Karen Walker (character)

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Karen St. Croix Popeil Walker (née Karen Delaney) was a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace (1998-2006). She was portrayed by actress and singer Megan Mullally.

Karen, originally meant to be a supporting character on the show, has emerged as a favorite of viewers and thus made more of a focal point on the show. She was a multi-millionaire thanks to her marriage to obese and extremely wealthy husband Stan Walker until discovering he was broke.

Contents 1 Character history 1.1 Early years 1.2 Getting the job 1.3 Relationships 2 Personality 3 Popularity 4 Sexuality 5 Karen's staff 6 Quotes from Karen 7 After Will & Grace 8 External links

[edit] Character history

[edit] Early years

Karen's childhood was a rocky road, thanks in part to her unstable relationship with her mother, Lois Whitley (played by Suzanne Pleshette), a con artist who incorporated her young daughter into her schemes. Karen is often cruel to her staff at home, training them to run when she enters a room, and firing someone to make herself feel better. Other times she chews them out, but somehow this comes across as an act of affection.

Although she tries to keep her age secret, her good friend Jack McFarland revealed that she was 42 in 2001, meaning she was born in February 1959. She has been married four times — her first husband's surname was St. Croix, her second was named Popeil (a reference to the American culinary businessman/entrepreneur Ron Popeil), her third was Stan Walker (married since 1995), and she was married for 20 minutes to Lyle Finster (John Cleese) in May 2004, although she is still married to Stanley (see below), who has two children of his own, Olivia and Mason. Karen also goes under the alias "Anastasia Beaverhausen," and, by her own words, she used the alias Pilar Palabundo to "beat up businessmen for cash in Chinatown." Her real name may not, in fact, be Karen, as she changes her name from time to time to throw off the "Feds." Her mother refers to her as "Kiki", which was her childhood nickname. In times of trouble, Karen always makes mistakes by citing movie quotes. She is noted also for her shrilled/squeaky voice and her addiction to pills and alcohol, a possible parallel to Marilyn Monroe.

[edit] Getting the job

To entertain herself, Karen took a job as personal assistant to interior designer Grace Adler (of the show's title). Though she never accomplishes any work (she cannot name a computer or a fax machine), she does not quit because the job gets her "away from Stan and the kids," as she once told an intern. Grace does not fire her because Grace's business benefits from Karen's social contacts; Karen also pays for Grace's health insurance. For a long time, Karen never cashed any of the paychecks she was given because she didn't need to, instead keeping them in a box on her desk because she thought they were "pretty pieces of paper". Once when Stan stopped giving her an allowance, she cashed all her paychecks at once, nearly bankrupting Grace (Karen paid the money back in the end). Karen and Grace became very close over the years, and Karen's love/hate relationship with Will even turned to friendship. She also developed a best/fake-romantic friendship with Jack McFarland, an effeminately gay struggling actor.

For the first few seasons of the show, Karen lived with husband Stan Walker, an obese man whose business possibly keeps Taco Bell and Pizza Hut afloat and who has been wearing a toupee since his teens, Stan was an unseen character during the show's run, despite being mentioned in many episodes. His two children, Mason (known to Karen as "the fat one") and Olivia, by Stan's previous wife (described by Karen in one episode as "that bitch Kathy!"), were often in the incompetent care of Karen.

In the fourth season, Stan was jailed for tax evasion and told Karen to date other men. She could not bring herself to do so until she met rich bachelor Lionel (Rip Torn), but just as their affair began, Stan was released from jail. However, after Karen caught him with his mistress Lorraine Finster (Minnie Driver) - a cafeteria worker at the prison - the couple separated and Karen moved into a ritzy hotel. After beginning divorce proceedings at the end of the fifth season, Stan died suddenly.

During season six, Karen pursued romantic liaisons and ended up marrying Lyle Finster (John Cleese), Lorraine's father. However, after 20 minutes of marriage — a sudden ceremony in Las Vegas — she asked for a divorce.

Karen has been the head of Walker, Inc. since her husband's death. However, at the end of season seven, it was revealed that Stan faked his death and had actually been in hiding. Karen began dating Malcolm (Alec Baldwin), a government agent who had helped Stan do this. However, she ultimately reconciled with Stan, and Malcolm left on a government mission to Sri Lanka. Later in the eighth season, however, Karen and Stan experienced significant marriage difficulties. They finally chose to divorce, only for Karen to learn - in the show's series finale - that his money was borrowed and that, as a result, she was broke.

Karen then pressured Jack into a relationship with Beverley Leslie (played by Leslie Jordan), who was wealthy enough to support Jack and in turn keep Karen in the lifestyle to which she was accustomed. Conveniently, the diminutive Leslie left his millions to Jack before being swept off a high balcony by a strong gust of wind. Jack then became the "sugar daddy" in his relationship with Karen, which has otherwise not changed. The series finale showed that - until at least 2026 - Karen lived with Rosario and Jack in a happy relationship reminiscent of their old days, and, thanks to plastic surgery, she had also not aged a day.

[edit] Relationships

Karen met Stan Walker in 1985, brushing off three simultaneous relationships (with Martina Navratilova, Sultan Habibi Shoshani Padush Al-Kabir, and a gentleman named Clayton) to be with him only to learn that he was married. After going through two other marriages, she finally got together with Stan 10 years later. At some point before this, she also agreed to appear non-naked as the star of the fetishistic porn film Next to Godliness, a dominatrix flick.

Her relationship with her maid Rosario Salazar, whom she met and hired in 1985 and for whom she even arranged a marriage with Jack to help her get a Green Card, is very close. Although the duo often bicker and fight, it is only part of the bond they share. In the beginning of the series, it seemed that Rosario didn't speak much English, and Karen had a hard time communicating with her. Karen's way of giving Rosario orders was to add the letter "o" to the end of every word she'd say (e.g., "Enougho with the April Fresho. *hangs up the phone* Right now she's calling me a bitcho"). In another example of miscommunication, Karen used to end phone calls with Rosario by saying "hola," which means "hello" in Spanish and not "goodbye." When Rosario was first seen on-camera at the end of the first season, it was revealed that she spoke English quite well and that Karen was being patronizing.

Karen's arch rivals include, but are not limited to, Beverley Leslie (played by Leslie Jordan), Candice Bergen (the actress, whom Karen refers to as "Candy"), Marlo Thomas (Karen hates her and her husband, Phil Donahue, who both apparently live in her apartment building), Scott Woolley (until he fell in love with her; played by Jeff Goldblum), and Candace Pruitt (whom Karen refers to as "Candy" Pruitt; played by Christine Ebersole), who once expressed her thoughts that Karen's voice sounded "like someone strangling an old macaw."

Sometimes Karen unintentionally reveals to her friends a softer side that is carefully hidden. In one such incident, Karen's husband has a heart attack and may die. Karen discovers that her friends have placed a bet to see who can get her to cry first, so she elaborately punishes each of them by leading them on to think she might break down in their presence. In the end, she has an actual breakdown over the incident, which Grace stumbles in on and consoles her during.

[edit] Personality

With other staff and help, Karen is deliberately patronizing, referring to them solely by their title both in conversation and to their face: "Driver," "Butler," "Pharmacist," "Back-Up Pharmacist," etc.

[edit] Popularity

Karen's popularity on the show grew mostly from her one-liners, zingers, and straight-forwardness. She is an emotionally complex character wrapped in a facade of disinterest for other people's problems, selfishness, and greed. Karen is an alcoholic, often indulging in prescription pills and booze. Karen makes observations on others with an emotionless and often cruel eye. (For instance, when a pregnant woman glanced at her and Grace, when Grace had a mole frozen, which became enlarged, frightening Karen into believing it was "the herpes," in a store, she snapped, "What are you looking at, preggo?! Haven't you ever seen herpes before? Boy, I tell you...fat people are so insensitive"; once she said to Jack, "Honey, you know what's really funny? Poor people with big dreams.") Compared to the pilot episode, Karen now has a much higher-pitched manner of speaking. She is also known for the excessive use of the word "honey" in her speech and for her "killer rack."

[edit] Sexuality

There have been many hints that Karen may have lesbian or bisexual tendencies, as she has little sexual feelings for her husband (although this may be due to his obesity). She occasionally has semi-sexual encounters with Grace (mostly kissing and touching) at work. In one episode, after Grace slept at Karen's penthouse to keep Karen company, Karen said, "I woke up with red hair on my pillow and lesbian porn in the VCR." She also had the abovementioned relationship with the openly lesbian Navratilova (who was apparently straight before they met) and was once mocked by a roommate (played by Madonna) for her "weird, creepy bisexual vibe." Also, in a sixth-season episode, Karen said to a lesbian realtor, "Stay back, bulldozer, I'm engaged." To this, the realtor replied, "You were last time, too." (It should be noted that Megan Mullally has expressed her own feelings of bisexuality.)

[edit] Karen's staff

This list is not complete and it has been stated that she has a staff of more than 30 people, including:

• Rosario
• Several other unnamed maids who vanish when Karen approaches as they 'do not deserve to see Karen'
• Driver (who drives Karen's limo, boat, and plane except when Lyle did); he is very old. It can be assumed that Karen has had several drivers, as during Season Three she mentions that driver was killed by policemen.
• Butler
• Optometrist
• Gardener
• Pants Hoister
• Pharmacist (or Pharmy)
• Back-Up Pharmacist (or Back-Up Pharmy)
• Private Detective (who follows Stan back and forth to Krispy Kreme.)
• Plastic Surgeon
• Pastry Chef (a pansexual who slept with Karen, Rosario, and Will, played by real-life straight ally Stuart Townsend)
• Mustard Spreader
• Alibi
• Back-Up Maid (who was Lorraine Finster's maid)
• Helicopter Pilot (It is unclear if she even has a helicopter, as in one episode Will Truman, in an attempt to fire her over extensive staff, said Helicopter Pilot should be fired as she doesn't have one. However, in another episode she flies Joe, Larry, and herself to Atlantic City, perhaps suggesting she rents helicopters or that she may own a private jet.)
• Manicurist
• Pedicurist
• Karen 2 (a woman who looks just like Karen in case one of the kids requires a hug from "mom" in the middle of the night)
• Jeweler

She also includes Will as a member of her staff ("Lawyer") at times and has also had Picasso working for her. She mentions that her staff is interchangeable, "Cook sometimes cleans, Cleaner sometimes cooks, Driver sometimes provides an alibi."

[edit] Quotes from Karen

• "How would you like to live under my skirt?" To Macaulay Culkin, playing a young lawyer.
• "Grace, desperate times call for desperate measures. It's time to get your head out of the dumps and your legs in the air!"
• "Grace, the bitch we hate is on line one."
• "I always worked before I married money. I joke. Of course I mean Stan. I joke. Of course I mean money."
• "You backstabbing boy bitch! You are never seeing her again, do you hear me?! You stay away from that London hog, or I'll put fishhooks in your nipples and fly you off the Chrysler Building! You got that?!"
• "Oh, Jackie, thank you. At last, I'm out of Stan's shadow. Well, if I leave the Tri-State area."
• "Ba-ba-ga-ga-da-pa-pa! You played with me, and you lost. Let that be a lesson to you. I think you forgot, kiddies, Karen Walker doesn't do emotions. Now get the hell out of here."
• "No. It's all a lie. I'm not who you think I am. I'm not good or real. I'm evil and imaginary. And I'm rich. Filthy rich!"
• "Oh, for God's sake, just climb on top of each other and get it over with, already!"
• "You say potato, I say vodka."
• "Honey... What is this? What's going on? What's happening?"
• "Stan... that had better be me you're having sex with!"
• "I had to have her deloused after being married to it."
• "Hey, poodle." (said often to Jack)
• "You must think I'm a common whore!...So, do you want my top on or off?"
• "...After years of being with Stan, I felt like, 'finally a man who knows how to make a woman feel like a girl, and how to make that girl feel like a slut, and how to make that slut feel like a woman.'"
• "Like lovemaking, this is something best done by myself."
• "I'm addicted to these stories. Which is odd, because I don't have an addictive personality."
• (To Jack) "Let's cut through the bull. If you want to win, we're gonna have to cheat. So I'll write 30 words on my left boob and 32 on my right. What? It's a little bit bigger. And that's normal."
• "Honey, the only way we're gonna get Grace out of that bed is with a big strong man. [INTO PHONE] Rosario, get over here!."
• [ABOUT THE MOVIE SPEED] "You know that movie was not at all what was advertised. You think you're gonna see a feel-good movie about amphetamines, and all of a sudden you're on a bus?"
• [WHILE TRYING TO SLEEP IN A LIMO BETWEEN JACK AND GRACE] "Jack? That had better be your penis..." [AFTER GRACE WANTS TO SLEEP ON HER LEFT] "Grace? That had better be your penis."
• [TO DIANE] "I like you. Wanna make out?"
• "Anastasia Beaverhausen: 'Anastasia,' like russian royalty; 'Beaverhausen,' like where the beaver live."
• Karen: "Ah, Smitty. Why is there so much cruelty in the world? So much pain... can ya tell me that, Smitty?" Barman: "My name is not Smitty." Karen: "I don't need your life story, nose-hair."
• Karen: "Stan, put your children on, I wanna speak to them...yes I'm serious!"
• Grace: "Sorry I'm late, I got caught on the F train." Karen: "Grace, is this another one of your little stories about how people travel underground in a network of trains and tunnels?"
• [TO GRACE] Honey, you are a mess. And that's coming from a woman who stripped for your father.
• [TO GRACE] Oh sorry, sorry I'm late!.. Well that sounded insincere; I'M LATE!
• [To Jack] I could do to her (Lorraine Finster) what she did to Stan. Have sex with her until she dies! Yep, that's what I'm gonna do. [BANGS ON THE DOOR.] Open up, Lorraine! And put on a condom!
• "...No one's ever picked me over their daughter before. Not Jon Voight, not Steven Tyler. Not Goldie Hawn."
• "Remember Lorraine Finster, the dame who stole my husband and tried to bump me off? Well, I think I found her. Private Dick said he dug up an "L. Finster" at the Hotel Knickerbocker. Come on, let's go down there and give her the what for...Remember Lorraine, the husband who stole my dame and tried to bump me off? Private Knickerbocker says she's at the Hotel Dick! Let's get her!...Remember Lorraine, the dame who stole my bump and tried to husband me off? Well, the Finster hotel is private dick-n-knockers."
• "Well, Jackie, let me tell you my story. Maybe it'll inspire you. Now... God didn't give me the ability to play the piano, or paint a picture, or have compassion. But... he did give me the ability to crack a walnut with my hoo-ha."
• "Violence is never the answer. But sometimes it is, Tai Chi (as she knocks out Molly Shannon)!"
• "Gosh, I don't think that I've ever been stressed out. Why would I be? I've got practically no responsibilities, my job's a breeze and I've got a KILLER rack. Good morning."
• [looking into a mirror] "Hello Starshine."
• [to Grace] "Oh Lord, honey, you are just as simple as that blouse you're wearin'."
• "Good Lord. I can't believe I'm at a public pool. Why doesn't somebody just pee directly on me?"
• "I have no idea what you just said."
• "Oh, my God. She just asked a Fairy an engine question. We're all gonna die in this car."
• "Smoking in the office... how inappropriate! Hey does anyone mind if I take my boob out for a second?"
• "Black, white, straight, gay, what's the difference? We all finish ourselves off in the end anyway!"
• [to Will, Grace and Jack] "You know deep down inside I do have feelings..." [GENERAL ROARING LAUGHTER]
• [Will]: "I've found out what I'm really going to do: write!" [Karen]: "Oh really? Then I know what I'm not going to do: read!"

[edit] After Will & Grace

Walker's persona has appeared in advertisements for The Megan Mullally Show, which debuted in September 2006. In one, Karen asks Megan to take her along. In another, Karen tries to pass for Megan at a meeting with studio executives until she is caught by Mullally and they begin to physically struggle with each other.

[edit] External links

• Soulmates: The Unofficial Jack & Karen website
• Megan Mullally website