What Happened to Lani on DAYS OF OUR LIVES
Lani hasn’t been on DAYS OF OUR LIVES for a while so it’s understandable if some viewers might need a refresher on her! The character was introduced when actress Sal Stowers debuted on the soap in September 2015. After departing in June 2016, the actress returned in December of that year to get wrapped up in the Salem drama once again. However, her story came to an end in July 2022 when Stowers exited the soap. Lani popped up for a brief appearance in July 2023, and again in February 2024.
Lani Price was first seen as a rookie officer in the Salem Police Department and took an interest in the mayor, Abe Carver. But not like that! Abe saw a photo of an old flame of his on Lani’s computer and questioned her about it. Lani admitted that she was the daughter of singer Tamara Price and that he was her father! He wanted to be careful about introducing her to her autistic brother, but Lani connected with Theo Carver when she helped save his friend, Joey, who collapsed at a party.
After discovering that Ben Weston was the serial murderer nicknamed the Necktie Killer, Lani teamed up with fellow officer J.J. Deveraux to track him down and bring him to justice. Lani had been flirting with Rafe Hernandez, but backed off when she realized he was in love with Hope Brady. Lani fell for Hope’s son, Shawn-Douglas, but before they could take their relationship to the next level, he reunited with his estranged wife, Belle Black. It was at this point that Lani left Salem to move back to Miami.
Having been promoted to detective, Lani returned to Salem in December 2016 to visit Abe, who had been shot. She also revealed to J.J. that she was the woman he’d slept with while he was blackout drunk in Miami. While they initially decided to just be friends, romance blossomed despite Abe’s disapproval. Lani risked her life going undercover to bust a drug-dealing pimp named Snake, and struggled to detox from the drugs the villain forced on her.
Returning from Greece where she’d helped apprehend Deimos Kiriakis, Lani was stranded on a deserted island with some others after a plane crash. This was where she and J.J. finally consummated their relationship. However, after safely returning to Salem, J.J. was wracked with guilt when he accidentally shot Theo while on duty and he split up with Lani. When she went to see J.J. and found him with Gabi Hernandez, Lani jumped to the wrong conclusions and confided in Eli Grant. When he confessed he’d fallen for her a long time ago, Eli and Lani slept together and she wound up pregnant.
Learning the truth about how Gabi had only been comforting a suicidal J.J., Lani got back together with him, but then discovered that her baby was Eli’s. Eventually, the truth came out and J.J. was devastated. Lani was diagnosed with placenta previa, which made her pregnancy high-risk, and when she went into labor too soon, Kayla was forced to deliver the child early and tragically, it did not survive. Grief brought Eli and Lani close together again, though he worried that she had become too attached to Peter, Jordan’s baby that Rafe was taking care of.
Lani eventually worked through her grief and accepted Eli’s marriage proposal. Unfortunately, shortly before the wedding, Lani accidentally shot and killed Stefan DiMera in the line of duty while trying to apprehend Vivian Alamain. Gabi agreed to donate Stefan’s heart to save Julie’s life, but only if Lani begged her. Not only that but after the transplant, Gabi revealed she had control over Julie’s pacemaker and if Lani didn’t dump Eli at the altar she’d kill the poor woman!
After leaving Eli stranded at the altar with no explanation, Lani ran off to Europe and joined a convent along with Kristen DiMera. But after a year, Salem caught up with them and Lani returned home where she was shocked to find out that Eli had gotten involved with Gabi and now they were planning to marry! Gabi threatened to use her phone app to kill Julie with her pacemaker if Lani did anything to stop them, but on the big day, Julie faked a heart attack to expose Gabi’s scheme, having had her pacemaker changed! With the truth finally revealed, Lani was finally able to repair her relationship with Eli and go back to work at the Salem PD. Although she bent the rules to help gal pal Kristen escape custody after she stabbed Victor!
Eli and Lani got engaged and she learned that she was pregnant. The couple decided on a July 4 wedding and there were fireworks when first Gabi crashed the ceremony and then Vivian! She wanted revenge on Lani for killing Stefan, but Rafe stopped her from shooting Lani so that she and Eli could finally tie the knot. Following their honeymoon, the newlyweds learned that they were having twins. But things got sticky when Lani asked Eli not to reveal that Kristen was back in town and he ended up arresting her pal! Eli begged forgiveness, and she took him back, though she almost landed in jail for aiding and abetting until Eli convinced Kristen to plead guilty to save Lani. But when she found out what Eli had done, Lani was furious and it wasn’t until Christmas that they reconciled just in time to welcome their twins, Carver Malcolm and Julia Harriet.
Eli and Lani were terrified when their babies were abducted and eventually tracked down the culprit, Vivian. Lani was happy when her aunt, Paulina Price, arrived in Salem, and even approved of her budding relationship with Abe. However, when everyone learned Paulina planned to demolish the town square, that all changed. Eli eventually persuaded Lani to forgive her aunt, and the whole family traveled to Miami for a vacation where they got mixed up in a scheme involving the Alamanian jewels. Lani gave her blessing for Paulina to marry Abe, but at the ceremony, Chanel Dupree — egged on by a possessed Marlena Evans — revealed that Lani was actually Paulina’s daughter! Feeling betrayed and lied to, Lani wanted nothing to do with her mother, but assured Abe he would always be her father, no matter what biology said.
Unfortunately, TR Coates arrived in Salem and revealed to a shocked Lani that he was her biological father! Despite all the warnings about his horrible past, Lani agreed to get to know TR and believed that he had changed his ways. However, after Eli was nearly killed and revealed that TR was the one who’d shot him, Lani rushed to confront her father. Finding Abe unconscious and TR threatening Paulina, Lani shot him! Paulina protected her daughter by confessing to killing TR herself, but Lani privately confided to Eli that it had been her. Although she went along with the cover-up, Lani’s guilt caused her to hallucinate visits from a bloody TR taunting her, and she ultimately cracked and confessed at Abe and Paulina’s wedding! Although everyone tried to work out a plea deal, Trask threw the book at her. Abe officially adopted Lani and she finally called Paulina “Mom” before she was shipped off to prison in Maryland and Eli moved there with her.
In July 2023, Lani was released from prison on a temporary furlough when Abe was presumed dead. However, she soon discovered the truth that her father was actually being held captive by Nurse Whitley, who had abducted him from the hospital! Whitley foiled her rescue attempt and drugged Lani, dumping her body at the docks. Looking for their missing prisoner, the US Marshal tracked Lani’s ankle monitor and found her in time to save her life. After Abe was rescued from Whitley’s clutches, Lani was returned to prison.
Lani was released from prison in February 2024 and she and Eli returned to Salem to support Paulina as she recovered from her cancer surgery. But Lani struggled to put on a brave face knowing that her mother now might require a heart transplant. She was happy to see Abe, even though he was still suffering amnesia and didn’t remember her, and admitted that Eli was being considered for a job in D.C. but she wasn’t sure about being away from Salem.
Stay tuned to DAYS to see how Lani’s story continues!
