What happened to Stephanie on Days of Our Lives? Plot dynamics explored

Stephanie Johnson from Days of Our Lives is the daughter of Steve Johnson and Kayla Johnson, first introduced to the soap in 1990. She was played by child actors Amanda & Jessica Gunnarson during her early appearances as an infant.

In 2006, Stephanie grew into a teenager and was played by Shayna Rose from 2006-07, following which Shelley Hennig took over the role in 2007 and continued playing her until 2011, followed by a guest appearance in 2017. Since 2022, Stephanie Johnson has been played by Abigail Klein.

Stephanie Johnson's character arc in Days of Our Lives has explored her relationship with her parents, her career as a race car driver, the founder of public relations firm SJPR, and the various plotlines that tie into her professional life.

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Stephanie Johnson was introduced to Days of Our Lives in 1990

Stephanie Johnson was born in 1990 as the daughter of Steve Johnson, who first appeared on the soap in 1985, and Kayla Johnson nee Brady, who first appeared on the soap in 1982. Alongside Stephanie Johnson, Steve and Kayla also had Joey Johnson as another child from their marriage, and Steve also fathered Tripp Dalton from his marriage to Ava Vitali.

As an infant, Stephanie was the victim of an attempted kidnapping by her nanny, Sheila Salsbury, but was eventually discovered and rescued from Australia. Stephanie and Kayla would then leave Salem after Steve's apparent death.

Stephanie subsequently returned to Days of Our Lives in 2006, having grown up into a successful race car driver. At this point, her father was revealed to have been alive all along.

During this run of Days of Our Lives, Stephanie had a brief romance with Max Brady and then got involved with Jeremy Horton. Jeremy had a business called "Touch the Sky Airlines," which Stephanie convinced Max to invest in. However, it was revealed that the business was a scam counterfeiting operation, causing Max to lose money.

Stephanie and Max eventually got close again, and Max began to suspect "Touch the Sky Airlines" might be harboring a prostitution ring. Eventually, the investigation into the prostitution ring would reveal Jeremy had been working with Kai Rowlings as a business partner. Kai then forced Stephanie and Max out of his plane, after which they consummated their feelings for each other in a cave.

However, Stephanie would break up with Max, causing him to start dating Morgan Hollingsworth. This made Stephanie jealous, and she went out with Ford Decker at a party, only for him to drug and rape her. Unwilling to involve the authorities in the matter, Stephanie conspired with her sorority sisters to get her revenge by luring and drugging Ford.

The plan succeeded, but Ford attempted to assault the sorority sister, Chelsea, in his drugged-up haze and eventually fell down the stairs to his death. Stephanie convinced her sorority to refrain from contacting the authorities and had Ford's body hidden instead.

Stephanie stopped appearing on Days of Our Lives in April 2011, with it eventually being mentioned that she'd left town. She later made a guest appearance in 2017, where she attended the wedding of her parents, Steve and Kayla, who remarried.

Stephanie would later reappear on Days of Our Lives in 2022, having been recast with Abigail Klein. She worked with a mysterious client, later revealed to be Paulina Price, who was running for the mayor of Salem.

Paulina would subsequently be blackmailed by Sloan Peterson, causing Stephanie to hatch a plan to fool him with counterfeit money and steal the incriminating information in his possession.

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Days of Our Lives is currently streaming on NBC's Peacock.