Samantha Sanders, Beverly Hills 90210

Samantha Sanders (Christine Belford)

Samantha, main character Steve’s mother, was a wealthy, veteran actress, largely famous for her television work. Many years prior to the events of the series, she married a businessman named Rush. After it was discovered that Samantha could not have children of her own, Rush had an affair with Steve’s biological mother and brought him home to Samantha to raise him as their own.

Divorced from Rush, her first romance on the show was with the chancellor of the fictitious California University, Milton Arnold, after which she was briefly connected to a fellow actor by the name of “Don”. It turned out, however, that “Don” was just a ruse covering up the fact that Samantha had started a lesbian relationship with a woman named “Julie”.

Karen, a woman identified as Samantha’s girlfriend, appeared on the show in the tenth season. She appeared in one episode during a party given by Steve, where she got into a verbal argument with Samantha’s ex-husband Rush, who was unaware of Samantha being a lesbian, much less having a girlfriend.

Appearances:

• 9 episodes.

Female love interests:

• Karen Lewis (Lisa Thornhill, lesbian, guest, 1 episode)

Relationship story arc with a woman: No

Male love interests:

• Rush Sanders (Jed Allan, husband, guest, 18 episodes)
• Milton Arnold (Nicholas Pryor, guest, 26 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a man: Yes

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Male (Guest)

Storyline during sweeps? No

[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.