Edie Britt

Edie Britt
Desperate Housewives character
File:Edie britt 2006.jpg Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt
Portrayed by	Nicollette Sheridan
First appearance	Pilot (episode 1.01)
Created by	Marc Cherry
In-universe information Other names Edie McLain (former first married name) Edie Roswell (former second married name) Edie Williams (current married name) Occupation real-estate agent Parents Ilene Britt (mother; deceased) Mr. Britt (father; deceased) Mrs. Britt (step-mother) Siblings Helen (sister) Unamed step-sister Spouse Charles McLain (ex-husband) Alberto Roswell (ex-husband) Dave Williams (husband) Children Travers McLain (son) Other relatives Austin McCann (nephew) Benjamin Katz (great-nephew)

Edie Williams (née Britt, previously Roswell and McClain) is a fictional character on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives, portrayed by Nicollette Sheridan. The character lives on the fictional Wisteria Lane, was a realtor and is a serial divorcée who has had many relationships throughout the show's duration, most notably with Karl Mayer (Richard Burgi), Mike Delfino (James Denton) and Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira), the ex-husbands of lead characters Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) and Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria Parker) respectively. Edie was promoted to the show's fifth female lead during its third season due to the absence of Marcia Cross (Bree Van de Kamp) on maternity leave.

Development

Series creator Marc Cherry states that the character of Edie is partially based on Kathy Baker's character Joyce in Edward Scissorhands. In the pilot, Edie brings ambrosia to Mike's house, which is the same thing Baker's character Joyce makes in the film. The tie-in book Desperate Housewives: Behind Closed Doors reveals that Edie's name was originally Evie McCall. Actress Nicollette Sheridan originally auditioned for the role of Bree Van de Kamp, however Cherry felt she was unsuited for the role, and instead asked her to read Edie's part. Due to Marcia Cross taking maternity leave, Bree was written out of seven episodes of the show's third season, during which time Edie received notably more screen time and exposure than usual, in order to maintain the established format of having four prominent storylines running concurrently.

Storylines

Edie is introduced as a serial divorcée, with two marriages behind her at the beginning of the show. It is explained by her only friend Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook) that she has a son, although he does not appear in the show until its third season. Both Edie and Susan Mayer are attracted to new neighbor Mike Delfino (James Denton), creating tension between the two which culminates in Susan accidentally burning Edie's house down. Edie is upset when Martha is murdered, and proves to be the only Wisteria Lane resident who wishes to give her a proper burial. Susan, aware that Martha knew she had started the fire and recorded the incident in her diary, admits the truth to Edie, who uses Susan's guilt as a way to join the housewives' poker group. Edie is upset when Susan and Mike move in together. Edie goes on to date Susan's ex-husband Karl, increasing the tension between the two of them, but growing closer to Susan's teenage daughter Julie (Andrea Bowen).

In the show's second season, Karl cheats on Edie with Susan. Karl later re-marries Susan for health insurance purposes. Edie had initially believed that Karl intended to marry her, having discovered a ring and a prenuptial agreement in his belongings. Karl proposes to Edie, but she finds out he's already married to Susan and is furious. Edie makes Susan bartend at her and Karl's engagement party, trying to punish Susan. Karl eventually breaks up with Edie and tries to get Susan back, but she's still in love with Mike. Edie then finds out that Susan slept with Karl when they were together and retaliates by burning Susan's house down. Susan attempts to extract a confession from Edie whilst wearing a wire, but when Edie realizes this, the two fight, and Edie is badly stung by yellowjackets. Susan feels guilty when Edie is hospitalized, and declines to turn her confession over to the police, sparing Edie prison. Susan and Mike then plan on getting married, but Mike is hit by a car in the second season's finale.

Edie is with Mike when he wakes up from his coma. He doesn't remember anything so Edie manipulates him into thinking Susan never loved him and was only using him. Susan comes by the hospital to give Mike flowers, but catches him having sex with Edie in the hospital bed. Edie and Mike start a relationship, but Edie breaks it off when he is arrested for murder. Edie's nephew, Austin McCann (Josh Henderson), comes to live with her. He begins a romantic relationship with Susan's daughter Julie. Susan doesn't want her daughter dating Edie's nephew, but Edie claims she can't do anything about it cause they are in love. Edie and Susan later catch Austin having sex with Bree's daughter Danielle Van de Kamp. He departs from Wisteria Lane when Danielle reveals she is pregnant with his child. Edie is also involved in a hostage situaltion this season, but makes it out all right. Edie's son Travers is introduced for the first time, having been dropped off by his father for a month-long visit. Carlos Solis develops a fondness for Travers, which Edie uses to her advantage, beginning a relationship with him. Carlos wants to keep the affair secret, which makes Edie think he's still in love with his ex-wife, Gabrielle. Edie tells Gabrielle about her and Carlos at Gabrielle and Victor's engagement party. Gabrielle is furious and wants Edie to stop seeing Carlos, but she refuses. Gabrielle tries to get her friends to freeze out Edie, but Edie makes that difficult. When Travers is collected by his father, Carlos tells Edie he doesn't love her. Edie offers to have a child if Carlos will stay with her, to which he agrees, unaware that Edie is still on the pill. When he discovers her deception, he confronts her and ends their relationship, with the season ending as Edie appears to commit suicide.

In the first episode of season 4, it transpires that Edie's suicide attempt was faked, and was merely a bid for Carlos's attention. He agrees to resume their relationship, leading Edie to discover his secret offshore bank account containing $10 million. She uses this knowledge to blackmail him, asking him to marry her, unaware that Carlos is having an affair with his ex-wife, Gabrielle. Edie goes on to announce their engagement, but discovers Carlos's betrayal when she, Carlos, Gabrielle, and Gabrielle's new husband Victor Lang (John Slattery) all suffer from crabs. Edie hires someone to spy on Carlos and Gabrielle, and manages to get pictures of the two of them kissing. She is furious to discover Carlos has emptied and closed his off-shore account, and turns over the pictures to Victor, knowing he will exact revenge. A tornado is about to hit Wisteria Lane and Carlos and Gabrielle plan on disappearing. Edie then gets her hands on a folder, giving her access to Carlos's offshore bank account. Gabrielle and Edie fight over the folder, but lose the papers in the tornado. They are forced to take shelter together in Edie's crawl space and are able to put aside their differences for awhile. Carlos is blinded in the tornado. Edie finds out Carlos gave her fake jewelry when they were together and gets back at him by telling Gabrielle that Carlos's blindness is permanent, when she thought he was only temporarily blinded. Edie later shares a brief drunken kiss with Bree's husband Orson Hodge (Kyle MacLachlan), and Bree sees it and gets back at her by ruining her business. Edie then finds out Bree has been faking her pregnancy and that the baby is really Austin and Danielle's. Edie threatens to tell every one about it unless Bree does exactly what she wants. Bree tells her friends about her faked pregnancy and about Edie's threats. The housewives confront Edie and force her out of Wisteria Lane.

The fifth season of Desperate Housewives is set five years on from the fourth season finale. Edie returns to Wisteria Lane with a new husband, Dave Williams (Neal McDonough), who is persistent in convincing Edie to get along better with her neighbors. He kidnaps Karen McCluskey's (Kathryn Joosten) cat after she is rude to Edie, only returning him when Karen apologizes. When Karen attempts to investigate his background, causing Edie to realize she knows very little about his past, Dave manipulates events to make it seem that Karen is going senile. Dave's doctor arrives in Fairview to confront Dave, but Dave strangles him and sets fire to the building. We later learn that Dave only married Edie to have an excuse to move to Wisteria Lane and get revenge on Mike, who turns out had been involved in a car accident that killed Dave's wife and daughter. Edie starts to notice something is off about Dave and is irritated that he doesn't show interest in her. One night she wakes up and sees Dave talking to himself. Edie wants to know why he's acting so strangely and Dave tells her he used to be married before he met Edie and that his wife died. Edie is furious he never told her about this before and throws him out of the house. In the following episode when she is locked in a basement with Susan Mayer they have a heart to heart and Susan tells Edie not to treat men like tissue and to believe in happily ever afters. After they are freed she goes to Dave and tells him to move back in. Her realty name has changed to Edie Williams realty.