What Happened To Adrienne On Days Of Our Lives?
Trigger Warning: The following article includes mention of miscarriage and child abuse.
Over the years, "Days of Our Lives" has shared some shocking and bizarre plotlines. Viewers have watched characters die at the hands of serial killers like The Necktie Killer and The Salem Strangler (via Soap Hub). It seems that every character in Salem has dealt with so much loss and pain over the years. Although there have also been joyous moments for every Salemite, the drama never seems to be far behind.
Fans witnessed characters such as Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) and Hope Brady (Kristian Alfonso) embark on epic love stories and wild adventures while also dealing with heartbreak and despair, and other characters like Kayla Brady (Mary Beth Evans), Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney), and Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker) also captured attention with their dramatic storylines (via Fame 10).
However, viewers could never forget all of the emotional drama that Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis (Judi Evans) has been through since she first debuted on "Days of Our Lives."
Adrienne had a traumatic childhood
"Days of Our Lives" viewers were first introduced to Adrienne Johnson in 1986. When Adrienne arrived in Salem, she was a teenager who suffered abuse at the hands of her father Duke Johnson, per Soaps in Depth. Adrienne quickly made a friend out of Kayla Brady. At the time Kayla was in a relationship With Steve "Patch" Johnson, who recognized some of Adrienne's possessions as mementos from his childhood. After some digging, Steve found out that he and Adrienne were siblings and that their mother had given him up for adoption to protect him from their abusive father.
Steve and Adrienne were thrilled to find each other, but tragedy soon struck when their father came to Salem looking for his daughter (via Soaps). Duke finally found Adrienne and assaulted her. After the attack, Adrienne shot and killed him; Steve decided to take the blame to keep his sister out of trouble and was charged with murder (via Soap Central). Just before Steve's sentencing, Adrienne confessed to the crime, but the judge ruled that it was self-defense.
Not long after Duke's death, Adrienne's life changed when she met the wealthy Salemite Justin Kiriakis (Wally Kurth).
Adrienne fell hard for Justin
When Adrienne Johnson first met Justin Kiriakis, she believed he was a construction worker. "Days of Our Lives" fans watched as the two began dating. Adrienne was furious when she found out that Justin wasn't a middle-class construction worker but a wealthy playboy. However, she was already head over heels, and the two continued their relationship. They eventually got married in a lavish ceremony in Greece in 1987. Adrienne later found out that she was pregnant with their first child (via Soap Central).
Things quickly turned sour in Justin and Adrienne's relationship as she began to despise his illegal business dealings. Adrienne got so stressed that she suffered a miscarriage. Tensions ran high, and Justin blamed Adrienne for losing their unborn child. Eventually, the pair decided to work on their marriage, and Justin left his illegal activities behind. However, when his uncle Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston) was shot, Justin moved back into the Kiriakis mansion and took over the business. Adrienne didn't come with him, per Soaps in Depth. During this time, Justin sought comfort in the arms of Anjelica Deveraux, who became pregnant with his child (via Soap Hub).
For her part, Adrienne began an affair with a Kiriakis employee named Emilio Ramirez. Justin was so upset about the affair that he arranged for Emilio to be killed. However, it was Justin who ended up getting attacked and paralyzed, which prompted Adrienne to return to his side, per Soaps.
Adrienne suffered at the hands of Anjelica
Justin and Adrienne Kiriakis worked through their issues and moved back into the Kiriakis mansion together. However, after Anjelica Deveraux gave birth to Justin's son, Alexander, Adrienne feared she may lose her husband. So she pretended to be pregnant. Anjelica found out about Adrienne's secret and exposed her. Following the bombshell, the pair divorced, per Soap Central.
After splitting, Adrienne opened her own construction company but was stunned when she was in competition with her ex-husband, who also started his own construction business. Anjelica planned to get rid of Adrienne by blowing up a building that she was working in (via Soaps). Justin saved Adrienne just in time, and Anjelica took Alexander and fled Salem. However, the plane they were supposed to be on crashed leaving both presumed dead; "Days of Our Lives" viewers later found out that they boarded a different flight.
Justin and Adrienne rekindled their romance following the incident and remarried in 1990. They also hired Angelica's pregnant former housekeeper JJ Bagwood, who allowed the couple to adopt her unborn twins. The couple got custody of the twins and named them Joseph and Victor Jr. Shortly after the twins were born, Adrienne found out that she was pregnant, and the pair welcomed their only biological child together Jackson, also known as Sonny Kiriakis (via Soaps in Depth).
The family left town, and Adrienne wasn't seen again for over a decade before returning to Salem in 2007.
Adrienne fell for Lucas amid issues with Justin
"Days of Our Lives" fans were thrilled when Adrienne Kiriakis returned to Salem in 2007. Adrienne came running home at the request of Kayla Brady, who asked for help with an issue Steve Johnson was having. Justin Kiriakis and the rest of Adrienne's family joined her in Salem; they decided to stay for a while, and Adrienne even purchased a bar she named The Cheatin' Heart. However, the following year, Adrienne and her kids packed up and moved away when Justin took a job in Dubai, per Soap Central.
Justin and Adrienne had more problems in their marriage off-screen. In 2010, Adrienne returned to Salem and reunited with her estranged husband. The pair worked through their issues yet again and remarried in Las Vegas in 2011. They settled down in Salem, and Justin took a job at Titan. Their son Sonny also came out to his family and later began dating Will Horton (Chandler Massey). Adrienne struggled with the relationship at first and even sparred with Will's mother Sami Brady (via State Journal-Register) but came around to the pairing as Will and Sonny planned their wedding.
Adrienne began to suspect Justin of having an affair and turned to Lucas Horton (Bryan Dattilo) for comfort. Justin and Adrienne split, and she moved on to Lucas. They got engaged, but Justin interrupted their wedding. The drama left Adrienne torn between Lucas and Justin, but she ultimately chose Justin (via Soaps in Depth).
Adrienne was revealed to have died in a car accident following DOOL's epic time jump
"Days of Our Lives" fanatics saw Adrienne Kiriakis' life get even more chaotic when Angelica Deveraux returned to Salem with revenge on her mind. Angelica tracked down Adrienne's doppelgänger, Bonnie Lockhart (also Judi Evans), and convinced her to swap places with Adrienne, per Soaps in Depth. This sent Adrienne to jail and Bonnie into Salem as her lookalike. While Bonnie posed as Adrienne, she dumped Justin and tried to get back together with Lucas (via Soaps). However, the plan was eventually revealed, and Adrienne returned to Salem to put together the pieces of her relationship.
Justin and Adrienne did reunite and even remarried in a double wedding ceremony with Jennifer Horton (Melissa Reeves) and Jack Deveraux (Matthew Ashford), per Daily Soap Dish. However, following the ceremony, Jennifer was injured and fell into a year-long coma that the soap opera used to perform a wild time jump. The show opted to skip an entire year, and when Jennifer woke up from her coma viewers learned what had happened in Salem right along with her.
Sadly, it was revealed that Adrienne was killed in a car accident (via Soap Dirt). Fans were stunned that the show had killed off Adrienne, which left her friends and family members heartbroken.