The Golden Girls‘ Blanche Devereaux is a sexy, taut 50-year-old with the looks of a 20-year-old and the body of a dancer. Cursed with tremendous beauty, an amorous lover and widow of a man who loved her very much, Blanche is full of life. She is a very interesting roommate, lover and friend, and a very interesting character to watch.
Despite her many, many male suitors, her penchant for beauty and fashion and her lust for life, Blanche is still a very sad character deep inside. Unlike Rose, Dorothy and Sofia, Blanche lives her life focused on the external, and this causes her a lot of heartache during the series.
When Her Husband Had An Affair
From Blanche’s stories about her past, it is clear that her husband, George, loved her a great deal. She married into money, and George spoiled her constantly. He was also a very jealous man who was always scared that Blanche’s sexual appetite would lead her to cheat.
Much to Blanche’s surprise, George cheated on her during a business trip and even fathered a son. Blanche is devastated because she always held dear the notion of her husband’s deep love for her, yet she forgives him, not wanting to ruin her memory of her him.
When Her Husband Died
Whenever Blanche’s flings are about to turn serious, she always does sabotages her relationship. Blanche herself questions why she only seeks out fickle meaningless sex with men and why men never want to date her seriously.
It is later revealed that Blanche was greatly affected by the loss of her husband. As a result, she became very unwilling to put herself through that grief again. Through all her smiling and flings, Blanche holds on to her pain over her husband’s death, unable to move on from it.
When She Lost Jake
When Rose and Dorothy hire a hunky caterer for their hospital charity banquet, Blanche flirts herself into a date. Jake and Blanche fall in love immediately, but Blanche finds herself embarrassed by Jake’s lack of refinement and his blue-collar job. Although she cares for him, Blanche decides to break up with Jake because of their class differences. Unbeknownst to her, Jake was planning to propose to her.
She later comes to realize that she is in love with him. Unfortunately, Jake is adamant that she is right: he believes that Blanche would always resent him for not being upper class, and he decides not to pursue the relationship.
When She Lost Her Looks
“I am upset, because I was not the center of attention, and nobody said I was the prettiest. All my life, my beauty has outshone every other woman’s. But not anymore! Now, people are cuter than me! My life is over!”
Famous for her speeches on how “unbelievably devastating” she is, Blanche finds it difficult to accept that her looks are fading as she ages. The problem begins when she goes to her high school reunion to find that her former classmates have had facelifts and surgery to keep their looks. Blanche falls into a deep depression and books a full body aesthetic surgery procedure to maintain her looks. Her depression lifts, finally, when the plastic surgeon tells her that she is very beautiful.
When Her Sister Was Dying
Blanche does not get along with her sisters and spent her teenage years competing with them. When her sister, Virginia, comes to stay, Blanche is sure that she just wants something from her. She is saddened to be proven right, as Virginia tells her she is dying and needs her kidney.
Angry at her sister for stealing everything that belongs to her, including her boyfriend, Blanche ponders whether to give her sister the kidney. The episode ends on a positive note when the two estranged sisters make up, and Virginia gets a kidney from the transplant list.
When She Was Sexually Harassed
Blanche enrolls in college so that she can get a promotion at work. In classic Blanche style, she doesn’t take her education seriously and is soon failing the class. The professor offers her his home phone number, offering her a passing grade if she sleeps with him. Inflamed, Dorothy persuades Blanche to report the professor to the dean. The dean, however, claims that it is Blanche’s word against the professor’s, so he cannot do anything.
Using her humiliation as motivation, Blanche studies hard and passes the test, standing up to the professor on her way out of the class.
When She Went Through Menopause
In another episode that focuses on Blanche’s vanity and low self-esteem, Blanche becomes hysterical when she begins menopause. She is unable to accept aging, so the girls force her to see a psychologist. Blanche confesses to the psychiatrist that her looks have always meant everything to her, and she cannot go on living if she is to age. She adds that she sees her mother’s face in the mirror sometimes, and this scares her.
The psychiatrist prompts her to stop placing her value solely in her looks, and figure out the other things in her life that make her special.
When She Lost Her Children
Married to a wealthy man, Blanche was a very spoiled housewife. She claims not to like babies, but would later confess that her selfish mothering led her children to love her nanny more than they love her. What’s worse, her now-adult children no longer call her or speak to her often, because she was never there for them.
Blanche’s relationship with her children is strained and difficult. She attempts to rebuild this relationship slowly and becomes an integral part of her children’s lives as the series progresses.
When She Was Engaged To A Bigamist
The first-ever episode of Golden Girls begins with Blanche’s engagement. Her boyfriend, Harry, has been courting her and finally asks her to marry him, to which she says yes. Blanche tells the girls that she is very happy with Harry, and is excited to be married.
On the wedding day, Harry is late. A cop shows up to tell Blanche that he has been arrested for having six wives, and is wanted in four states. Blanche is devastated until she remembers that the girls are with her and will always love her.
When Big Daddy Dies
Blanche loves her father very much. She respects him and is always excited when he visits. In a later episode, Blanche blames herself when she chooses to stay in Miami to prepare for The Citrus Festival Ball rather than go see her father, who called to ask her to visit him. Her father dies the next day, and Blanche heads home for the funeral.
Her sister, Virginia, blames Blanche for not coming home when Big Daddy called. Blanche admits that she has always been a selfish person and she says goodbye forever to her father.
