Days of Our Lives has poor Leo Stark (Greg Rikaart) that can never seem to catch a break when it comes to relationships, but he could still get lucky in love since his sexy ex Dimitri von Leuschner DiMera (Peter Porte) is working overtime right now to win him back. He still loves Leo. And come on, Dimitri’s so hot.
Let’s get into Leo’s love life and a possible recoupling with Dimitri and where his ex Javi Hernandez (Jacob Martinez) might fit into that. So, let’s dive into what is ahead for Gwen Rizczech’s (Emily O’Brien) best friend while she is on her way back to Salem. Fortunately, a whole lot has changed for Leo over the years.
Days of our Lives: Leo Turned His Life Around
He went from town pariah to a beloved friend and colleague. Chad DiMera (Connor Floyd), Xander Cook Kiriakis (Paul Telfer), and many others that once hated him now count Leo as a friend, or at least somebody they don’t despise anymore. Leo’s come a long way. If you don’t remember, he showed up in Salem in 2018 as a con man, and he was on a mission to blackmail Sonny Kiriakis (Zach Tinker).
Back in the day, Leo had been hired by Vivian Almain (Louise Sorel) to romance Sonny as part of her scheme against Titan. So, Leo and Sonny dated for a hot minute and then later con man Leo blackmailed Sonny by setting it up to look like he’d sexually harassed Leo. And then he tried to force Sonny to marry him, but he and Will fought and Leo fell and hit his head.
And Sonny and Will thought they had killed Leo and the two guys hid his body, but Leo wasn’t dead, not even a little. He showed back up and blackmailed Sonny into marrying him. Although Leo and Sonny’s marriage was later annulled after the truth about Leo’s past life came out, that he had been a prostitute and a schemer. All that came to light. Then, of course, we had Leo’s offscreen marriage to Darius Rose, aka Jackie Cox.
Leo’s Scam Exposed on Days
Their marriage was exposed as a green card sham back in 2022 during Leo’s wedding to Dr. Craig Wesley, who of course was wealthy and so it was all suspicious. Chad brought Jackie to the wedding and blew it up in typical soap trope style. Leo claimed he loved Craig and to be fair, the two had dated for a while. They had a double wedding alongside Leo’s bestie Gwen and her then fiancé Xandra. And Leo had originally been conning Craig for money, but then claimed he developed true feelings for the handsome older doctor. But Leo got dumped at the altar instead. And Craig was grateful because Leo helped him come out of the closet.
Craig Lashed Out on DOOL
But Craig was angry and embarrassed when he learned that his almost husband had been conning him. And not long after his split with Craig, we saw Leo excited to meet Gwen’s new boyfriend, Dimitri. Gwen and Dimitri were on this really fast track to engagement and a wedding because Dimitri had to marry a woman by his 40th birthday to inherit the vaner estate. So, Gwen fell for him and married him, but Leo and Dimitri became lovers behind Gwen’s back after Dimitri confessed that he’s gay and was really into Leo. And there was also an invalid marriage attempt involving Dimitri and Leo. I think it was around 2023.
Anyway, their relationship continued throughout Dimitri’s legal troubles and when he went to prison, even though that all of this cost Leo his best friend Gwen with this sordid affair, she found out the worst way that her best friend was diddling her husband. When Leo showed up on her honeymoon with Dimitri, Leo made up a Madonna concert excuse, but Gwen caught them together. She was devastated. A double betrayal. Her best friend and her husband cheating, which meant Leo lost Gwen, the only friend he’d ever had. And she wanted payback.
Days of Our Lives: Leo’s Love Triangle – Dimitri vs Javi
That was why Gwen forged that Dear John letter. She posed as Dimitri and broke Leo’s heart right into he had been faithfully waiting for Dimitri’s release from prison only to find out from that letter that he had fallen for another prisoner. So, Leo was heartbroken, but eventually with help from Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall), Leo was able to love himself and he re-entered the dating pool. That’s when he met Javi. That was late 2024 and he was instantly into the cute EMT.
They hopped into bed together and began a relationship and it was going pretty well until Leo wrongly accused Javi of leaking his body and soul scripts. But true love wins and Javi and Leo reconciled. They moved in together at the Hernandez house. Leo and Javi also really liked fostering little T together and they hoped to start their own family someday. Leo popped the question at Thanksgiving last year and then they planned a romantic New Year’s Eve wedding.
Dimitri Ruined Leo’s Happily Ever After with Javi on DOOL
But Dimitri popped up right after they said I do and ruined everything. And of course, Gwen was behind it all. She released Dimitri from captivity so he could come wreak havoc at the wedding. And now here we are, it’s over half a year later and Javi has rekindled with his ex, Gus (Michael Ocampo). They sparked again when he was in Texas for his dad’s heart surgery. Then Gus moved to Salem and in with Javi right away. However, before Javi came back to Salem, Leo realized he truly loved Javi and wanted nothing more to do with Dimitri, which of course made him furious.
Days of our Lives: Leo to the Rescue
Fast forward to now. Leo chased down Gwen when he realized their mutual ex Dimitri had kidnapped her as revenge. But mostly he took Gwen to bait Leo to get him to Alamania. And then Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering) quickly followed Leo and wound up held at gunpoint for all his troubles. Lucky for Javi, he couldn’t get a ticket to go with Rafe to rescue Leo and Gwen. And then Leo cut a deal with Dimitri. He said if you let Gwen and Rafe go, he’ll stay in Alamania with Dimitri. So now Leo is miserable and he’s trying to convince Dimitri that they should just go back to Salem.
Leo told him that he’s got family and friends and community there that he values and that Marina helped him love himself. And Leo feels like he deserves a loving relationship. But Dimitri’s been relentless trying to convince Leo that he really loves him and that they can have something real together. But it seems like Dimitri doesn’t even understand the meaning of real love because he’s dangling shallow things. He offered Leo fancy trips and a designer wardrobe. And of course, yes, Leo loves those things, but he doesn’t love Dimitri.
Days of our Lives: Leo Gives In — Is it Too Late?
But I wonder if Leo will surrender and give Dimitri another shot. Because right now, Leo knows Javi is in love with Gus and Leo’s gotten the cold shoulder from Javi ever since he came back from Texas. And it’s been a bit worse since Gus relocated to Salem and moved in with Javi. So, maybe Dimitri stands a chance with Leo, you know, because in his mind, if he doesn’t have Javi or some other guy waiting in the wings, why not give rich handsome Dimitri a chance to win his heart again?
Javi Wants Leo Back on Days
Problem is, Days of our Lives spoilers say that Javi soon realizes he’s still in love with his ex, Leo, and Javi may come to Alamania for him. So the question is which ex will Leo rekindle with? Will it be Dimitri or Javi? Leo could actually stay with Dimitri to protect Javi because let’s be real, Dimitri is unhinged and could do something cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and hurt Javi. After all, Dimitri’s mom, Megan Hathaway, is a scary psycho, too, when it comes to relationships.
Remember, she held Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) captive in a human test tube when everybody else thought he was dead because she was insanely infatuated with him. I do think it’d be nice to see Leo settled and happy and starting a family, back to being besties with Gwen without Dimitri between them. I do think Javi’s definitely the better man, but let’s be real, Dimitri sucks on a stick with a big fat bank account, and the old Leo would have definitely chosen him. The new Leo, we’ll have to wait and see.
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