Not long afterwards, Phillip met his first love, Melinda "Mindy" Sue Lewis, who in 1983, out of insecurity, staged a rather dramatic accident while riding her horse and was consequently hospitalized.

However, Beth's stepfather Bradley found them and shocked Phillip by telling him the truth about his parentage: Alan and Elizabeth weren't his real parents; the Marlers were.

Apparently, Alan felt his wife was too fragile to handle the fact their baby was stillborn and he bought the child Jackie was giving up.

[1] After they had been running for a while they found themselves near Central Park and nearly out of money, Beth was working on some artistic sketches when both came upon a sidewalk Santa Claus (who preferred to be called Nick) who asked if they needed help.

Eventually, in January 1984, Bradley tracked them down and in order to evade him they dressed up as clowns and engaged in a mime act in the park.

Feeling very rejected and angry, Phillip then discovered Lujack and Floyd Parker were turning the Galahads old garage into a night club.

Conveniently an old family friend, Dr. Lyon, came visiting, and India employed the services of his never-fail love potion (sort of a gypsy version of Viagra).

Ironically the police didn't believe Phillip's story but by now plenty of people shared the suspicion India had murdered Andy.

The couple's lives would be forever changed when Beth began working at a local museum for a Professor Blackburn, who had gotten his hands on the cornerstone of the Von Halkein estate in Andorra.

[1] During their investigation, Chelsea learned Alan was also involved in the black art market but only told her sister, Maureen about this since she feared bad blood between father and son.

Unbeknownst to Phillip, Blake discovered an amnesiac and mute Beth was living with Spaulding employee Neil Everest just outside town.

As the year continued, Neil's true past came to light when he was able to prove the collapse was due not to his design, but to the faulty materials Spaulding had purchased.

Despite her extracurricular activities with both Gary and Alan-Michael, Blake vehemently refused when Beth asked her to give Phillip an amicable divorce.

Trying to avoid prosecution and find out who the real murderer was, Phillip faked his own death, stealing a corpse (with Rick's help) in order to do so.

He promised India his Spaulding stock if she would keep quiet about his being alive and went to Springfield to discover what happened to Beth since she didn't follow him out of town.

[1] Over the next few years, Phillip avoided any contact with the Spauldings when suddenly in April 1996, Alex called him to ask him to attend Alan-Michael's wedding to Lucy Cooper in Orlando, Florida.

After overhearing Lizzie ask Phillip not to make her take care of her mommy alone, Harley got suspicious and starting investigating Beth's past in Arizona.

However, to their surprise, their elopement wasn't quite the secret they thought it was and they found Buzz and Phillip's Aunt Alex arranged a beautiful wedding for them at City Hall.

[3] Things couldn't have been better when Harley and her new family agreed to join her best friend, Cassie Layne, and her new fiancé, Prince Richard for a Thanksgiving celebration in San Cristobel.

Though now free, Phillip was too guilty over his father's heart attack and vowed to stay away from Olivia, who agreed to marry Alan as well as sign an extreme prenuptial agreement which said she would lose her half of the Beacon Hotel if she cheated before the wedding.

Later, after finding out Alan faked his earlier heart attack, Phillip and Olivia saw no reason to deny their feelings now, they wildly made love.

Not long after, an angry but well Alan was termed innocent of Reva's stalking and informed Phillip he was handing control of Spaulding over to his real son—Gus Aitoro!

The situation with Lizzie brought Phillip to the breaking point and he began making plans for his soon-to-be-born daughter and suffering from panic attacks.

Soon after, Phillip decided he had to take drastic measures to get his life back on track and, on Rick's recommendation, he underwent ECT therapy.

Finally after weeks of therapy, Phillip was released from the hospital and returned home where he and Olivia continued their cat and mouse game.

In short order, Harley called the wedding off, Frank (framed for the crime) held a gun on Alan, and Buzz turned Alex in to the police.

Deciding to rebuild the city of Springfield, Phillip, in a cold and calculating manner worthy of Alan, went through the government and secured permission to go forth with his plans.

Impressed with this middle-aged woman, named Ruth Karloff, Phillip interviewed her and found her to be no-nonsense, efficient and loyal and he hired her as his personal assistant.

Not long after, Phillip arranged for Lizzie to be brought to him, however when she refused to go with him, he became enraged and vowed to destroy the people who have cost him his daughter's love.

The marriage had its share of ups and downs; and ultimately, the couple divorced in 2001 after Phillip had lied about his unborn child resulting from an affair with Beth.