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THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS

What Happened to Daniel on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS

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It’s been a while since Daniel Romalotti was on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS so seeing him in old episodes might make some newer viewers curious about who he is and what his story is. But that’s where we come in! The character first appeared in 1994 and after a series of child actors, was aged into a young adult in 2004. Cam Gigandet briefly played the role before being recast with Owen Beckman, who didn’t even air because Michael Graziadei was quickly brought in to replace him. He played Daniel from May 2004 until January 2013. Graziadei did make a brief appearance in 2016 as part of Y&R‘s anniversary and returned again in November 2022, this time sticking around for a while!

Daniel Romalotti thought he was the son of Danny Romalotti and Phyllis Summers but his real father was Brian Hamilton. When Danny learned Phyllis had lied to him, he divorced her and took custody of the boy, moving to Europe. So Daniel grew up resenting his mother for not being part of his childhood.  Returning to Genoa City as a teen in 2003, Daniel befriended Kevin Fisher, who was trying to make amends for some of the horrible things he’d done. Daniel agreed in exchange for Kevin helping him hook up with Mackenzie Browning. They got a guy to come on to Lily Winters so Kevin could rescue her but he went too far and tried to date rape her. Luckily, Kevin still saved her from the creep, but Phyllis was furious when she found out what Daniel had done.

Y&R Phyllis Daniel
Daniel didn’t always think mother knew best.Aaron Montgomery/jpistudios.com

After a car accident that killed Cassie Newman, Daniel had memory loss and didn’t remember that she had been driving him home because he was drunk. Having fallen in love with Lily, the pair ran away when the truth came out and after Daniel was exonerated he was heartbroken when Lily’s parents sent her to boarding school. When Lily came home, the pair eloped to Vegas. Daniel began flirting with Amber Forrester and helped her keep her claws in Cane Ashby in exchange for a pass to watch her on an adult website. This got Daniel addicted to pornography and led to Lily dumping him and Neil firing him from his job.

Daniel moved in with Kevin and Amber and the trio got in a lot of trouble when they came across a large sum of money that some dangerous people were also after. With his marriage over, Daniel flirted with Heather Stevens and slept with Amber. This led to a real relationship and Amber helped Daniel mend fences with his father, Danny. Phyllis tried to split them up and after Amber confessed to sleeping with Adrien Korbel, Daniel dumped her and went out with Colleen Carlton on the rebound. They eventually got back together, and Daniel got in a lot of trouble for forging a painting. After his release, Daniel proposed and he and Amber were finally married.

Y&R Daniel Amber Katherine
Katherine officiated at Daniel and Amber’s rooftop ceremony.Aaron Montgomery/jpistudios.com

The union quickly fell apart due to Amber’s obsession with her adopted son and Daisy Callahan‘s obsession with Daniel. Daisy drugged Daniel and had sex with him, but it was Amber’s fears for her son’s safety that led her to end the marriage. Daniel moved on with Abby Newman but was shocked when Daisy returned pregnant with his child. After Phyllis had a paternity test done that confirmed it, Daniel invited Daisy to stay with him until the baby was born. However, after Daniel helped her give birth, Daisy knocked him out and disappeared with the infant!

After Billy and Victoria adopted a baby through the black market, Daniel realized that Lucy was his daughter. Although he was happy to sign his parental rights away, Phyllis wanted to fight for custody of the little girl herself. In the end, though, the judge ruled in Daisy’s favor and Daniel was furious with his mother. Fearing for his daughter’s safety, Daniel proposed to Daisy and they eloped, but naturally, the relationship was never going to work. When Daisy went missing, Daniel was the prime suspect, but the truth that Ricky Williams had gone psycho eventually came out. 

Y&R Daniel Phyllis Lucy
Phyllis was attached to Lucy, but she was Daniel’s daughter.Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

Daniel reconnected with Heather and after locating Daisy and confirming she was safe, he moved to Georgia with Heather and Lucy in 2013. He returned later that year for a brief visit when Phyllis fell into a coma and he took her to a facility outside of Savannah to take care of her. In 2016, Daniel came back to Genoa City to attend Summer Newman and Luca Santori’s engagement party. He also met Cassie’s twin, Mariah Copeland, and caught up with Kevin. In June 2022, Phyllis was delighted to get a call from Daniel and caught up with her son.

Then, in November of that year, Daniel returned to Genoa City for another visit. He was a little cagey about Heather and Lucy when anyone asked about them, and after reconnecting with Lily, he pitched her a new idea to launch a gaming platform for Chancellor-Winters. She accepted and he set to work, asking his mother if she wanted to help him work publicity. When Danny came home for the holidays, he and Phyllis were able to get Daniel to open up about what had gone wrong. He admitted that his jealousy over Heather’s success caused a rift between them and after he began acting out and treating them awfully, Heather left him and Lucy went to boarding school. Daniel hoped that this new game would be a way to help put his life back together.

Daniel was upset with Phyllis when she tried shopping his game to Newman Media, but her going to Portugal to try and convince Heather to take him back was a step too far and he fired her. He was surprised when Heather returned to Genoa City, and he was able to repair his relationship with Lucy. Having cleared the air with Heather, Daniel reconnected with Lily and they rekindled their teenage romance.

Y&R Lily Daniel smooch
Lily and Daniel recaptured the old magic.Howard Wise/jpistudios.com

When Phyllis was presumed dead, Daniel was devastated, but that emotion turned to anger when Summer revealed that their mother was alive and in hiding because Phyllis’ plan to frame Diane for her “murder” had resulted in her killing her co-conspirator, Jeremy Stark! Since Summer was reluctant to expose the truth, Daniel came clean and claimed he was the one who’d known first. He also let Phyllis know that Summer’s marriage to Kyle had fallen apart, hoping it would lure her home. He was satisfied when his mother turned herself in and pled guilty to receive lesser charges. However, given that his romance with Lily had heated up and was going nicely, Daniel wasn’t thrilled that Phyllis was still meddling with Heather.

Daniel was excited to learn that Heather and Lucy were planning to move back to Genoa City, and when he moved into an apartment in the same building where Lily lived, he made sure there was a room for his daughter. Lily felt that Daniel was overreacting to Phyllis’ comments about Heather moving back, and when she had to leave town to be with her daughter, told Daniel to stay home. Unfortunately, Heather was interested in Daniel again and when they woke up after falling asleep on the couch on New Year’s Eve, they shared a kiss!

Stay tuned to see what happens next!

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