declared they had no interest in her alternative fuel project anymore. Victor was upset to learn his son was letting personal feelings interfere with business, so he named Brady vice-CEO. As the two men battled for Victor’s affection, Tony bought the alternative fuel project and Philip confronted him. After their argument, Tony fell to his death and EJ and Stefano blamed Philip.
This led to a war between the DiMera and Kiriakis families and Stefano and EJ tried twice to have Philip killed. In retaliation, Philip and Victor abducted Stefano, which led to EJ having Stephanie kidnapped! Philip managed to rescue his fiancée, but she was upset at being used as a pawn and broke up with him. Philip turned back to Melanie, and after proposing on Christmas Eve, the couple was married on Valentine’s Day. Problem was, Melanie was still in love with Nathan Horton.
Walking in on a kiss between Melanie and Nathan, Philip sought comfort with Chloe and they slept together, producing a child. Due to some tampering with the paternity test, Chloe believed Daniel Jonas to be the father of her newborn son, Parker. After Caroline admitted she’d switched the results, Melanie left Philip only to learn she was pregnant. He hoped the baby would reunite them, but she sadly miscarried. Melanie filed for divorce, and Philip turned to Chloe, rescuing her after she tried to kill herself in the Salem River. As Chloe grew worse and threatened to keep Parker from Philip, he instead took his son and moved to Chicago.
In 2015, Philip returned to work for Titan after Brady was fired. But he was really being blackmailed by his uncle, Deimos Kiriakis, to plot against Victor. When the scheme was exposed, a betrayed Victor banished Philip from his life. Philip and Belle rekindled their relationship, but he balked when she proposed marriage. When Chloe returned to Salem, she and Philip went into the music business and signed Claire. He also posed as the father of Chloe’s baby when she admitted she was carrying Nicole’s baby for her and didn’t want the child near Deimos. Brady and Philip were upset when Victor put Deimos in charge of Titan. After being drugged by Deimos and heartbroken by Chloe, Philip left Salem to start over somewhere new.
Philip returned to Salem in August 2020 to blackmail Victor into making him CEO of Titan, but ended up sharing the position with Xander Kiriakis. The two men butted heads as each wanted full power for themselves, but Philip had a secret ally in his takeover attempt. As suspicions were raised, it turned out he was being forced to launder money by the Vitali mob family, and a not-so-dead-anymore Ava Vitale was pulling his strings! Philip suggested to Sarah Horton they fake an affair to make Xander jealous, but she was really working with Xander to help dig up proof of Philip’s crimes. Eventually, Philip came clean to Chloe, and Brady agreed to help him deal with the mob if he stayed away from Chloe. Unfortunately, this got Brady shot by a hitman! Eventually, Victor interceded to smooth things over with the Vitale family and put an end to the whole mess.
Stay tuned to see what happens next!
