Chad DiMera has been on Days of Our Lives for years now, so viewers might not be aware of his dramatic history in Salem. When Chad first appeared in 2009, he was played by Casey Deidrick, who departed in 2013. When the character was brought back to DAYS in 2014, Billy Flynn had taken over the role. While that stint came to an end in February 2019, by the end of the year, he was back in Salem again for another run that continues to this day.
Chad arrived in Salem in 2009 to reconnect with ex-girlfriend Mia McCormick, and clashed with her new boyfriend, Will Horton. Chad was stunned to learn that Mia had given birth to their daughter but gave her up for adoption to Nicole Walker and EJ DiMera. But even worse was the later reveal that Nicole had switched babies with Sami Brady and Chad and Mia’s daughter, Grace, had died. The loss of their child brought Chad and Mia together, but only briefly.
Chad tried dating Gabi Hernandez, but Mia managed to split them up. After learning that his mother had been a prostitute, Chad was further crushed when she died. And following Madeline Woods’ death, Chad learned that his real father was supervillain Stefano DiMera! Struggling to fit in with his new family, Chad found a friend in new sister Lexie Carver and even stood up as EJ’s best man when he married Nicole. He briefly moved into the mansion but moved out after getting shot. Chad started a romance with Abigail Deveraux, but later fell for her best friend, Melanie Jonas. Gabi set her sights on Chad, and tried to split them up, but after a roller-coaster relationship, Melanie called off their engagement and left town. He then reunited with Abigail, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. However, after being shot during Sami and EJ’s engagement party, Chad had to confess to the doctors that he had lied about the tumor and Abigail was furious. They split up and Chad left Salem to undergo surgery to repair damage from the bullet.
In September of 2014, Chad returned to Salem and punched EJ for sleeping with Abigail after reading about their affair in Will’s article. He wasn’t happy that Ben Weston was dating Abigail so he began seeing his sister, Jordan Ridgeway. But they split when she left town for a new job. Chad’s life changed when EJ and Kristen DiMera were both presumed dead and he was the only DiMera child remaining. Abigail cheated on Ben with Chad and got pregnant, though a paternity test indicated the child was Ben’s. After Chad drunkenly hit on Serena Mason in a bar, he awoke the next day with no memories and was a prime suspect when Serena was found murdered by the Necktie Killer!
When Aiden Jennings attacked Hope Brady, he became the prime suspect and Chad was released. But it turned out the real Necktie Killer was Ben, who had abducted Abigail and held her in a cabin in the middle of nowhere where she gave birth to their son. Ben forced Abigail to call Chad and break up with him, but she was able to communicate with Chad secretly and he rushed to her rescue. Ben knocked Chad out and tied them to the bed, setting it on fire, but they managed to escape. Abigail named her baby Thomas, and it was later revealed that Chad was his real father.
After moving into the DiMera mansion with Abigail and their son, Chad was shocked when Andre DiMera claimed Hope had shot and killed his father, Stefano. Chad and Abigail were finally married, but she remained haunted by memories of Ben and kept seeing visions of him. Worse still, the real Ben showed up and she went crazy, setting him on fire for revenge. Chad kept her from killing Ben, but Abigail was sent to a mental institution for treatment. After Chad helped her escape, Abigail went missing and Andre claimed she’d died in a plane crash.
However, she had only faked her death with Andre’s help and Abigail returned to Salem but seeing Chad happy with Gabi, she didn’t want to make her presence known to him. However, when he caught sight of her, Chad was overjoyed to have her back. Abigail remained jealous of Gabi’s presence in Chad’s life, but it wasn’t until they were kidnapped by Deimos that Chad and Gabi shared a steamy kiss. When Deimos kidnapped the trio, he poisoned Gabi and Abigail and gave Chad only one dose of the antidote. But he cheated fate by giving each woman half to keep them alive until they could get to the hospital.
Later, Abigail stepped away to allow Chad and Gabi to be together, and decided to marry Dario. But after Abigail was nearly killed by a car aiming for Dario, her husband skipped town and Chad was the one who stayed by her side as she recovered. Gabi split up with Chad and he and Abigail planned a double wedding with Sonny and Paul. Ben crashed the ceremony with news that Will was still alive, so Chad and Abigail were re-married later in a private ceremony.
The DiMera family grew by one when Vivian Alamain introduced her son, Stefan DiMira, but lost another member when Andre was murdered. Although Gabi was sent to prison for the crime, the real killer was actually Abigail, who was suffering from DID and began wearing a black wig and calling herself “Gabby.” While in her alternate personality, Abigail also seduced Chad’s brother, Stefan, creating a violent rivalry between the two. After Abigail received treatment and had her personalities integrated, she returned to Chad and revealed she was pregnant. But Gabi had taken revenge on Abigail by tampering with the tests to make it appear Stefan was the father. She also began drugging Abigail and making it appear that her split personalities were back.
Abigail was sent to another facility for treatment, and upon her release, helped expose Gabi’s lies and ultimately reforged her relationship with Chad. They also welcomed their daughter, Charlotte, and remarried before leaving Salem to live happily ever after.
But a year later, they were back in town because Abigail wanted to be there for her mother and figure out who had put her in a coma. Chad got wrapped up in more DiMera drama as he was contacted by his father but when he tried to meet Stefano, found only Dr. Rolf. Later, Chad and Abigail followed up on their suspicions and were shocked to learn that Stefano’s mind had been implanted into Steve Johnson’s body!
Worse, Chad found himself hypnotized by Stefano to do his bidding, which included attempting to murder Gabi and Kate! As “Stevano’s” dastardly plans reached their climax, the villain was defeated and Abigail managed to get through to Chad and free him from his father’s evil grasp. Unfortunately, she then began hallucinating after being drugged, and Chad agreed to take his wife to Florida to seek treatment.
Leaving Abigail in the psychiatric facility, Chad returned to Salem in June 2020 determined to find out who had drugged her. He cozied up to Gwen Rizczech to get information out of her and used her to spy on Gabi, helping her make Jake jealous in exchange. When they split, Gwen turned her eye to Chad, but Abigail came home. Later suspecting that Abigail was having an affair with Jake DiMera, a drunken Chad slept with Gwen on New Years Eve.
As 2021 began, Kate urged Chad to confess to Abigail, but Gwen got to her first. Worse, Rolf revealed that Gwen had been the one who drugged Abigail! Chad and Abigail reconciled, and he convinced her to stop trying to get revenge on Gwen and let it go. Unfortunately, Gwen then turned out to be pregnant and Abigail decided to leave him if she kept the baby. Gwen miscarried, but after she fell down the stairs during an argument with Abigail, she blamed it on her! Upset, Abigail left town and Chad found himself mixed up in the family business trying to oust Jake. With Kate’s vote, he made it happen, and Chad and EJ decided to run DiMera together.
By September, Chad visited Abigail in Boston and convinced her to come home to Salem with him and give their relationship another try. They grew closer again, but then The Devil resurfaced and stirred up all kinds of trouble, turning Chad against EJ. When Abigail went missing, Chad searched for her and she was found with Kristen’s other prisoners on an island. To help Sonny, Chad agreed to try and seduce Leo Stark, but the plan backfired. He and Sonny then interrupted Leo’s wedding to Craig with Jackie Cox, who Leo was still married to. As Abigail and Chad decided to have another child, Leo and Gwen plotted to destroy their marriage.
In June 2022, Chad was shattered when he found Abigail murdered, and there were plenty of suspects. As he grieved the loss of his wife, he tried to find her killer. Although evidence pointed to Leo, he insisted he’d been framed, and Chad realized the murderer was Clyde Weston. Once Clyde was brought to justice, Chad was able to make peace with Abigail’s absence.
Having lost his job at DiMera, Chad began working for Stephanie Johnson and the two quickly became close, sharing a kiss. However, he wasn’t quite ready to move on after Abigail. He decided to quit working with her, but was jealous when Alex Kiriakis began pursuing her. After Alex blew it, Chad consoled Stephanie and they later slept together and made their relationship official. The duo went to Greece to find a kidnapped Kayla and helped rescue her, Marlena, and Kate from Megan Hathaway. Chad accepted Maggie’s offer of a job at Titan and he and Stephanie moved in together. However, when Vivian took control of the company and wanted to sell drugs, he quit.
Alex tried to come between Chad and Stephanie again but it was Chad’s reluctance to see marriage in their future that caused their split. Also, her ex, Everett Lynch, showing up out of the blue didn’t help! Chad bought Gwen’s half of The Spectator and convinced Xander to fire Everett. Unfortunately, Chad’s attempt to repair things with Stephanie didn’t work and they split up.
As 2024 began, Chad accepted Julie’s invitation to move back into the Horton home as he and Everett worked together at the paper as they tried to expose the drug epidemic in Salem. However, he compromised the police investigation by confronting Clyde in prison and later, a masked person set fire to the Horton house! He hired Nicole to work at the paper, and she gave him a notebook of Abigail’s she’d found at the mansion that contained notes on the drug trade in Salem and wondered if Clyde had killed her because she got too close to him.
Chad and Stephanie reconciled as friends, but he was wary of her relationship with Everett as he began displaying violent tendencies. She later revealed that Marlena believed Everett had DID, and having gone through it with Abigail, Chad knew how difficult it could be and offered his help.
Stay tuned to see what happens next!
