Phyllis may have had a few different faces on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS over the years, but she’s still the same Spitfire fan that they came to love! The character first appeared in October 1994 with Michelle Stafford originating the role. When she decided to leave the soap in 1997, Sandra Nelson taken over for a few years. Stafford recaptured her role in 2000, this time staying until 2013. In 2014, Gina Tognoni took over the role of Phyllis, but in June 2019 she departed and Stafford rejoined Stafford Y&R Once again.
From the moment Phyllis Summers arrived in Genoa City, she started causing trouble by tricking rock star Danny Romalotti into sleeping with her. And when she got pregnant, she changed the DNA test results to show Danny was the father so he would leave his wife Christine Blair and marry her. But after giving birth to Daniel Romalotti Jr., Phyllis was abandoned by Danny and in revenge she ran over Christine and Paul Williams with her car! Danny and Phyllis went to therapy to save their marriage and Phyllis had an affair with her psychiatrist Tim Reid and filmed her having sex to blackmail him into insisting Danny stay married to her. But they eventually divorced, leaving Phyllis to have relationships with Malcolm Winters, Michael Baldwin, and Jack Abbott before leaving town.
Upon her return, Phyllis married Jack and they attempted to get custody of his son, Kyle, from his mother, Diane Jenkins. Diane put Phyllis in prison for arson and attempted murder, and eventually Jack and Phyllis broke up. Daniel returned to Genoa City as a teenager, and Phyllis joined her son, who had been living with Danny.
Phyllis had an affair with Nick Newman while mourning the death of his daughter Cassie. When she became pregnant, Nick divorced Sharon to marry Phyllis, who eventually gave birth to Summer Newman. Phyllis blackmailed Brad Carlton about his affair with Sharon, and while she was fighting with Sharon and Drucilla Winters on a cliff, Dru fell to her death. Phyllis was briefly jailed for racketeering, and Nick was presumed dead in a plane crash. After he got home, he, Phyllis, Jack and Sharon started Restless style Magazine. Despite her best efforts, Phyllis couldn’t keep Nick away from Sharon and eventually filed for divorce.
Nick and Phyllis eventually got back together and when she got pregnant again, he proposed to her. Phyllis lost the baby, but they still tied the knot. But things got tricky when years ago Phyllis was charged with running over Christine and Paul. Also, Tim returned to blackmail her and later turned up dead. She turned to Ronan Malloy for help, and after they slept together, Nick divorced her. When Summer’s paternity was questioned, Nick took another DNA test, but Sharon manipulated it to make Jack believe he was the girl’s father. This led to a confrontation between Sharon and Phyllis which ended with the redhead falling down the stairs and going into a coma! Daniel placed her in a facility in Georgia, where loved ones would occasionally visit.
Phyllis woke up in 2014 because Victor arranged for her to receive an experimental drug. She escaped the clinic and hitchhiked back to Genoa City, where she crashed Nick and Sharon’s wedding. After catching up on everything she missed while she was away, Phyllis finally forced Sharon to confess to tampering with Summer’s paternity test. She wanted to get back together with Jack, but he had gotten involved with Kelly Andrews, who would go to extremes to get Phyllis to keep Jack to herself. With the rival finally settled, Phyllis eventually remarried Jack. Unfortunately, the man she married was actually Marco, a rogue double hired by Victor!
When Marco was defeated and Jack reclaimed his life, he and Phyllis got back together. However, her business relationship with Billy Abbott soon grew into much more. And although they tried to resist their feelings for each other, Phyllis and Billy began having an affair behind Jack’s back. Torn between the two brothers, Phyllis tried to choose Jack, but he found out about the affair and filed for divorce. After distracting herself with business for a while, Phyllis finally found happiness with Billy.
Phyllis was part of the group that covered up the murder of JT Hellstrom and after Billy started gambling again she found solace with Nick and they had sex. Summer had returned home and had a crush on Billy, constantly pouncing on him. Phyllis and Nick’s indiscretion was exposed at his wedding to Sharon, and Billy retaliated by sleeping with Summer. Refocusing on work, Phyllis became interim CEO of Jabot and hired Kerry Johnson to work there. Unfortunately, Kerry was a corporate spy working for Ashley. When JT’s murder was exposed, Phyllis received immunity from Christine in exchange for her confessing how he died, and she, Nikki, Sharon and Victoria Newman had covered it up. Nick was angry and dropped her.
Phyllis is on the run with almost everyone, plotting revenge and allying with Adam Newman upon his return from the dead. But her plans took an unexpected turn when she was kidnapped by Kevin! She managed to escape, suspecting Adam was behind it, and tracked him down in Vegas. But instead of going after the Newmans, Phyllis set her sights a little lower, blackmailing Chelsea and Abby into taking part of the Grand Phoenix Hotel.
Phyllis worked as a head of security, installing secret cameras and spying on the entire place, and was constantly at odds with Abby…especially when she was flirting with Abby’s new suitor, Chance Chancellor! In the end, Phyllis rigged Abby into signing her the rest of the Grand Phoenix, but was upset that the blonde was buying the property across the street and planning to open a competing hotel. Phyllis also began rekindling old feelings for Nick, and although the pair initially decided they were better off as friends, they quickly gave up and resumed their relationship! Phyllis managed to buy out Abby’s stake in the hotel, only to run into financial difficulties and trick Victoria into buying out the majority stake. Eventually, she accepted money from Nick to buy out Victoria and run the Grand Phoenix herself.
Returning to her scheming ways, Phyllis suspected Sally Spectra was up to no good and worried that Jack would fall in love with the redhead. When Summer decided to leave Genoa City for a job in Italy, Phyllis was convinced Sally was behind it and didn’t rest until she proved that she and Tara Locke had worked together to evict Summer. Unfortunately, her heart was broken when Summer chose to stay in Europe, even after the truth was out. After she and Jack leaned in for support, Phyllis was stunned when he confessed he was still in love with her!
Phyllis kept Jack in the friend zone but continued to lean on him as she and Nick found themselves increasingly at odds. After she and Nick agreed to break up, Phyllis had a dream that inspired her to try and reconnect with Jack, but he was afraid of ruining their friendship. Phyllis continued to feel helpless in Genoa City and was surprised when Summer called Marchetti with a job offer.
Phyllis decided to travel to Italy to find out about the offer and was disappointed when Jack didn’t try to talk her out of it. Although she ultimately rejected Summer and decided to stay in Genoa City. She even helped Jack unravel the mystery of his anonymous text messages and took him to Los Angeles, where he met Allie, daughter of his late son Keemo. However, she was horrified to learn that the meeting had been arranged by a very alive Diane!
Jack and Phyllis reunited and made love, but he realized she only claimed him to rub Diane in the face, so he dumped her again. Phyllis didn’t apologize and remained determined to get Diane out of town, even teaming up with Nikki and Ashley to make it happen!
Stay tuned to see what happens to her next!
