Claudia Joy Holden

Claudia Joy Holden
Army Wives character
Claudia Joy Holden as portrayed by Kim Delaney
First appearance	"A Tribe is Born" (episode 1.01)
Last appearance	"Onward" (episode 6.23)
Created by	Katherine Fugate
Portrayed by	Kim Delaney
Information
Full name	Claudia Joy Meade (birth name) Claudia Joy Holden (married name)
Nickname(s)	CJ
Gender	Female
Occupation	Associate attorney
Spouse(s)	Michael Holden (husband; 2 children)
Children	Amanda Holden (daughter, with Michael; deceased) Emmalin Holden (daughter, with Michael)
Relatives	Sara Elizabeth Burton (goddaughter, via Roland and Joan) Molly Victoria Sherwood (goddaughter, via Frank and Denise)

Claudia Joy Holden (née Meade) is a fictional character on the Lifetime television series Army Wives, portrayed by Kim Delaney.

Claudia Joy is the daughter of Randall, a judge, and Shirley Meade. The Meades are implied to be from an upper-class New England background.

In Season 2 Shirley comes down to Fort Marshall at short notice. It emerged that Randall had a gambling and spending problem, to the point where Shirley even began to consider looking for a job to pay off the creditors. Shirley had attempted the highlight the problem but her husband was in denial of it. Despite Randall's repeated futile claims to have stopped Shirley decides to leave him and considered divorcing him. At dinner at the officer's club he offers to pay for dinner but instead left the tab in Michael's name. Claudia Joy, being her "father's daughter", refuses to believe her mother or Michael that her father had a problem. It was not until Randall asked Emmalin to borrow money from her college fund which he had started for her that Claudia Joy realized the seriousness of her father's addiction.

She was a political science major and studied law at Harvard University and, according to a former classmate, was an exceptional student. She later admitted that she studied law only because she was pressured into it due to her father's profession and never really enjoyed it during her college years despite her excellent grades. While in college she was known as "CJ" but since then she is usually addressed by her full name, even by her closest friends. During her third year she fell asleep at the wheel while driving home and fatally hit a pedestrian. No charges were filed but she decided to drop out without completing her studies or a bachelor's degree. At this time she met Michael Holden, who had recently graduated from West Point. They married and she never returned to complete her degree. When the show first premiered it is stated that they have been married for seventeen years. The couple have two daughters: Amanda Joy (born 1990) and Emmalin Jane (born 1992 or 1993). Amanda was killed in the Hump Bar bombing in the Season 1 finale.

The Holdens are close family friends of the Sherwoods; Claudia Joy and Denise are best friends, as are their children. They have known each other for many years through Michael and Frank, who were both concurrently stationed at Fort Carson and Fort Bliss.