Wilhelmina Slater
Encyclopedia
Wilhelmina Vivian Slater (born Wanda Slater) is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty
. She is played by Vanessa Williams
, who received a supporting actress award at the 2007 and 2008 NAACP Image Awards, a Best TV Villain award at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards
and a supporting actress nomination at the 59th
, 60th Primetime Emmy Awards
, and 61st Primetime Emmy Awards
for her portrayal of the character. Wilhelmina's character is equivalent to Marcela Valencia & Daniel Valencia
. Her name has a curious link to Wilhelmina Cooper
, a successful model who eventually established her own modeling company
in the '60s.
and former supermodel
who lives for two things: MODE and Botox. During the first two seasons she held the position of Creative Director of MODE magazine, having been with the magazine since at least 1981, when she was named Wanda and was Fey Sommers' personal assistant. When Fey became pregnant after a tryst at Studio 54
, Wanda promised to keep her pregnancy a secret in exchange for being transformed from "mousy assistant Wanda to supermodel Wilhelmina". Her numerous romantic conquests include Mick Jagger
and Andre Agassi
, and it is implied the father of her daughter is the Prince of Dubai.
Wilhelmina had numerous cosmetic surgeries, all paid for by Fey, to turn her into a beautiful woman. In 2007, her daughter Nico is sixteen years old, implying that she was born in 1991. If Wilhelmina is the same age as the actress who plays her, then Wilhelmina would have been around twenty eight years old when she had her first daughter. Nico is rumored to be the daughter of a Dubai
prince, and Wilhelmina told Daniel Meade
that Nico threw up on Georgio Armani in 1994.
Along with this, Wilhelmina has stated in an interview for MODE that rumors previously flew about her sleeping with "everyone from John F. Kennedy
to Madonna
", and clarifying the rumors by stating that "only one of them is true".
Twenty-five years later, after Fey's sudden death, she was next in line to become the magazine's editor-in-chief. She is passed over, however, in favor of the less-experienced Daniel Meade
, son of Bradford Meade
, the Chairman of MODE's publishing company, Meade Publications, whom Wilhelmina thinks is not qualified for the job.
For this reason Wilhelmina launches a series of attempts to derail Daniel, but on account of Betty Suarez
, Daniel's assistant, many of Wilhelmina's plans are thwarted. In her many years as Creative Director, she has acquired many minions in the fashion industry (including one from a rival magazine), whom she uses in order to reach her goal of becoming editor-in-chief. She has also kept a series of files on other well known figures, filled with information she could potentially blackmail them with if the need arose.
In the early episodes of the first season, Wilhelmina was also in league with a mysterious bandaged woman, who, as the series progressed, many clues linked to be Fey Sommers. It is finally revealed, however, the mystery woman is actually Alexis Meade
, Daniel's older (m-f transgendered) sister.
Wilhelmina's plan is revealed when Alexis tells her someone called her from Wilhelmina's office. After learning her assistant Marc
was the caller, Wilhelmina is ready to fire him, but she finds herself backed into a corner after she lets slip her takeover plans. Consequently, Wilhelmina agrees to give Marc financial perks in order to keep him from spilling the beans.
Wilhelmina also kept a secret bulletin board in her office of people whom she wants to fire or keep when she takes over MODE. The board is divided into two sides. One side is labeled "In" and has a picture of Wilhelmina. The other side is labeled "Out" and has pictures of Daniel and Betty among those to be fired, as well as Amanda
(Although Marc is lobbying to keep her on, Wilhelmina places her there because Amanda has slept with Daniel and believes she still might be attracted to him). Christina was originally placed in between as Wilhelmina was uncertain of her loyalty. She later bribed Christina with the possibility of a career so as to do her dirty work for her.
Wilhelmina's scheme to replace Daniel is again delayed, however, due to an injunction: although Bradford's will states the elder son would take over Meade publications, Alex has since become Alexis. Wilhelmina refused to work until she becomes editor-in-chief. Despite her threats, the career-minded woman cannot help but find out the goings-on at MODE, so she orders Marc to carry a pot of orchids, in which she has placed a tiny camera, around the office of MODE. After she witnesses Alexis and Daniel bury the hatchet, Wilhelmina realizes Alexis has turned on her: when Alexis tells her she is keeping Daniel on board as editor-in-chief, Wilhelmina ends their partnership and now regards Alexis as an enemy.
When Wilhelmina later finds out that MODE legally belongs to Claire Meade
, Bradford's wife, she visits her at the hospital where Claire is detoxing for her hearing. Wilhelmina hopes to manipulate her into signing a Power of Attorney, and she even tempts the alcoholic Claire with vodka on the condition Claire make Wilhelmina editor-in-chief. When Claire does not relent (Claire told her MODE "...will always be run by a Meade"), Wilhelmina resorts to seducing Bradford. She believes by doing this, it will convince Bradford that she can be the next Mrs. Meade, which would allow her to take over MODE. She also assists Bradford in his scheme to get Alexis out of the country by recommending her counterpart at MODE Brasil, Rodrigo, romance her.
In the season finale, Bradford gives Wilhelmina a gaudy engagement ring he designed himself, setting things up for a November 2007 wedding. When Wilhelmina learned Claire escaped while en-route to prison, hoping to stop Bradford from marrying Wilhelmina in the second season, she hired a bodyguard named Dwayne, whose "protection" was caught off-guard by Betty and Christina, only to have Wilhelmina force Betty into keeping quiet and not tell Daniel by getting her father Ignacio back into the United States legally. She also manipulated an amnesiac Alexis (who was in the hospital after the car crash she and Daniel were in) into thinking they were still friends by telling her Claire was the one who walked out on Bradford. She also used a tactic at the annual Meade Black & White Ball resulting in Bradford finally telling Claire their marriage was over for good.
However at the wedding, things started unraveling when Daniel found out about Wilhelmina's tryst with her bodyguard (and would later fire Betty for lying to him about it). After he told Bradford about this, Bradford blamed him for trying to stop the nuptials but just as he was about to say "I do," Bradford collapsed of a heart attack. At the hospital Wilhelmina tried to trick him into a quickie wedding with Marc as an ordained minister upon learning she could claim a stake in the company if she was legally married. When Bradford asked her if the affair was true, she didn't make eye contact, and Bradford told her it was over before he died, once again destroying Wilhelmina's schemes of taking over Meade Publications...or so everybody thought.
By using these tactics, along with tricking Daniel into dropping an advertiser because of Alexis (which resulted in a major boycott against MODE), Wilhelmina had already started plans to destroy the magazine and the Meade family altogether by "relaunching" MODE as "Slater" Magazine. But after she was terminated from Meade Publications, Wilhelmina secretly unveiled a virus disk called "Medusa X" and wiped out the entire magazine's database. She then informed Daniel and Alexis she will launch "Slater" as MODE's new competitor and lured the MODE staff over to her side by offering benefits and incentives. Unfortunately, after seeing those plans fall apart due to a lack of finances (her father would not help fund the world that took his daughter away from him), she turns to another scheme, using the sperm of Bradford Meade so she can become pregnant and produce an heir that will give her a piece of the company, as it turns out moments after Bradford's death, she bribed a morgue doctor into acquiring the sperm, which can remain alive for 48 hours, before Bradford was embalmed.
However, she would later learn she has a "hostile womb" and therefore cannot bear any more children. Thanks to Marc's suggestion, they find the perfect surrogate they can control and who is desperately looking for money; Christina. At first Christina turned her down because she didn't want a "Satan Spawn" growing inside her, but after Marc and Wilhelmina burned an expensive dress once owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
, which Christina was intent on selling to a collector, she gave in...and had Betty brought in for support, which upset Wilhelmina.
She also plotted to have her sister committed to an asylum to keep her away from Daniel Meade (whom she was dating), so the Meades would not discover her plans with Christina.
After revealing to the media her baby plans, she has recently been re-instated as Creative Director by Alexis after managing to save "MODE" from possible embarrassment and save Claire Meade's magazine, "Hot Flash", all in the one day.
She later revealed her unborn child to the Meade family and subsequently made a dramatic return to Mode, thanks to Alexis. Also thanks to Alexis, Wilhelmina became Editor-in-Chief of Mode magazine, but that position would not last long, as she was demoted back to Creative Director after sales for the new Mode plunged, thanks in part to Alexis regaining her trust in Daniel and Betty discovering a series of letters Marc gave her on purpose after he felt betrayed by Wilhelmina's ill-fated plan to mold Betty into the next "Wilhelmina."
She uses Christina's being pushed down the stairs to get more media coverage of herself and the un-born baby to make her look more "maternal." She then begins displaying emotion after learning of Christina's husband Stuart's illness and it is definitely terminal. When Christina is in the hospital after being pushed down the stairs by Alexis, she wakes up with Wilhelmina at her side and when photographers are trying to got more photos of a hurt Christina, Wilhelmina gets up and pulls the shade down over the window and then turns and smiles.
Wilhelmina would also use this ploy to get Alexis convicted for attempted murder by forcing Alexis to sell her stake in Meade Publications, only to be turned down after Alexis discovered Wilhelmina had slept with the District Attorney. However, when Claire learned of what Wilhelmina was doing with the DA, Claire made a deal with Wilhelmina by giving her 50% of the company (on condition it goes to the unborn child) and promoted her to co-editor-in-chief of Mode.
Wilhelmina decides to hire a new chief financial officer for the company who is Connor Owens, a playboy who Daniel seems to dislike which Wilhelmina thinks will give her an advantage. Wilhelmina gets Connor hired only to discover he and Daniel were faking their animosity although it turns out Connor doesn't play favorites with Daniel and wants to do what's best for the magazine. Wilhelmina tries to blackmail Connor but it doesn't work but in the course of their talks, she realizes she's attracted to him. Those plans seem undone when Connor mentions he has a fiance, Molly. However, when Wilhelmina sees Molly and Daniel flirting at a company retreat, she conceives the idea to push the two together and leave Connor open to her.
Her baby is born at a fashion show on the catwalk after her surrogate could not exit the building except through the runway. Wilhelmina uses the media coverage to her benefit. It is revealed Connor is stealing from the company. Connor asks Wilhelmina to run off with him to an unnamed country, with all the money they'd ever need, and the baby, to start a new life together. Wilhelmina chooses her career instead, and has arranged to turn in Connor, but he left earlier than he indicated, as he suspected she would do this. Wilhelmina tells Betty one can never have it all, as Wilhelmina could not have both career and love.
Late in the third season, doubts surface as to baby William's true parentage. A photographer comments on William's resemblance to her surrogate, Christina. Wilhelmina consults a doctor who tells her William might be Christina's. If Christina and her husband had sexual intercourse at the time of William's conception, a DNA test will be required to determine who William's parents are. Wilhelmina shows Christina fake results, but Christina refuses to believe them and kidnaps William. Betty persuades Wilhelmina to tell the truth, which she does not only publicly, but also secretly to Calvin Hartley, who demands Wilhelmina keep her role at Mode before he will invest in the company. The alternative would be the failure of Meade, so the Meades must accept this deal. William, meanwhile, goes to his real parents.
During the season 3 finale, she discovers Claire Meade had an illegitimate child with Cal Hartley and plans to use this information to force Claire to step out of her sudden position of power. However, Claire artfully fixes the situation for herself and confesses everything to Cal first, including how Wilhelmina used the information for attempted blackmail. As a result, Wilhelmina goes back to being under heavy suspicion with the company. At the end of the finale, she is seen hiring a manhunter to track down Connor, stating she feels the only way she can keep her position in the company is to find Connor...dead or alive, and take back the lost money in order to push Cal out. After the manhunter leaves, she is seen walking into a room, and upon seeing someone, drops her shot glass, obviously shocked at this mystery person's appearance. In the season 4 premiere however, we found out that it was her daughter Nico, who was covered in blood as she had just killed her boyfriend. In Plus None
we find out that Nico didn't really kill her boyfriend, she is just trying to extort money from Wilhelmina, with her boyfriend posing as a private investigator blackmailing the Slaters. In desperation, Wilhelmina planned to flee the country with Nico, and resigned from her position at Mode effective after the upcoming "Fearless shoot" in the Bahamas. However, Marc later overheard Nico and her boyfriend scheming, and after initially refusing to believe him, Wilhelmina set a trap for Nico by showing her an expensive family heirloom that they could use to pay off the blackmailer. Nico took the bait, and was caught red-handed and confessed to everything. Wilhelmina later learned from Claire Meade that Connor had been found dead in Panama, and having lost everything, Wilhelmina broke down in tears. After Marc demanded a vacation, Wilhelmina forced Betty into becoming her assistant on the Bahama's trip, but after learning that her rival had taken a job she desired, Wilhelmina momentarily gave up, and began eating cheeseburgers on a private beach, only to be approached by Connor, alive and well. The pair shared a romantic trip together, and planned to escape together, but moments before their boat arrived, the police arrived having received a tip off that Connor was at the hotel, and realising he had been caught, he insisted that Wilhelmina pretend that she had been the one to turn him in, in order to get her position back at Mode.
Back home, Wilhelmina continues to secretly meet Connor in prison; the perks of having a Senator for a father granting her daily conjugal visits. Wilhelmina, however, pretends to Daniel that she is no longer interested in Connor but that if he re-instates her in her old capacity, she will retrieve the money from Connor, who is still in love with her. The plan pays off and Wilhelmina and Daniel use the recovered Meade money to buy out Cal Hartley.
In "Back in her Place" Connor is becoming increasingly worried that Wilhelmina is becoming too attached and is missing out on her chance at a real life by continuing their relationship whilst he is still in prison. Wilhelmina, in order to prove she is committed to him and will wait as long as it takes, tells him they are getting married. When she shows up in the prison to be married, the guard tells her that Connor was transferred to another prison that morning. Connor has left her a note, in which he says he did it for her, and he loves her too much to put her through this.
In "The Past Presents the Future" Wilhelmina is shot by Tyler, Claire's illegitimate son with Cal Hartley. In the following episodes Wilhelmena makes a recovery from this wound, and awakens to find Connor by her bedside, having talked a guard into releasing him to come see her. He admits he was not transferred but told her this only so she would move on without him, but tells her he realised he can't live without her. The revelation of Connor back in her life makes her want to put the past behind her and become a new woman; however, after this Claire visits her and offers Wilhelmina a bribe to say that Tyler did not shoot her. Insulted by this, she throws Claire out her hospital room and rips up the cheque. As she is preparing to leave the hospital she tells Marc that she had been prepared to let it all go but after Claire's offer, she now wants to stake claim to the entire company. Marc; tired of his boss's endless scheming, tells her she'll never be happy and leaves her.
Later she announces at a press conference that Claire did not shoot her (as media had speculated due to their fight) and prepares to name Tyler as her assailant. However, seeing Marc in the background brings her to her senses as his earlier words hit home and she instead insists it was an accident, much to Tyler and Claire's relief. In the series finale, Daniel Meade steps down as co-editor-in-chief of Mode and Wilhelmina becomes the sole editor-in-chief of Mode; her goal throughout the series. Daniel realises that Wilhelmina is not entirely a bad person, and that he was handed the job while she truly earned it.
In Wilhelmina's last scene, we see her in prison, talking with Connor. She tells him she has managed to acquire him a new cellmate who the FBI need a confession from. She assures him that with his persuasive manner he can extract one and find his sentence drastically reduced.
Wilhelmina seems to have finally turned over a new leaf, ending her feud with Claire, bidding Betty farewell, and vowing to end the schemes.
With the job she always wanted, and Connor back by her side, Wilhelmina gets the happiest ending of all.
" Betty and Christina see a picture of her with Dick Cheney
, suggesting she is a supporter of the Republican Party; in "Bananas for Betty
" she admitted she never liked Rudy Giuliani
during his mayoral days, but praised him for cleaning up the city. She lives at 33 Fifth Avenue, NY, as seen from the canopy of her apartment building in exterior shots.
She also has a strong-willed teenage daughter, Nico, introduced in the episode "The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe
" who has attended a succession of boarding school
s and rarely lived with her mother. The name and identity of Nico's father and the length and details of his marriage or romantic involvement with Wilhelmina has never been addressed, but in Nico's first appearance it was mentioned he currently lives in Dubai
, implying he is probably extremely wealthy from oil interests. Although, on bettysuarez.com it states Wilhelmina had once dated the Prince of Dubai. It is also implied her father knows of and financially supports Nico but, like Wilhelmina, takes little active interest in his daughter's day-to-day life. Despite their differences, Wilhelmina has shown willingness to improve their relationship, such as cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal when Nico unexpectedly visited during the holidays, only to learn Nico had made other plans, in one of Wilhelmina's few sympathetic moments. Nico returned after she was suspected of murdering her boyfriend, but was actually hatching a scheme with her boyfriend, who was posing as a detective, to extort money from her mother.
In Bananas for Betty
, Wilhelmina revealed she arranged to have Bradford's sperm extracted after his death in "I See Me, I.C.U.
. She decided to produce an heir, giving herself a third of the Meade fortune and a place at the company again until the heir comes of age. Because she has a hostile womb, she bribed the seamstress Christina McKinney (played by Ashley Jensen
), into being her surrogate. The baby boy was born in There's No Place Like Mode
.
Wilhelmina's younger sister, Renee (played by Gabrielle Union
), was introduced in the episode "A Thousand Words Before Friday
". Renee had a night of sex with Daniel Meade who did not know she was Wilhelmina's sister or that he was in Wilhelmina's apartment until the next morning. Wilhelmina implies Renee's birth name is "Rhonda."
The Slaters' first names are based on real names from the world of modeling: The Wilhelmina character is named after the legendary supermodel
, who worked with Gia Marie Carangi
before her death, and modeling agency
of the same name, while the Nico character is named for the famous Warhol superstar icon
.
In one episode, Wilhelmina is referred to as "A Chanel suit with an office."
She is often seen wearing fur, and in an episode where she need to come up with money for a photographer by selling out of her wardrobe, both lynx, sable, chinchilla and mink is shown amongst her wardrobe. This might be inspired by Vogue editor Anna Wintour
, who like Wilhelmina is famous/notorious for her demanding elitism and wearing fur. Wilhelmina's measurements were revealed to be 36-24-36.
who readily exploits everyone around her to get what she wants. However, despite her clearly sociopathic tendencies, Wilhelmina does have a human side to her character. Despite abusing, controlling, deceiving and manipulating virtually everyone around her, she is shown to care for her closest ones, mostly her daughter (despite a tormentous relationship) as shown when she is willing to sacrifice her own career to protect her from going to jail. She also grows to care for Marc whom she eventually calls the "only real man" in her life.
Wilhelmina, despite her cold calculating ways, is also shown to be willing to abandon her career to develop relationships with men, as shown in the first season when she readily abandons her scheme with Alexis to pursue a relationship with Ted LeBeau, or when she actively pursues Connor despite his arrest warrant and the implications it'd have on her life to be romantically involved and in cahoots with him.
At the end of the series, Wilhelmina ends up putting her scheming ways behind her to "do the right thing" and because of that she is rewarded with what she looked for during the whole time at Mode, which ironically came the one time she didn't plot or connive, being the one and only Editor in Chief of Mode. She also finally makes peace with the Meades and Betty.
Among the people Wilhelmina uses in her scheming besides Marc and Christina (despite having mixed feelings about the latter because of Christina's friendship with Betty) are:
Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which premiered on ABC on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series revolves around the character Betty Suarez and is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian telenovela soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea...
. She is played by Vanessa Williams
Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
, who received a supporting actress award at the 2007 and 2008 NAACP Image Awards, a Best TV Villain award at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards
Teen Choice Awards
The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...
and a supporting actress nomination at the 59th
59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
, 60th Primetime Emmy Awards
60th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards was held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...
, and 61st Primetime Emmy Awards
61st Primetime Emmy Awards
The 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards took place on September 20, 2009. CBS broadcast the Primetime event and E! the Creative Arts event; both take place at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The nominations for the Awards were announced on July 16....
for her portrayal of the character. Wilhelmina's character is equivalent to Marcela Valencia & Daniel Valencia
Betty la fea
Yo soy Betty, la fea is a popular soap opera filmed in Colombia, written by Fernando Gaitán and produced between 1999 through 2001 by the Colombian network RCN . More than a dozen versions of the telenovela have been made in other countries...
. Her name has a curious link to Wilhelmina Cooper
Wilhelmina Cooper
Wilhelmina Cooper was a model who began with Ford Models and, at the peak of her success, founded her own agency, Wilhelmina Models, in New York City in 1967.-Life:...
, a successful model who eventually established her own modeling company
Wilhelmina Models
Wilhelmina Models is a modeling agency founded in 1967 by the model Wilhelmina Cooper and her husband Bruce Cooper in Manhattan Starting in 2010, Wilhelmina Models started a sub-brand called "Digital Empire Modeling" for new digital-era modeling talents....
in the '60s.
Background
Wilhelmina is a conceited, self-absorbed divaDiva
A diva is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music. The meaning of diva is closely related to that of "prima donna"....
and former supermodel
Supermodel
The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...
who lives for two things: MODE and Botox. During the first two seasons she held the position of Creative Director of MODE magazine, having been with the magazine since at least 1981, when she was named Wanda and was Fey Sommers' personal assistant. When Fey became pregnant after a tryst at Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
, Wanda promised to keep her pregnancy a secret in exchange for being transformed from "mousy assistant Wanda to supermodel Wilhelmina". Her numerous romantic conquests include Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...
, and it is implied the father of her daughter is the Prince of Dubai.
Wilhelmina had numerous cosmetic surgeries, all paid for by Fey, to turn her into a beautiful woman. In 2007, her daughter Nico is sixteen years old, implying that she was born in 1991. If Wilhelmina is the same age as the actress who plays her, then Wilhelmina would have been around twenty eight years old when she had her first daughter. Nico is rumored to be the daughter of a Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
prince, and Wilhelmina told Daniel Meade
Daniel Meade
Daniel Meade is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. He is played by Eric Mabius.-Background:Daniel is the second son of magazine publisher Bradford Meade and Claire Meade in 1974...
that Nico threw up on Georgio Armani in 1994.
Along with this, Wilhelmina has stated in an interview for MODE that rumors previously flew about her sleeping with "everyone from John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
to Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
", and clarifying the rumors by stating that "only one of them is true".
Twenty-five years later, after Fey's sudden death, she was next in line to become the magazine's editor-in-chief. She is passed over, however, in favor of the less-experienced Daniel Meade
Daniel Meade
Daniel Meade is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. He is played by Eric Mabius.-Background:Daniel is the second son of magazine publisher Bradford Meade and Claire Meade in 1974...
, son of Bradford Meade
Bradford Meade
Bradford Emerson Meade is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, played by Alan Dale. Bradford's character was equivalent to Roberto Mendoza in the original Betty la fea, Armando's father, with Armando equalling Daniel....
, the Chairman of MODE's publishing company, Meade Publications, whom Wilhelmina thinks is not qualified for the job.
For this reason Wilhelmina launches a series of attempts to derail Daniel, but on account of Betty Suarez
Betty Suarez
Beatriz "Betty" U. Suarez is a central fictional character and heroine of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is portrayed by America Ferrera, who won a 2007 Golden Globe and 2007 SAG award for her portrayal of the character, as well as the Outstanding Actress in a Comedy award for the role...
, Daniel's assistant, many of Wilhelmina's plans are thwarted. In her many years as Creative Director, she has acquired many minions in the fashion industry (including one from a rival magazine), whom she uses in order to reach her goal of becoming editor-in-chief. She has also kept a series of files on other well known figures, filled with information she could potentially blackmail them with if the need arose.
In the early episodes of the first season, Wilhelmina was also in league with a mysterious bandaged woman, who, as the series progressed, many clues linked to be Fey Sommers. It is finally revealed, however, the mystery woman is actually Alexis Meade
Alexis Meade
Alexis Meade is a fictional character from the ABC dramedy series Ugly Betty. She was initially played by Elizabeth Penn Payne for the first 12 episodes of her appearance and was played by Rebecca Romijn for the rest of the series.-Biography:Alex Meade was a background presence in the...
, Daniel's older (m-f transgendered) sister.
Wilhelmina's plan is revealed when Alexis tells her someone called her from Wilhelmina's office. After learning her assistant Marc
Marc St. James
Marcus "Marc" St. James is a fictional character in the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty. He is played by Michael Urie...
was the caller, Wilhelmina is ready to fire him, but she finds herself backed into a corner after she lets slip her takeover plans. Consequently, Wilhelmina agrees to give Marc financial perks in order to keep him from spilling the beans.
Wilhelmina also kept a secret bulletin board in her office of people whom she wants to fire or keep when she takes over MODE. The board is divided into two sides. One side is labeled "In" and has a picture of Wilhelmina. The other side is labeled "Out" and has pictures of Daniel and Betty among those to be fired, as well as Amanda
Amanda Tanen
Amanda Tanen Sommers is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is played by Becki Newton. Amanda's character is a combination of Patricia Fernandez and Marcela Valencia, but her appearance is similar to Marcia Villarroel from the Columbian adaptation...
(Although Marc is lobbying to keep her on, Wilhelmina places her there because Amanda has slept with Daniel and believes she still might be attracted to him). Christina was originally placed in between as Wilhelmina was uncertain of her loyalty. She later bribed Christina with the possibility of a career so as to do her dirty work for her.
Wilhelmina's scheme to replace Daniel is again delayed, however, due to an injunction: although Bradford's will states the elder son would take over Meade publications, Alex has since become Alexis. Wilhelmina refused to work until she becomes editor-in-chief. Despite her threats, the career-minded woman cannot help but find out the goings-on at MODE, so she orders Marc to carry a pot of orchids, in which she has placed a tiny camera, around the office of MODE. After she witnesses Alexis and Daniel bury the hatchet, Wilhelmina realizes Alexis has turned on her: when Alexis tells her she is keeping Daniel on board as editor-in-chief, Wilhelmina ends their partnership and now regards Alexis as an enemy.
When Wilhelmina later finds out that MODE legally belongs to Claire Meade
Claire Meade
Claire Meade is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is played by Judith Light.Light's performance as Claire has resulted in a nomination for outstanding guest actress in a Comedy series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, when Claire was a recurring regular in season...
, Bradford's wife, she visits her at the hospital where Claire is detoxing for her hearing. Wilhelmina hopes to manipulate her into signing a Power of Attorney, and she even tempts the alcoholic Claire with vodka on the condition Claire make Wilhelmina editor-in-chief. When Claire does not relent (Claire told her MODE "...will always be run by a Meade"), Wilhelmina resorts to seducing Bradford. She believes by doing this, it will convince Bradford that she can be the next Mrs. Meade, which would allow her to take over MODE. She also assists Bradford in his scheme to get Alexis out of the country by recommending her counterpart at MODE Brasil, Rodrigo, romance her.
In the season finale, Bradford gives Wilhelmina a gaudy engagement ring he designed himself, setting things up for a November 2007 wedding. When Wilhelmina learned Claire escaped while en-route to prison, hoping to stop Bradford from marrying Wilhelmina in the second season, she hired a bodyguard named Dwayne, whose "protection" was caught off-guard by Betty and Christina, only to have Wilhelmina force Betty into keeping quiet and not tell Daniel by getting her father Ignacio back into the United States legally. She also manipulated an amnesiac Alexis (who was in the hospital after the car crash she and Daniel were in) into thinking they were still friends by telling her Claire was the one who walked out on Bradford. She also used a tactic at the annual Meade Black & White Ball resulting in Bradford finally telling Claire their marriage was over for good.
However at the wedding, things started unraveling when Daniel found out about Wilhelmina's tryst with her bodyguard (and would later fire Betty for lying to him about it). After he told Bradford about this, Bradford blamed him for trying to stop the nuptials but just as he was about to say "I do," Bradford collapsed of a heart attack. At the hospital Wilhelmina tried to trick him into a quickie wedding with Marc as an ordained minister upon learning she could claim a stake in the company if she was legally married. When Bradford asked her if the affair was true, she didn't make eye contact, and Bradford told her it was over before he died, once again destroying Wilhelmina's schemes of taking over Meade Publications...or so everybody thought.
By using these tactics, along with tricking Daniel into dropping an advertiser because of Alexis (which resulted in a major boycott against MODE), Wilhelmina had already started plans to destroy the magazine and the Meade family altogether by "relaunching" MODE as "Slater" Magazine. But after she was terminated from Meade Publications, Wilhelmina secretly unveiled a virus disk called "Medusa X" and wiped out the entire magazine's database. She then informed Daniel and Alexis she will launch "Slater" as MODE's new competitor and lured the MODE staff over to her side by offering benefits and incentives. Unfortunately, after seeing those plans fall apart due to a lack of finances (her father would not help fund the world that took his daughter away from him), she turns to another scheme, using the sperm of Bradford Meade so she can become pregnant and produce an heir that will give her a piece of the company, as it turns out moments after Bradford's death, she bribed a morgue doctor into acquiring the sperm, which can remain alive for 48 hours, before Bradford was embalmed.
However, she would later learn she has a "hostile womb" and therefore cannot bear any more children. Thanks to Marc's suggestion, they find the perfect surrogate they can control and who is desperately looking for money; Christina. At first Christina turned her down because she didn't want a "Satan Spawn" growing inside her, but after Marc and Wilhelmina burned an expensive dress once owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
, which Christina was intent on selling to a collector, she gave in...and had Betty brought in for support, which upset Wilhelmina.
She also plotted to have her sister committed to an asylum to keep her away from Daniel Meade (whom she was dating), so the Meades would not discover her plans with Christina.
After revealing to the media her baby plans, she has recently been re-instated as Creative Director by Alexis after managing to save "MODE" from possible embarrassment and save Claire Meade's magazine, "Hot Flash", all in the one day.
She later revealed her unborn child to the Meade family and subsequently made a dramatic return to Mode, thanks to Alexis. Also thanks to Alexis, Wilhelmina became Editor-in-Chief of Mode magazine, but that position would not last long, as she was demoted back to Creative Director after sales for the new Mode plunged, thanks in part to Alexis regaining her trust in Daniel and Betty discovering a series of letters Marc gave her on purpose after he felt betrayed by Wilhelmina's ill-fated plan to mold Betty into the next "Wilhelmina."
She uses Christina's being pushed down the stairs to get more media coverage of herself and the un-born baby to make her look more "maternal." She then begins displaying emotion after learning of Christina's husband Stuart's illness and it is definitely terminal. When Christina is in the hospital after being pushed down the stairs by Alexis, she wakes up with Wilhelmina at her side and when photographers are trying to got more photos of a hurt Christina, Wilhelmina gets up and pulls the shade down over the window and then turns and smiles.
Wilhelmina would also use this ploy to get Alexis convicted for attempted murder by forcing Alexis to sell her stake in Meade Publications, only to be turned down after Alexis discovered Wilhelmina had slept with the District Attorney. However, when Claire learned of what Wilhelmina was doing with the DA, Claire made a deal with Wilhelmina by giving her 50% of the company (on condition it goes to the unborn child) and promoted her to co-editor-in-chief of Mode.
Wilhelmina decides to hire a new chief financial officer for the company who is Connor Owens, a playboy who Daniel seems to dislike which Wilhelmina thinks will give her an advantage. Wilhelmina gets Connor hired only to discover he and Daniel were faking their animosity although it turns out Connor doesn't play favorites with Daniel and wants to do what's best for the magazine. Wilhelmina tries to blackmail Connor but it doesn't work but in the course of their talks, she realizes she's attracted to him. Those plans seem undone when Connor mentions he has a fiance, Molly. However, when Wilhelmina sees Molly and Daniel flirting at a company retreat, she conceives the idea to push the two together and leave Connor open to her.
Her baby is born at a fashion show on the catwalk after her surrogate could not exit the building except through the runway. Wilhelmina uses the media coverage to her benefit. It is revealed Connor is stealing from the company. Connor asks Wilhelmina to run off with him to an unnamed country, with all the money they'd ever need, and the baby, to start a new life together. Wilhelmina chooses her career instead, and has arranged to turn in Connor, but he left earlier than he indicated, as he suspected she would do this. Wilhelmina tells Betty one can never have it all, as Wilhelmina could not have both career and love.
Late in the third season, doubts surface as to baby William's true parentage. A photographer comments on William's resemblance to her surrogate, Christina. Wilhelmina consults a doctor who tells her William might be Christina's. If Christina and her husband had sexual intercourse at the time of William's conception, a DNA test will be required to determine who William's parents are. Wilhelmina shows Christina fake results, but Christina refuses to believe them and kidnaps William. Betty persuades Wilhelmina to tell the truth, which she does not only publicly, but also secretly to Calvin Hartley, who demands Wilhelmina keep her role at Mode before he will invest in the company. The alternative would be the failure of Meade, so the Meades must accept this deal. William, meanwhile, goes to his real parents.
During the season 3 finale, she discovers Claire Meade had an illegitimate child with Cal Hartley and plans to use this information to force Claire to step out of her sudden position of power. However, Claire artfully fixes the situation for herself and confesses everything to Cal first, including how Wilhelmina used the information for attempted blackmail. As a result, Wilhelmina goes back to being under heavy suspicion with the company. At the end of the finale, she is seen hiring a manhunter to track down Connor, stating she feels the only way she can keep her position in the company is to find Connor...dead or alive, and take back the lost money in order to push Cal out. After the manhunter leaves, she is seen walking into a room, and upon seeing someone, drops her shot glass, obviously shocked at this mystery person's appearance. In the season 4 premiere however, we found out that it was her daughter Nico, who was covered in blood as she had just killed her boyfriend. In Plus None
Plus None
"Plus None" is an episode from the dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on November 6, 2009. It is the fifth episode from Season 4, and the 70th episode overall.-Plot:...
we find out that Nico didn't really kill her boyfriend, she is just trying to extort money from Wilhelmina, with her boyfriend posing as a private investigator blackmailing the Slaters. In desperation, Wilhelmina planned to flee the country with Nico, and resigned from her position at Mode effective after the upcoming "Fearless shoot" in the Bahamas. However, Marc later overheard Nico and her boyfriend scheming, and after initially refusing to believe him, Wilhelmina set a trap for Nico by showing her an expensive family heirloom that they could use to pay off the blackmailer. Nico took the bait, and was caught red-handed and confessed to everything. Wilhelmina later learned from Claire Meade that Connor had been found dead in Panama, and having lost everything, Wilhelmina broke down in tears. After Marc demanded a vacation, Wilhelmina forced Betty into becoming her assistant on the Bahama's trip, but after learning that her rival had taken a job she desired, Wilhelmina momentarily gave up, and began eating cheeseburgers on a private beach, only to be approached by Connor, alive and well. The pair shared a romantic trip together, and planned to escape together, but moments before their boat arrived, the police arrived having received a tip off that Connor was at the hotel, and realising he had been caught, he insisted that Wilhelmina pretend that she had been the one to turn him in, in order to get her position back at Mode.
Back home, Wilhelmina continues to secretly meet Connor in prison; the perks of having a Senator for a father granting her daily conjugal visits. Wilhelmina, however, pretends to Daniel that she is no longer interested in Connor but that if he re-instates her in her old capacity, she will retrieve the money from Connor, who is still in love with her. The plan pays off and Wilhelmina and Daniel use the recovered Meade money to buy out Cal Hartley.
In "Back in her Place" Connor is becoming increasingly worried that Wilhelmina is becoming too attached and is missing out on her chance at a real life by continuing their relationship whilst he is still in prison. Wilhelmina, in order to prove she is committed to him and will wait as long as it takes, tells him they are getting married. When she shows up in the prison to be married, the guard tells her that Connor was transferred to another prison that morning. Connor has left her a note, in which he says he did it for her, and he loves her too much to put her through this.
In "The Past Presents the Future" Wilhelmina is shot by Tyler, Claire's illegitimate son with Cal Hartley. In the following episodes Wilhelmena makes a recovery from this wound, and awakens to find Connor by her bedside, having talked a guard into releasing him to come see her. He admits he was not transferred but told her this only so she would move on without him, but tells her he realised he can't live without her. The revelation of Connor back in her life makes her want to put the past behind her and become a new woman; however, after this Claire visits her and offers Wilhelmina a bribe to say that Tyler did not shoot her. Insulted by this, she throws Claire out her hospital room and rips up the cheque. As she is preparing to leave the hospital she tells Marc that she had been prepared to let it all go but after Claire's offer, she now wants to stake claim to the entire company. Marc; tired of his boss's endless scheming, tells her she'll never be happy and leaves her.
Later she announces at a press conference that Claire did not shoot her (as media had speculated due to their fight) and prepares to name Tyler as her assailant. However, seeing Marc in the background brings her to her senses as his earlier words hit home and she instead insists it was an accident, much to Tyler and Claire's relief. In the series finale, Daniel Meade steps down as co-editor-in-chief of Mode and Wilhelmina becomes the sole editor-in-chief of Mode; her goal throughout the series. Daniel realises that Wilhelmina is not entirely a bad person, and that he was handed the job while she truly earned it.
In Wilhelmina's last scene, we see her in prison, talking with Connor. She tells him she has managed to acquire him a new cellmate who the FBI need a confession from. She assures him that with his persuasive manner he can extract one and find his sentence drastically reduced.
Wilhelmina seems to have finally turned over a new leaf, ending her feud with Claire, bidding Betty farewell, and vowing to end the schemes.
With the job she always wanted, and Connor back by her side, Wilhelmina gets the happiest ending of all.
Family life
Wilhelmina is the daughter of a United States Senator, a hard man who is never satisfied with his daughter's achievements. She never addresses him as "father" or "dad" but instead as "The Senator." His reason for not being supportive of Wilhelmina's ambitions is that she had gone on to be cold and distant and she was no longer the daughter he once knew and loved. In "Family/AffairFamily/Affair
"Family/Affair" is the second episode in season two of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on October 4, 2007. It is the 25th episode in the series, which was written by Bill Wrubel and directed by Victor Nelli, Jr.-Plot:...
" Betty and Christina see a picture of her with Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
, suggesting she is a supporter of the Republican Party; in "Bananas for Betty
Bananas for Betty
"Bananas for Betty" is the tenth episode in the second season, and the 33rd episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on December 6, 2007...
" she admitted she never liked Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
during his mayoral days, but praised him for cleaning up the city. She lives at 33 Fifth Avenue, NY, as seen from the canopy of her apartment building in exterior shots.
She also has a strong-willed teenage daughter, Nico, introduced in the episode "The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe
The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe
"The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe" is an episode from the dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on October 26, 2006. Internationally, it is the sixth episode overall, but in the United States and Australia it aired as the fifth due to the delayed airing of "Swag." The episode name is a play...
" who has attended a succession of boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
s and rarely lived with her mother. The name and identity of Nico's father and the length and details of his marriage or romantic involvement with Wilhelmina has never been addressed, but in Nico's first appearance it was mentioned he currently lives in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, implying he is probably extremely wealthy from oil interests. Although, on bettysuarez.com it states Wilhelmina had once dated the Prince of Dubai. It is also implied her father knows of and financially supports Nico but, like Wilhelmina, takes little active interest in his daughter's day-to-day life. Despite their differences, Wilhelmina has shown willingness to improve their relationship, such as cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal when Nico unexpectedly visited during the holidays, only to learn Nico had made other plans, in one of Wilhelmina's few sympathetic moments. Nico returned after she was suspected of murdering her boyfriend, but was actually hatching a scheme with her boyfriend, who was posing as a detective, to extort money from her mother.
In Bananas for Betty
Bananas for Betty
"Bananas for Betty" is the tenth episode in the second season, and the 33rd episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on December 6, 2007...
, Wilhelmina revealed she arranged to have Bradford's sperm extracted after his death in "I See Me, I.C.U.
I See Me, I.C.U.
"I See Me, I.C.U." is the eighth episode in the second season, and the 31st episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on November 15, 2007. The episode was written by Bill Wrubel and directed by Rodman Flender...
. She decided to produce an heir, giving herself a third of the Meade fortune and a place at the company again until the heir comes of age. Because she has a hostile womb, she bribed the seamstress Christina McKinney (played by Ashley Jensen
Ashley Jensen
Ashley Jensen is a Scottish actress who is best known for her roles in the television series Extras for which she was nominated for an Emmy, and ABC's Ugly Betty...
), into being her surrogate. The baby boy was born in There's No Place Like Mode
There's No Place Like Mode
"There's No Place Like Mode" is the fifteenth episode in the third season, the 56th episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on February 19, 2009. The episode was written by Sheila Lawrence and directed by Bethany Rooney....
.
Wilhelmina's younger sister, Renee (played by Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Monique Union is an American actress and former model. Among her notable roles is as the cheerleader opposite Kirsten Dunst in the film Bring it On. Union starred opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the blockbuster film Bad Boys II and played a medical doctor in the CBS drama...
), was introduced in the episode "A Thousand Words Before Friday
A Thousand Words Before Friday
"A Thousand Words Before Friday" is the thirteenth episode in the second season, and the 36th episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on January 24, 2008...
". Renee had a night of sex with Daniel Meade who did not know she was Wilhelmina's sister or that he was in Wilhelmina's apartment until the next morning. Wilhelmina implies Renee's birth name is "Rhonda."
The Slaters' first names are based on real names from the world of modeling: The Wilhelmina character is named after the legendary supermodel
Wilhelmina Cooper
Wilhelmina Cooper was a model who began with Ford Models and, at the peak of her success, founded her own agency, Wilhelmina Models, in New York City in 1967.-Life:...
, who worked with Gia Marie Carangi
Gia Carangi
Gia Marie Carangi was an American fashion model during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Carangi is considered by some to be the first supermodel, although that title has been given to others, including Janice Dickinson, Dorian Leigh, and Jean Shrimpton...
before her death, and modeling agency
Wilhelmina Models
Wilhelmina Models is a modeling agency founded in 1967 by the model Wilhelmina Cooper and her husband Bruce Cooper in Manhattan Starting in 2010, Wilhelmina Models started a sub-brand called "Digital Empire Modeling" for new digital-era modeling talents....
of the same name, while the Nico character is named for the famous Warhol superstar icon
Nico
Nico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
.
Fashion and style
Much of Wilhelmina's sophisticated wardrobe revolves around the colors white, silver, gold, and brown in the first two seasons. In a deleted scene from the season 1 DVD, Wilhelmina is seen looking at her closet full of outfits as she tries to rearrange them by the aforementioned colors.In one episode, Wilhelmina is referred to as "A Chanel suit with an office."
She is often seen wearing fur, and in an episode where she need to come up with money for a photographer by selling out of her wardrobe, both lynx, sable, chinchilla and mink is shown amongst her wardrobe. This might be inspired by Vogue editor Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour, OBE is the British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue, a position she has held since 1988. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and sunglasses, Wintour has become an institution throughout the fashion world, widely praised for her eye for fashion trends and her support for...
, who like Wilhelmina is famous/notorious for her demanding elitism and wearing fur. Wilhelmina's measurements were revealed to be 36-24-36.
Personality
Wilhelmina is portrayed as a mostly villainous character, and she serves as the primary antagonist in the series. She is shown to be a cunning, shrewd and scheming manipulator who uses everybody to her own advantage and is willing to go to any lengths to further her goals of power and domination. She is portrayed as a driven, narcissistic and amoral socialiteSocialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
who readily exploits everyone around her to get what she wants. However, despite her clearly sociopathic tendencies, Wilhelmina does have a human side to her character. Despite abusing, controlling, deceiving and manipulating virtually everyone around her, she is shown to care for her closest ones, mostly her daughter (despite a tormentous relationship) as shown when she is willing to sacrifice her own career to protect her from going to jail. She also grows to care for Marc whom she eventually calls the "only real man" in her life.
Wilhelmina, despite her cold calculating ways, is also shown to be willing to abandon her career to develop relationships with men, as shown in the first season when she readily abandons her scheme with Alexis to pursue a relationship with Ted LeBeau, or when she actively pursues Connor despite his arrest warrant and the implications it'd have on her life to be romantically involved and in cahoots with him.
At the end of the series, Wilhelmina ends up putting her scheming ways behind her to "do the right thing" and because of that she is rewarded with what she looked for during the whole time at Mode, which ironically came the one time she didn't plot or connive, being the one and only Editor in Chief of Mode. She also finally makes peace with the Meades and Betty.
Minions
Originally, Wilhelmina was supposed to be so mean she would fire an assistant every week, but Marc proved to be a popular character and got the job permanently.Among the people Wilhelmina uses in her scheming besides Marc and Christina (despite having mixed feelings about the latter because of Christina's friendship with Betty) are:
- Philippe Michel, freelance photographer
- Rodrigo Veloso, Creative Director of Brasil MODE
- Carlos Medina, assistant editor/mole at Isabella
- Steve, private detective
Connections
- Nico Slater - Rebellious teenage daughter.
- Alexis MeadeAlexis MeadeAlexis Meade is a fictional character from the ABC dramedy series Ugly Betty. She was initially played by Elizabeth Penn Payne for the first 12 episodes of her appearance and was played by Rebecca Romijn for the rest of the series.-Biography:Alex Meade was a background presence in the...
- Was her partner in her takeover scheme, but now sees her as a nemesis after turning on her when Alexis decided to repair her relationship with Daniel. Became an ally again once Wilhelmina returned to Mode, but turned on her again after sales plunged and reinstated Daniel again. - Marc St. JamesMarc St. JamesMarcus "Marc" St. James is a fictional character in the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty. He is played by Michael Urie...
- Her Personal Assistant who knows about her takeover plans and is her best friend and confidant. Despite his loyalty, he felt betrayed after Wilhelmina lured Betty into joining MODE, so thanks to a mailbag of letters that he gave to Betty on purpose, he contributed to getting Wilhelmina demoted back to her creative director position. - Bradford MeadeBradford MeadeBradford Emerson Meade is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, played by Alan Dale. Bradford's character was equivalent to Roberto Mendoza in the original Betty la fea, Armando's father, with Armando equalling Daniel....
- Her boss at Meade Publications; Tried to have him framed for Fey's murder, but when that failed after learning Claire was the real culprit, she decided to "romance" him as his wife prepares to face jail time. Thanks to her scheming, Wilhelmina and Bradford were engaged, but he would end it after he found out about her affair with the bodyguard. After his death she took his sperm so she can be impregnated. In the middle of season three Christina McKinneyChristina McKinneyChristina McKinney is a fictional character in the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty. She is played by Ashley Jensen. Christina is based on Bertha Muñoz de González, only she isn't plus-sized, but both have a great ear for gossip....
will give birth to what is believed to be his and Wilhelmina's child. - William Slater-Meade - Until a DNA test revealed he was Christina's, Wilhelmina and Bradford's first and only child. He was born during season three in the episode There's No Place Like ModeThere's No Place Like Mode"There's No Place Like Mode" is the fifteenth episode in the third season, the 56th episode overall, of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty, which aired on February 19, 2009. The episode was written by Sheila Lawrence and directed by Bethany Rooney....
, and had three half-siblings. - Daniel MeadeDaniel MeadeDaniel Meade is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. He is played by Eric Mabius.-Background:Daniel is the second son of magazine publisher Bradford Meade and Claire Meade in 1974...
- Co-Editor-In-Chief at MODE; Main enemy. Drove a wedge between him, Claire and Alexis. She and Daniel briefly came together in Fey's Sleigh RideFey's Sleigh Ride"Fey's Sleigh Ride" is an episode from the dramedy series Ugly Betty. It is the fourth episode in the United States, Canada and Australia but is the fifth overall. The episode first aired on October 19, 2006, even though it was scheduled to air October 26, 2006...
and made a pact. That pact faded and they became enemies again. Finally, she tortured Daniel in the cruelest way ever by taking away his position at Mode and making it her own, up until her downfall. Thanks to Claire, he and Wilhelmina now share co-editor-in-chief duties at the magazine. In episode 3.06 "Granny Pants", they went on a blind date Daniel told Betty, who didn't know it was Wilhelmina, "It started up rough but ended up in a good place." - Betty SuarezBetty SuarezBeatriz "Betty" U. Suarez is a central fictional character and heroine of the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is portrayed by America Ferrera, who won a 2007 Golden Globe and 2007 SAG award for her portrayal of the character, as well as the Outstanding Actress in a Comedy award for the role...
- Daniel's assistant. Considers her as an enemy as she stands in the way of Wilhelmina reaching her goals. In the first season she attempted to bribe Betty with a check to help her father but she would have to sell out Daniel; She turned down her offer at first, but in the second season when she attempted to tell Daniel while he was recuperating following his car accident she was going make changes to another issue without him knowing, she gave in by allowing Wilhelmina to help her father return to the United States by not telling Daniel. When Wilhelmina at the helm at Mode in the third season, Betty was tempted by her to rejoin Mode under Wilhelmina, and she did, but resigned after realizing she didn't want to be the next Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina continues to belittle and undermine Betty ... but, when Betty leaves in the final episode, Wilhelmina ensures they part on good terms by complimenting her spirit, and later admits that she will "miss her". - Christina McKinneyChristina McKinneyChristina McKinney is a fictional character in the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty. She is played by Ashley Jensen. Christina is based on Bertha Muñoz de González, only she isn't plus-sized, but both have a great ear for gossip....
- Seamstress at MODE but Wilhelmina also uses her as her personal seamstress. She is one of Wilhelmina's minions, despite being forced into it, even if it means protecting her friendship with Betty. Wilhelmina controls her future in the fashion industry and described her previous entries of clothing for the fashion show as "a little too bohemian". Christina's response to that statement: " I think your exact words were hippie hideous". Was hired as the surrogateSurrogacySurrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a child for another couple or person. This woman may be the child's genetic mother , or she may carry the pregnancy to delivery after having an embryo, to which she has no genetic relationship whatsoever, transferred to her uterus...
of Wilhelmina and Bradford Meade's child, but was pregnant with her own child instead. - Claire MeadeClaire MeadeClaire Meade is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is played by Judith Light.Light's performance as Claire has resulted in a nomination for outstanding guest actress in a Comedy series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards, when Claire was a recurring regular in season...
- Original owner of MODE; Attempted to manipulate her into taking over the magazine's operations by any means at her disposal. Thanks to Wilhelmina's manipulation, Bradford divorced Claire, resulting in Claire's escape en route to prison and her attempt to stop the wedding. Claire would be the one who would have Wilhelmina fired after the wedding fiasco and later witness her firing from the Editor-in-Chief job at Wilhelmina's party. - Ted LeBeau - Owner of Beau-Mart (similar to Wal-MartWal-MartWal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
or K-Mart), a department store chain and single father; Wilhelmina's love interest, who has managed to show Wilhelmina's softer side. Ted has since left her in order to work on his relationship with his wife and children. - Hilda SuarezHilda SuarezHilda Suarez Talercio is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is portrayed by Ana Ortiz. Hilda's character is the American adaptation's equivalent to Julia Solano Galindo de Pinzón, Beatriz Pinzón Solano's mother, and is loosely based on creator Silvio Horta's older...
- Although she has never come into close contact with Betty's sister, when she did see her and Betty selling Herbalux in the MODE canteen, she described an activist Hilda as "Cesar ChavezCésar ChávezCésar Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
in a push-up bra". - Justin SuarezJustin SuarezJustin Suarez is a fictional character on the American comedy-drama series Ugly Betty which is an adaptation of the Colombian telenovela Betty la fea. He is portrayed by actor Mark Indelicato. Justin lives with his mother Hilda, his aunt Betty, and his grandfather Ignacio...
- While she was temporarily blinded by a "duck sauce" injection to her face à la Botox, he served as her temporary "seeing-eye" guide during Fashion Week when Marc left her temporarily to seek out the next hot fashion item for 2007. During a brief exchange between the two, she called him Jason, but he didn't care what she called him since he said he loved her. He played a major part in helping Wilhelmina's goals by becoming her little "Fashion elf" in the second season. - Amanda TanenAmanda TanenAmanda Tanen Sommers is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is played by Becki Newton. Amanda's character is a combination of Patricia Fernandez and Marcela Valencia, but her appearance is similar to Marcia Villarroel from the Columbian adaptation...
- Receptionist at MODE and the daughter of Fey Sommers; Wilhelmina would like to see her out of a job at the magazine because she slept with Daniel, even though Marc has taken steps to save Amanda's job. Amanda believes Wilhelmina may hold the key to learning the truth about Fey Sommers' personal past.