Bette Porter
| Bette Porter | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Pilot (episode 1.01) |
| Last appearance | Last Word (episode 6.08) |
| Created by | Ilene Chaiken |
| Portrayed by | Jennifer Beals |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation |
Director, California Arts Center (1.01 - 2.13) Unemployed (3.01 - 3.12) Dean of School of Arts, California University (4.01 - 6.03) Co-Owner & Partner, Wentworth-Porter Art Gallery (6.04 - 6.08) |
| Family |
Melvin Porter (father) Kit Porter (half-sister) Angelica Porter-Kennard (daughter) David Waters (nephew) |
| Spouse(s) | Tina Kennard |
| Significant other(s) | Jodi Lerner (ex-girlfriend) |
| Children | Angelica Porter-Kennard (daughter) |
Bette Porter is a fictional character on the Showtime television network series The L Word, played by Jennifer Beals. She was ranked No. 10 in AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters.
Bette is introduced as an affluent, Ivy League-educated lesbian of African-American and Caucasian heritage. She grew up in Philadelphia and was an art history major at Yale, where she had sex with a gay man (Coleman) who at the time was her boyfriend, but she realized she had no interest in men through her crush on her art history professor named Danica Palmer (Lifesize: 306). Eventually, she came out as a lesbian.
Also while in Yale as a graduate student, Bette befriended heterosexual undergrad Kelly. Bette soon became romantically obsessed with her, and when Kelly rejected her advances, as observed later by Bette's half-sister Kit, Bette grew depressed to the brink of suicide. After graduation, Bette would move on and lose touch with Kelly.
Before Bette met Tina Kennard, she dated Alice Pieszecki for six weeks. Bette and Alice once secretly had sex while they were at the opera Lakmé (during The Flower Duet).
Tina met Bette when her then-boyfriend Eric took her to the Bette Porter Gallery. Tina found Bette to be smart, tough, incredibly beautiful, warm, and gracious. Bette noticed Tina's right earring had fallen off, and Tina supposedly put it back on.
Later that night, Tina returned to the gallery to retrieve the lost earring. Bette had kept it for her. While Tina was picking it from her hand, Bette kissed her for the first time.
Bette and Tina's relationship appears to their friends as very strong. Tina confirms to their closest friends that Bette is her "first, last, and forever" love. However, from the very beginning they seem to have problems, and even as they attempt to start a family, it is revealed that they no longer make love. Although they seem to move past this problem as the series progresses, Bette's career in the California Arts Center is shown to come between them, with Bette frequently not having time to spend with Tina.
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Wikipedia