Whatever sympathy Phyllis Summers expects to generate from the people around her, she's undeserving of any ounce of it. If Diane Jenkins was openly plotting and scheming the entire time behind everyone's backs since returning, it would be one thing. However, to Diane's credit, she hasn't done anything to invite such an aggressive campaign to blow up her life. For reasons that still baffle the brain, Phyllis had zero qualms about putting everything she held dear on the line if it meant vanquishing Diane.
It's also worth noting that before Diane ever made her way back to Genoa City, Phyllis was on another one-track-mind-style mission. The only thing that mattered to her was keeping control of The Grand Phoenix Hotel by any means necessary. However, she sold it to Lily Winters (Christel Khalil) in 2022 to continue on her mission to eliminate Diane as a perceived threat to her happiness. At this point, the former love of her life, Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) was disgusted by the sight of her, and rightfully so.
Phyllis could've had everything, but she allowed herself to be consumed by revenge, and Jack wasn't going to stand for that. Diane offered Jack a more stable romance. To make matters worse, this began to impact Phyllis' daughter, Summer Newman's (Allison Lanier), marriage to Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor). It led to Phyllis losing her job with Summer and eventually being fired by her son, Daniel Romalotti (Michael Graziadei), as well.
