Karen Walker, Will & Grace

Karen Walker (Megan Mullally): Although Karen Walker was originally conceived as a supporting character role for the gay-focused sitcom Will & Grace, her escapades became a more prominent part of the show based on positive viewer reaction. She was a multi-millionairess thanks to her marriage to Stan Walker (an unseen character) until discovering he was actually broke.

Karen had been married four times — her first husband’s surname was St. Croix, her second was named Popeil (a reference to the American culinary businessman/entrepreneur Ron Popeil), her third was Stan Walker, married since 1995, and she was married for 20 minutes to Lyle Finster in May 2004. Although all her on-screen love interests are male, Karen frequently implied that she was attracted to other women. She was never shown in a relationship with another woman and her sexuality was used almost exclusively to make jokes about Grace. The character also implied at one point that she might be transgender but again, only as a joke.

Several lines of dialogue implied that Karen was bisexual:

She occasionally had semi-sexual encounters with Grace (mostly kissing and touching) at work. In one episode, Karen said, in reference to Grace, “I woke up with red hair on my pillow and lesbian porn in the VCR.”

She also mentioned a relationship with the openly lesbian Navratilova (who was apparently straight before they met).

Karen was once mocked by a roommate for her “weird bisexual vibe.”

In a sixth-season episode, Karen said to a lesbian realtor (played by Edie Falco), “Stay back, bulldozer, I’m engaged.” To this, the realtor replied, “You were last time, too.”

Karen also made many passes at Diane, the only woman Will ever slept with. She even went so far as to walk up to Diane and say, “I like you…want to make-out?”.

In an episode when Karen and Grace were on their way back to New York from Vermont, they were holding hands after an emotional moment, and then Karen starts to caress her breasts with Grace’s hand. When Grace pulled her hand away, Karen responded with “Sorry, something about Vermont.” (Vermont was the first state to recognize civil unions.)

Another episode hinted that she has a lesbian experience with Candice Bergen once. She repeatedly alluded to lesbian experiences while she was a student at Sarah Lawrence College. She had also been seen flirting with her maid Rosario, and suggested that they get together, to which Rosario responded, “Lady, quit trying to unhook my bra.” In the final episode, Grace had a fantasy dream in which Karen and Rosario were married.

In one episode, Karen said to Grace: “Okay, now let’s put on some music and get those tops off.” Grace replied: “Karen, you do know it’s not that kind of girls’ night,” and Karen answered suggestively: “We’ll see.”

Appearances:

• 188 episodes.

No female love interests

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

Male love interests:

• Stan Walker (ex-husband, off-screen)
• Lionel Banks (Rip Torn, guest, 3 episodes)
• Lyle Finster (John Cleese, guest, 6 episodes, her husband for 20 min)
• Malcolm (Alec Baldwin, guest, 6 episodes)
• Scott Woolley (Jeff Goldblum, guest, 3 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a man: Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Male (Guest)

Storyline during sweeps? Yes, multiple kisses with women (like Grace) just for jokes

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.