Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis
| Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | 1986 |
| Portrayed by | Judi Evans (1986-91; 07-present) |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | female |
| Occupation | Owner The Cheatin' Heart |
| Family | Duke Johnson (father; deceased) Josephine Johnson (mother) Steve Johnson (brother) Jack Deveraux (brother) Stephanie Johnson (niece) |
| Spouse | Justin Kiriakis (1987; divorced; 1990-present) |
| Children | Joseph Kiriakis (adoptive son) Victor Kiriakis II (adoptive son) Jackson Kiriakis (son) Alexander Kiriakis (step-son) |
Adrienne Josephine Johnson Kiriakis (born 1967) is a fictional character on NBC's daytime drama Days of our Lives. She has been portrayed by Judi Evans from 1986 to 1991 and from 2007 to present.
Fictional character history
Adrienne Johnson arrived in Salem in 1986, fleeing her abusive father Duke. It was then that she met Kayla Brady, who her brother Steve was involved with. When Steve soon began to remember certain possessions of Adrienne's, Adrienne quickly realized that Steve was one of her brothers. Adrienne told Steve that she was his sister and that their mother, Jo, gave them up in order to protect them from their abusive father. A little while later, Duke arrived in Salem and got Adrienne alone. At that point he violently beat and raped her. Unfortunately for Duke, it would be the last mistake that he would ever make because Adrienne managed to get ahold of a gun and shot and killed her father. A traumatized Adrienne blocked the incident out and Steve ended up claiming responsibility for Duke's murder. Moments before Steve was to be sentenced, Adrienne's memory returned and she confessed to the murder. However, in hearing her story, the judge determined that it was self-defense.
Later that year, Adrienne met Justin Kiriakis, who, in order to date her, pretended to be a construction worker. Upon learning that Justin lied to her, she was furious but she had fallen in love with him. The following year, the duo flew to Greece and got married. Their marriage was anything but perfect, with Adrienne constantly taking issue with Justin's illegal connections to the Kiriakis family business. Adrienne became pregnant and the stress caused her to lose the baby. In the wake of this, Justin decided to abandon his uncle Victor and the illegal dealings that he was connected with and became determined to make his marriage with Adrienne work. A short time later, Victor was shot, prompting Justin to return to the Kiriakis Mansion to oversee his family's empire. Adrienne refused to go with him.
Around this time, Adrienne began an affair with Kiriakis stablehand Emilio Ramirez. Upon learning this, Justin arranged for Emilio to be killed in an "accident". However, Justin ended up falling victim to his trap and was left paralyzed. The accident prompted Adrienne to return to Justin and the two made up. As time went on, Justin regained the use of his legs but was rendered impotent. A short time later, the duo learned that Alexander, the young son of Anjelica Deveraux was fathered by Justin, but the two did not split up. Awhile later, Justin and Adrienne learned the cause of his impotency - his uncle Victor was drugging him. This revelation caused the two to leave the Kiriakis Manor. As an act of retrition, Justin hired prostitute Yvette DuPres to seduce Victor and convince him that she was a wealthy baroness. Victor eventually learned the truth and was furious.
Anjelica then moved in with Victor and planned to marry him, knowing it would destroy Justin to have Alexander under Victor's roof. Justin was not willing to let that happen and stopped the wedding. He later set her up with a lavish penthouse. Adrienne, meanwhile, was scared that she may have been losing Justin, and under Victor's advice, allowed Justin to believe that she was pregnant. Anjelica learned the truth about Adrienne's deception and informed Justin, causing him and Adrienne to make the decision to get divorced. Adrienne and Justin found themselves at odds in the business world, when they decided to start rival construction companies. During this time, however, the two began dating again, which infurated Anjelica. Anjelica managed to bribe one of the men working on a building for Adrienne's company to blow it up, resulting in Adrienne becoming trapped in a pit. Anjelica, aware of the fact that she would at some point be discovered, fled town on a plane with Alexander. The plane that she was supposed to be on crashed and she and Alexander were presumed dead. In reality, they had gotten onto another plane.
Adrienne and Justin grew closer as a result of the incident, prompting Victor to disown his nephew. The two reunited, and on June 1, 1990, were wed for the second time. They went to Tahiti for their honeymoon, where they met Carly Manning, who was on the run from Lawrence Alamain. Carly constantly caused problems for Adrienne. At point, Adrienne was mistaken for Carly and kidnapped. She was freed and she and Justin convinced Carly to come to Salem with them. Shortly after returning from their honeymoon, they hired Anjelica's housekeeper, J.J. Bagwood. After Anjelica left, they found J.J. another job.
Adrienne and Justin found it difficult to conceive children, so when J.J. became pregnant with twins, she offered to give them up to Adrienne and Justin. After the children were born on September 9, 1990, the biological father of the twins, Stanley, came forth to claim them. J.J. also began to develop doubts about giving the children up, but eventually, she and Stanley decided to, believing that Adrienne and Justin could give them a far better life. A short while later, J.J. left Salem. Around that time, Adrienne became pregnant. Adrienne gave birth to a baby boy that they named Jackson. A short while later, they moved to Texas and created their own construction company, A.J. Construction. Prior to this, however, Justin and Adrienne were able to mend fences with Victor and Nick Corelli helped Justin find Alexander.
In 2003, Adrienne's brother Jack was (falsely) presumed dead when he became the second victim of "The Salem Stalker". Adrienne was unable to attend the funeral, but instead called Jack's wife, Jennifer, to offer her condolences.
On May 1st, 2007, Adrienne returned to Salem after 16 years to offer help to her brother Steve, who is being tormented by DiMera scion, E.J. Wells. Adrienne recently purchased a bar named, The Cheatin' Hart in Salem. Some visitors are Roman Brady, Anna DiMera, Chelsea Brady, Nick Fallon, Stephanie Johnson, Jeremy Horton, Jett Carver, Steve Johnson and Jett's "fiance" Danielle Prentiss.