Wilhelmina Slater
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| Wilhelmina Slater | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Pilot (aka I Am Not Going To Sell Herbalux) |
| Created by | Silvio Horta |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Wanda Vivian Slater (birthname), Willy |
| Gender | Female |
| Age | 40s |
| Occupation | Editor-in-Chief at MODE Former Creative Director at MODE Former Editor-in-Chief at SLATER Former Creative Director at MODE Former assistant to Fey Sommers at MODE |
| Title | Editor-in-Chief |
| Family | Senator Slater (father) Renee Slater (sister) |
| Children | Nico Slater (daughter) Unborn Meade |
Wanda "Wilhelmina" Vivian Slater is a fictional character in the American dramedy series Ugly Betty. She is played by Vanessa Williams, who received a supporting actress nomination at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards for her portrayal of the character. Wilhelmina's character is equivalent to Marcela Valencia & Daniel Valencia.
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[edit] Background
Wilhelmina is a conceited, self-absorbed diva and former fashion model who lives for two things: MODE and Botox. 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 made over into "Wilhelmina."
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, who thinks Wilhelmina 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.
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, that the mystery woman is actually Alexis Meade, Daniel's older (m-f transgendered) sister.
Wilhelmina's plan is revealed when Alexis tells her that someone called her from Wilhelmina's office. After learning that 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 that 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 that the elder son would take over Meade publications, Alex has since become Alexis. Wilhelmina refuses 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 that Alexis has turned on her: when Alexis tells her that 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 that Claire make Wilhelmina editor-in-chief. When Claire does not relent (Claire told her that MODE "...will always be run by a Meade"), Wilhelmina resorts to seducing Bradford. She believes that by doing this, it will convince Bradford that she can be the next Mrs. Meade, which would allow her to takeover MODE. She also assists Bradford in his scheme to get Alexis out of the country by recommending that her counterpart at MODE Brasil, Rodrigo, romance her.
In the season finale, Bradford gives Wilhelmina a gaudy engagement ring that he designed himself, setting things up for a November wedding. When Wilhelmina learned that Claire has just escaped while en-route to prison, hoping to stop Bradford from marrying Wilhelmina in the second season, Wilhelmina hires 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 that Claire was the one who walked out on Bradford. She also used a tactic at the annual Meade Black & White Ball that resulted in Bradford finally telling Claire that their marriage was postponed after he spots Claire.
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 that she could claim a stake in the company if she was legally married. When Bradford asked her if it 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 Wilhelmina 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 that 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 finance ( her father would not help fund the world that took his daughter away from him), she turns to another scheme, that of 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 that 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 that she has a "hostile womb" and therefore cannot bear any more children. Thanks to Marc's suggestion, they find the perfect surrogate that 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 burn an expensive dress once owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Christina gave in...and had Betty brought in for support, which upset Wilhelmina.
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 embarassment and save Claire Meade's magazine, "Hot Flash", all in the one day.
She also plotted to have her sister commited to an asylum to keep her away from Daniel Meade (whom she was dating), so the Meade's would not discover her plans with Christina.
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.
[edit] 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 that she was no longer the daughter he once knew and loved. In "Family/Affair" Betty and Christina see a picture of her with Dick Cheney, suggesting that she is a supporter of the Republican Party; in "Bananas for Betty" she admitted that she never liked Rudy Giuliani during his mayoral days, but praised him for cleaning up the city.
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 schools 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 that he currently lives in Dubai, implying that he is probably extremely wealthy from oil interests. It is also implied that 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 that Nico had made other plans, in one of Wilhelmina's few sympathetic moments.
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 that she was Wilhelmina's sister or that he was in Wilhelmina's apartment until the next morning.
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.
[edit] Fashion and style
Much of Wilhelmina's sophisticated wardrobe revolves around the colors white, yellow, gold, and brown. 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.
[edit] Minions
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
[edit] Connections
- Nico Slater - Rebellious teenage daughter.
- Alexis Meade - 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.
- Marc St. James - Her Personal Assistant who knows about her takeover plans and is her best friend and confidant.
- Bradford Meade - Her boss at Meade Publications; Tried to have him framed for Fey's murder, but when that failed after learning that 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 to be married, 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.
- Daniel Meade - Former 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 Ride 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.
- Betty Suarez - Daniel's former assistant. Considers her as an enemy as she stands in the way of Wilhelmina reaching her goals. 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 when she attempted to tell Daniel while he was recuperating following his car accident that 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.
- Christina McKinney - 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". Is currently the surrogate of Wilhelmina and Bradford Meade's child.
- Claire Meade - Original owner of MODE; Attemped 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.
- Ted LeBeau - Owner of Beau-Mart (similar to Wal-Mart or K-Mart), a department store chain and single father; Wilhelmina's love interest, who has managed to show Wil's softer side. Ted has since left her in order to work on his relationship with his wife and children.
- Hilda Suarez - 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 Chavez in a push-up bra".
- Justin Suarez - 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 will play a major part in helping Wilhelmina's goals by becoming her little "Fashion elf" in the second season.
- Amanda Tanen - 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 also believes that Wilhelmina may hold the key to learning the truth about Fey Sommers' personal past.
