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, but starting with the second season she became a full time regular. Claire's character is equivalent to Margarita S‡enz De Mendoza, Armando's mother, with Armando equalling Daniel.

Background

Claire is/was Bradford Meade's wife and the mother of both Daniel and Alexis. In Sofia's Choice, Claire mentioned that she and Bradford were married for 38 years (since 1969). Claire is introduced in the episode "The Lyin', the Watch and the Wardrobe", when Daniel visits her at a rehabilitation clinic recovering from alcoholism. She tells Daniel that her drinking was a result of the affair her husband had with Fey Sommers. She also tells him that she and Fey went to confront Bradford and force him to choose. Soon after, Fey died, and Claire was admitted into rehab. Although she knew of the affair, she is generally unaware of what Bradford is doing behind her back.

After completing rehab, Claire and Bradford finally reconnect as a couple. Bradford planned to his best to keep his marriage afloat while Claire tries to stay sober for Daniel's sake.

Claire, however, is showing signs that she might be leaning back towards the bottle as evidenced in "Sofia's Choice." Moreover, there are hints in the wake of the arrest of her husband that Claire knows that he was not the murderer, a fact which draws Betty into the mystery in later episodes; Claire reveals to Betty in the episode "Brothers" that she was the actual murderer of Fey Sommers. When Claire visits Bradford with plans to confess, he is not happy about it and warns her not to got through with it. She insists that she will, however. After both Betty and lawyer Grace Chin both mention to Daniel that Claire's Aston Martin was at the scene of Fey's murder, Daniel confronts his mother and learns that she tampered with Fey's brake lines and followed her for 18 miles prior to the former editrix's demise. Claire also admits to being sober at the time of the murder, saying that she wanted to see her "...Burn, and burn, and burn," because Fey took away the only man (Bradford) that Claire ever loved in her life.

Although Daniel tries to keep Claire from going to the police until he can find a way to get her out of the situation, Claire maintains her confession and wishes to tell Grace what happened (over Daniel's objections). Grace and Daniel agree that Claire could get medical help and, subsequently, receive a lighter sentence, and the pair decide to follow this course of action. Daniel's sister, Alexis ruins their plan, however, when she accuses Daniel of hiring and sleeping with Grace (who consequently recuses herself from the case), thus making it harder for Claire to receive a reasonable conviction.

When Claire fears that her own words will turn on her in court, she prepares to leave the country, only to have Betty intervene after Claire calls her to bring a credit card to her hotel. Betty later brings Claire to her home in order to buy time, hopefully enough to convince Daniel's mother not to leave the country. Eventually, Betty's words convince Claire to do the right thing, and Claire calls the police and turns herself in to authorities.

While detoxing in a hospital and handcuffed to the bed, she tells Bradford that, although Meade Publications is the publisher of MODE, Claire is the actual owner of the magazine, and she reveals that she has the right to keep Daniel and Alexis onboard. This revelation prompts Wilhelmina Slater to attempt to manipulate her into signing a power of attorney, but Claire tells her that it will never happen and that MODE will remain in Meade hands.

Days later, in jail, Claire finds out that Wilhelmina is sleeping with her husband. Mrs. Meade loses her mind and threatens Wilhelmina with death; Wilhelmina takes advantage of the situation, however, by injuring herself and telling Bradford that his wife hired a couple of thugs "to take care of her." After hearing this, Bradford ultimately decides to divorce Claire.

In the season one finale, Claire and her inmates make plans to escape. They do so by feeding their diabetic inmate chocolate, causing the driver of the truck transporting the group to stop. When he goes to check on the woman, they choke him with their handcuffs, and Claire grabs his gun, points it at him, and says, "This is happening!" In the end of the finale, Claire and Yoga are seen running down the road, still handcuffed. Claire prepares to seek revenge on Wilhelmina now that she knows about Wilhelmina's plans to marry Bradford and take over Meade Publications, especially MODE.

Currently she is hiding out in Long Island so Wilhelmina won't get to her, and she seems to have the upper hand by knowing her way through the Meade Building, as well as having people helping her elude the authorities. She also is aware of Wilhelmina's attempts to keep her from reaching Bradford, and already Wil has blocked her attempts, first at Bradford's office, and at the Meade Black & White Ball, where Bradford told Claire that their marriage was over when she murdered Fey after Wil announced to the audience that the wedding was back on after Bradford wanted to postphone it.