Deidre's own birthday in real life is Halloween. She has said in multiple interviews through the years that the possession was her favorite storyline (that would be the original possession storyline.) No idea what she thought about 2.0 under Carlivati.
But yeah I agree with everyone who posted that it would be nice to hear something different in her interviews.

Edited yesterday at 02:06 AM1 day by janea4old

5 hours ago, ranger1rg said:

I asked Claude

4 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I still say Days could’ve made Paul’s existence a lot easier to understand if they had consulted Jason47

I'd bet on @JAS0N47 anytime.

8 hours ago, AbcNbc247 said:

I vaguely remember the flashback of Tori saying that she didn't tell John about Paul because he was a priest, but I always thought she also said that Paul was already a little boy when that was supposed to have happened

8 hours ago, carolineg said:

Perhaps the affair occurred in the Isabella/Rebecca gap instead?

yes to both

Here's Jason's birth order, but it's only births onscreen, with a few exceptions., so Paul's not mentioned.

https://www.jason47.com/days/daysbirths.html

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by janea4old

Well, Chat GTP disagrees with Claude and says Belle is older.

Well, it doesn't exactly clear anything up, so one of us would probably have to find episodes of Days 2015 and watch them again and I DO NOT volunteer as tribute. So I will just agree Paul is older than Belle lol.

I am pretty sure the show was a little wonky and vague with the details so we all can choose our own adventure on Paul's age and conception timeline.

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by carolineg

59 minutes ago, ranger1rg said:

Well, Chat GTP disagrees with Claude and says Belle is older.

I've never used AI for anything, and never plan to, but checking the records as I've done as a human since my first computer in 1995, I found these items just now:

4/13/15 transcript:

Paul (speaking to Tori): I know you were working here in Salem nine months before I was born. You must have met my father here. Is john Black my father?

John first learned he had been (and still was) a priest in September 1994. Kristen broke things off with him, and he met with Tony and Kristen as Father John in February 1995.

So I always took the Tori meeting to have taken place sometime in late 1994/early 1995, which would mean based on what Paul said to Tori in 2015, that he was born around the end of 1995, two years after Belle (October 1993).

Those are going by what actually happened on the show in real time.

Of course, with SORAS anything can change. Paul was already a famous MLB pitcher when he arrived in Salem in 2014, so if you give him around 3-4 years in the minors, and if he was drafted directly out of high school/not college, plus 2-3 years in the majors by 2014, then that backdates his birth to around 1990.

And with Claire graduating from high school in 2016, that means Belle gave birth to her in 1998, pushing her birth to at least back to 1982.

Of course Marlena today said she just arrived in Salem in 1976, and with Belle being born now in 1982 at the latest, that means she would have to have had DJ with Don and Sami/Eric with Roman all between 1976-1981! And then Belle with John in 1982.

That's why SORAS never works when you use actual dates (like Marlena in Salem for 50 years)!!

9 hours ago, Soapsuds said:

Days announcer: Two brothers fighting over one man's love!!

Days of our lives!

And it would be groundbreaking too. Two brothers in love with the same man has never been done on a soap before.

A classic Bill Bell story with a modern twist 👍

9 hours ago, carolineg said:

The Leo/Gwen/Kristen one would be an obvious agreement for our entire table.

lol

Non-negotiable. They’re all out 😂😂

Maybe have Leo die in a fire and Gus gets accused of purposely leaving him there, which causes problems for him and Javi

Congratulations, Brady!

I still don't see why this couldn't have happened yesterday, and been somehow tied to Marlena/Dee's 50th Anniversary though. But it was nice to see him officially join BlackPatch and start carrying on John's legacy. If we can't get Paul full time lol Brady is definitely the one of John's kids that should be in this position. Despite all the mistakes that Paula/Jeanne have made, this was the right choice for Brady. He and Steve asking Johnny to investigate the company was really good as well. And I'm interested in seeing the mystery of the tainted drugs play out, and the ripple effects that it could have across the canvas. Hopefully, it ends up being huge, and involves as many characters as it can. And if it leads to Dimera finally going belly-up, I'm all for it. Involving Kayla in this could be good as well.

Speaking of Kayla, I like that she was there for Stephanie today, and that Stephanie finally got to talk to Kayla about everything that came up during her session with Marlena. The pacing has been really off but I'm glad that they finally got around to it. And I'm looking forward to seeing what happens as a result of Joy''s mandate about Kelsey. It's a good conflict for Alex and Stephanie, especially considering everything Stephanie said to him today. But it's still too bad Jeremy's not here to comfort Stephanie, all while keeping the secret from her about bringing Joy back to Salem lol

Sarah tipping off Xander about everything was a good idea as well, mostly because it adds another dynamic to all of this. And could lead to a full on Xander/EJ feud or some kind of conflict for Brady/Sarah. There's still love there between Sarah/Xander.

For as down as I've been on the show recently, I'll give them this: they did a nice job with Deidre's tribute. I will always wish these things felt a little bigger, as opposed to someone just sitting around sharing memories, but they handled it well. Using Paul as the talk-to was great because he didn't know all this history, so she was actually explaining it, as opposed to people just going, "And then remember when this thing happened? And then this one?"

Great to see Don Craig get some screen time, too!

Since we sort of solved the issue of Paul being older or younger than Belle I am curious about the info I see about Tori. Online it said she was a student when she met John (which is possible), but wasn't she working for the Dimeras at the time as a housekeeper? Paul used the term working in the dialogue @JAS0N47 provided.

That's how John met her. It's sounds less creepy than her being a student and John was out trolling bars looking for co-eds 😂

Brady being Belle's big brother is legit as we saw them born on screen, and saw them grow up together. And maybe teen Brady defended or protected Belle in some storyline, or in a scene?

Brady, Paul, and Belle, being born within a few years of one another allows for some wiggle room, since Paul was conceived and born offscreen.

Twins Eric and Sami are so much older, since teen Sami kidnapped newborn Belle.
Has Belle ever referenced Eric as her "big brother"?
I dunno because they often seem to write Belle and Sami as being closer in age than they are.

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by janea4old

1 hour ago, carolineg said:

wasn't she working for the Dimeras at the time

yes, that was a part of the storyline of Will being very obnoxious. Will was jealous of the Paul/Sonny connection, so he wanted to make Paul look bad. Will, as a reporter, discovered an old photo of Tori on the DiMera lakefront property. Will wanted to claim that Paul was Stefano's secret son, and that Paul had come to Salem with nefarious intentions.

Wednesday April 1, 2015
https://web.archive.org/web/20150405234406/http://soapcentral.com/days/recaps/2015/150330.php

Will led his grandmother out of the square to the park and told her about finding the picture of Tori Narita on the DiMera lakefront property nine months before Paul had been born, but Tori had claimed to Paul that she'd never been to Salem. An appalled Marlena pointed out, "That does not make Paul a DiMera." Will explained that Tori had not denied it when he'd informed her of his theory, and she'd told many lies to Paul about his father. Marlena gently reminded her grandson that it was none of his business and asked why he was pursuing it.

Will insisted it was because Paul was pursuing Sonny and making excuses to stay in Salem, so Will was doing everything he could to keep Paul away from Sonny. When Marlena learned that Will had agreed to keep quiet about what he knew if Tori got Paul out of town, she pointed out that what he was doing was blackmail. Will insisted that he didn't want to have to publish the article, which he would happily delete as soon as the Naritas left town.

Marlena quietly cautioned Will that no matter how threatened he felt, it was no justification for destroying someone's life. "There's nothing noble in what you're doing. It's wrong, Will. That's the only word for it," Marlena stated softly but firmly, returning Will's tablet and heading back into the square.

Friday, April 10, 2015
https://web.archive.org/web/20150413131017/http://soapcentral.com/days/recaps/2015/150406.php

Marlena went to Paul's hotel room to talk to Tori, who feigned ignorance when Marlena said she knew Tori had been to Salem before. Marlena wasn't convinced, so Tori reluctantly admitted she had once worked for Stefano DiMera, stressing that she had been young and had not known who he truly was at that time. Marlena pointed out that Tori had also known another man back then -- John Black. "He had an affair with you when you were here in Salem. You left town. You gave birth to a son. You named him Paul," Marlena added.
_ _ _

In Sonny's office at Club TBD, Paul got defensive about his mother when Sonny said Tori hadn't been honest with Paul. Sonny explained gently that Tori had lied when she'd told Paul that she'd never been to Salem before. Paul was dubious, so Sonny told him about the picture of Tori that had been taken on the lake outside Salem, with the DiMera boathouse in the background. Although Sonny was reluctant to say more and urged Paul to talk to his mother, Paul demanded to know what else Sonny knew.

Sonny revealed that the time stamp on the photo was from nine months prior to Paul's birth. Paul didn't understand why his mother would have lied to him about where his father had been from. Sonny said he'd found an article Will had been writing but hadn't submitted to Sonix, and that was where Sonny had found the photo. Paul believed that Will had made it all up to try to get rid of Paul, but Sonny pointed out, "How would that get rid of you?"
_ _ _
Sonny had returned to the bar when Tori arrived. She was in a hurry to get to the airport, but Paul asked her to sit down so they could talk first.

Marlena arrived outside the club just as Will and John showed up. After giving his grandmother a hug, Will headed inside to find Sonny. When Marlena learned that Will and John had been talking about Paul, she was curious about what Will had said. John elaborated that Paul had seduced Will to break up Will and Sonny's marriage, although Will had not said so in so many words. John added that Will had taken responsibility for his own actions.

Inside, Will went behind the bar to greet his husband but paused when he saw Paul and Tori across the room. "I thought Paul and his mom were already gone," Will complained through gritted teeth.

Tori reluctantly sat down, and Paul began questioning her about her previous time in Salem. Tori rose to leave but recoiled when she spotted Will and Sonny behind the bar -- and at that moment, John and Marlena walked in. "Hey, Tori. What are you doing here?" John asked curiously. John demanded to know why Paul was still in town -- and why Tori was talking to Paul. "Because she's his mother, John," Marlena explained.

Puzzled, John asked Tori, "Why didn't you tell me?" While Tori kept repeating that they needed to leave for the airport, Paul demanded of John, "How do you know my mother? Did you meet my mother when she was in Salem before?" Paul informed Tori that he was aware she'd lied to him about never being to Salem before. He reminded her that for his whole life, she had told him that his father had died before Paul had been born. "But you met him here in Salem! Didn't you?" Paul shouted.

Finally, Tori blurted, "Yes!" More quietly, she admitted, "Yes, I met your father here." She turned and looked John in the eye at last. "Oh, my God," a stunned John exclaimed as his eyes and Paul's filled with tears.

Monday, April 13, 2015
https://web.archive.org/web/20150421155020/http://soapcentral.com/days/recaps/2015/150413.php

John asked Marlena to tell him what she knew about what had just happened. Marlena admitted she thought there was a very good chance that Paul was John's son, although she hadn't wanted to say anything until she was certain, and Tori had firmly denied the suspicion. John wondered why Tori had never said anything to him about Paul. John started to rant about what he was going to do if it turned out that Stefano was somehow responsible, but Marlena advised that there was no sense in getting worked up before talking to Tori and Paul and finding out the truth.

John said he was just trying to understand why Tori had led their son to believe he was dead. "Because you were dead to me," Tori replied. Tori explained that when she had learned she was pregnant, she had been worried about her family's reaction at first, but she had ultimately decided that everything would be okay if she just told the truth. Tori hadn't wanted to tell John about her pregnancy in a letter or a phone call, though, so she had returned to Salem to break the news to him in person, hoping they might be able to build a life together because he had struck her as a man of integrity. "But when I saw you...everything changed," Tori added.

Tori said she had found John praying in a church and had decided not to talk to him after realizing he had devoted his life to the priesthood. "I was not going to be the reason you abandoned your vocation," Tori explained. John thought Tori still should have told him the truth, but Paul warned him not to criticize her for the sacrifice she had made, arguing that she couldn't have possibly known that the priesthood was going to be just another casual commitment -- a phase -- for John.

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by janea4old

Going back to Deidre's 50th: one of the things I love about Marlena is that she accepted Paul as John's son, with zero jealousy, and open arms. She wanted John to know his son. It was all love.