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)
Last appearance	Rose's Turn (episode 5.20)
Created by	Marc Cherry
In-universe information Other names Edie McLain (first married name) Edie Roswell (second married name) Edie Williams (third married name) Occupation Former real-estate agent Parents Ilene Britt (mother; deceased) Mr. Britt (father; deceased) Mrs. Britt (step-mother) Siblings Helen (sister) Unnamed step-sister Spouse Charles McLain (ex-husband) Umberto Roswell (ex-husband) Dave Williams (widower) Children Travers McLain (son) Paige Dash (step-daughter; deceased) Other relatives Austin McCann (nephew) Benjamin Katz (great-nephew)

Edie Britt (previously Williams, McLain, Roswell) was a fictional character portrayed by Nicollette Sheridan in the American television series Desperate Housewives. The series revolves around several housewives who live on the fictional Wisteria Lane, a suburbia. Edie Britt was introduced in the premiere of the series as an adulterous housewife, who has had many relationships with other women's husbands.

When she first appeared, Edie was a realtor and a serial divorcée. She 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 fourth female lead during its third season due to the absence of Marcia Cross (Bree Hodge) on maternity leave, and after Cross's return, maintained her position as the fifth female lead. The character departed from the show during its fifth season. Edie is known to be the rival of Susan Mayer, a feat ever since the show's first season.

Edie Britt is deceased after driving into a utility pole and being electrocuted after getting out of the car.

Sheridan originally auditioned for the role of Bree Van de Kamp.

Appearances

Season 1

"Every neighborhood needs a troublemaker. Edie breezes in and causes trouble and breezes back out again. Now everywhere I go, husbands tell me they want to see more Edie."

Nicollette Sheridan

Edie is introduced in the show's first season 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 continues to hit on Mike, but he's only interested in Susan. Edie is upset when Susan and Mike move in together. Edie tries to get the women to convince Susan that Mike is bad for her, but Susan is sure he's the one. Susan later finds out her ex-husband, Karl Mayer (Richard Burgi), had cheated on her with Edie while they were married; using this knowledge, Edie goes on to date Karl, increasing the tension between the two of them.

Season 2

In the show's second season, Edie begins a relationship with Karl, Susan's ex-husband. Edie and Susan get in to many confrontations as Susan tries to get over some minor jealousy issues. Edie later discovers a wedding ring in Karl's briefcase (she doesn't know Karl is re-marrying Susan to get her health insurance) and suspects that Karl is going to propose. When Susan tells karl that Edie thinks he's going to ask her to marry him, he proposes to her. Susan's boyfriend ends up telling Edie about her and Karl's marriage and Edie gets angry at the two for lying to her. To punish Karl and Susan, Edie decides Karl will throw her a lavish wedding and Susan will be burdened with the arrangements. Edie, one morning, wakes up to Karl packing up and leaving. Before he can drive away, his car is hit by a dump truck. Edie then discovers that Karl slept with another woman and breaks the news to the other housewives. Edie is extremely upset and Susan, who feels gulty about unknowingly being the 'other woman', attempts to help her feel better. Edie begins forming a bond with Susan and this makes Susan feel even more guilty. Edie gets a confession leter from Susan by mistake and feels betrayed. She retaliates by burning down Susan's house. After discovering Edie burned down her house, 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. Edie refuses to accept Susan's pity and vows to get revenge. Susan and Mike plan on getting married, but Mike is hit by a car in the second season's finale.

Season 3

The third season begins with Edie's nephew, Austin McCann (Josh Henderson), coming to live with her. Edie is still angry at Susan and declines her attempts to rebuild a friendship. She is the first one present when Mike awakes from his coma. She learns that Mike has retrograde amnesia and doesn't remember the last two years of his life. While helping Mike fill in the blanks of his memory, Edie constructs a horrible image of Susan and leads him to believe they were never happy together. When Susan discovers that Edie is responsible for Mike's icy response to her, she accuses Edie of sabotaging her relationship to get back at her. Edie responds by telling her that she's had a thing for Mike since that day he moved in and that is why they're together. Susan comes by the hospital to give Mike flowers, but catches him having sex with Edie in the hospital bed. Edie is also involved in a hostage situation with Lynette, Julie, and Austin at a supermarket. Austin 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 because they are in love. When Mike is arrested on suspicion of murdering someone, Edie breaks up with him. She and Susan continue their verbal spars when they disagree on how to respond to Julie and Austin's relationship. Edie and Susan later catch Austin having sex with Bree's daughter, Danielle Van de Kamp. Austin departs from Wisteria Lane when Danielle reveals she is pregnant with his child. 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. Edie considers going for full custody of Travers, but Carlos convinces her not to. When Travers is collected by her father, Edie would like for Carlos to move in with her. Carlos is renting from Mrs. Simms, who is in a nursing home. Edie visits her at the home and tells her that Carlos is an alcoholic, does drugs and uses her home as a place to hook up with prostitutes. Mrs. Simms terminates the lease and Carlos is evicted. Edie offers Carlos a place to stay at her house, but he is suspicious that she was involved. Carlos tells Edie he doesn't love her. Edie, desperate to keep Carlos with her, manipulates him into staying with her by asking him to have a child with her. Carlos agrees, as he is very fond of children and wants some of his own. Edie, meanwhile, secretly continues using birth control pills. When Carlos discovers her deception, he confronts her and ends their relationship at Gabrielle's wedding reception. The season ends with a distraught Edie attempting to hang herself.

Season 4

In the first episode of the fourth season, it is revealed that Edie faked her suicide in a bid to keep Carlos with her. He agrees to resume their relationship, since he feels responsible for her actions. The resumption of their relationship leads Edie to discover his 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 a PI to spy on Carlos and Gabrielle to prove her suspicions correct, and manages to get pictures of the two of them kissing. She is furious at Carlos and attempts to get revenge by telling the IRS about his offshore account. She then discovers that Carlos has emptied and closed his offshore account, and gets even angrier. She turns the pictures over to Victor, knowing he will get revenge. Edie, still feeling vindictive, reveals to the police that Gabby is having an affair and may be responsible for her husband Victor's disappearance. She and Gabrielle are able to put aside their differences when a tornado hits Wisteria Lane, and they are forced to take shelter together in Edie's crawl space. 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 drops by to bring Carlos and Gabrielle dog food and tells Gabrielle to be more kind to Carlos since he has changed. She also warns Gabrielle to treat Carlos right because if she doesn't, there are other women who will be willing to do so. When Bree kicks Orson out, Edie lets Orson stay with her. Bree begins to feel uncomfortable with Orson living at her house and asks Edie to tell him to move into a hotel. When Edie asks why, Bree subtly tells Edie she doesn't trust her. Edie gets offended and slams the door on her face. Edie then tells Orson he can live with her as long as he likes. Edie later shares a brief drunken kiss with Orson which is seen by Bree, who is looking for Toby the cat. Bree then confronts Edie about the kiss. When Edie says it meant nothing, Bree slaps her and a full scale war erupts between them. Bree sabotages Edie's business by hounding off potential buyers. Edie visits Orson, who is now living at a hotel, to complain about Bree. When she enters the room, she discovers a piece of paper revealing Benjamin's true paternity. Edie takes this information to Bree and blackmails her to be kind to her or her secrets will be revealed. Bree, seeing no more options, tells the other housewives the truth about Benjamin and Edie's blackmail attempt. The housewives band together and force Edie to move from Wisteria Lane. On her way out, Edie calls her son, Travers, and tells him she's going to be spending a lot more time with him from now on.

Season 5

Edie returns to Wisteria Lane, five years later, a new and transformed woman. When the housewives notice the change in Edie, they resume their friendship with her. (The fifth season is set five years on from the fourth season finale.) Edie has 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 cat after she is rude to Edie, only returning him when Karen apologizes. When Karen attempts to investigate Dave's background, Edie realizes she knows very little about his past. Dave's doctor arrives in Fairview and confronts Dave at the White Horse Club, 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. They separate briefly because of his behavior, but soon reconcile. When Dave tells Edie that Eli Scruggs, the neighborhood handy man, has died, she recalls the time that when she was having marital problems with her ex-husband, Umberto Roswell. In a flashback, while feeling insecure about her appearance, Eli reassures Edie and makes her feel better. After Umberto reveals he is gay and leaves Edie, who is man-hungry and drunk, Eli is there and she cheers herself up by having sex with him. While at a liquor store, Edie observes an encounter between Dave and Father Drance. Suspicious about her husband's motives, she does a research on his past after Father Drance calls her Mrs. Dash. Determined to know more about her husband's past, Edie goes to the local newspaper for information on Dave's family, only to learn that Dave had both a wife and daughter who were killed in a car crash. Later, when she asks Dave how he feels about children, he tells her that his "friend" had a daughter he loved who died in the crash and lives his life wondering what she would've looked like and how old she would've been; he also tells her that he would never have a child as it wouldn't be worth it. Edie is still determined to know a lot more about Dave's past. Upon receiving a news article on the fateful car accident and finally learning the truth about her husband's intentions, she confronts Dave when he returns home from his camping trip. As she attempts to call Mike to warn him, she is almost strangled to death by Dave. Tearful and disorientated, Edie manages to run away and drives down the lane. She almost hits Orson as he stumbles onto the road; swerving to miss him, she hits an electric post instead. Dazed and unaware that the power line had snapped and there was water underneath the car, Edie steps out. She receives an electric shock, falls to the ground and dies a few minutes later. The housewives pay a visit to her son, Travers, to announce her death and to give him her ashes. However, Travers tells them that they were her closest friends and that they should spread the ashes wherever they see fit. Ultimately, her ashes are spread around Wisteria Lane. Edie was at peace about her death and had no regrets because she lived her life to the fullest and to her it was "a one of a kind life." In the episode following her death, Edie appears briefly as an elderly woman recalls seeing her car hit the electricity poll.