Random TV Characters With Shockingly Depressing Backstories (17 items)

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  (#1) Phoebe Buffay

  • Friends

  TV Show: Friends

  Phoebe Buffay's backstory is pretty crazy. Her dad abandoned her at a young age. Her mom committed suicide. Her stepdad went to prison. Not only that, but she also had to live on the streets and struggle to make ends meet by begging and pick pocketing. She never attended high school or college, she lived in a car at one point, and she got hepatitis after a pimp spat in her mouth. 

  And yet, Phoebe is the quirky and upbeat one of the six friends that make up the show. She’s kind, loyal, and loving; as opposed to her twin sister, who is anything but. We’re guessing nothing but her sunny demeanor could have gotten her through the tough times. 
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  (#2) Dr Lance Sweets

  • bones

  TV Show: Bones 

  Both Seeley Booth and Temperance "Bones" Brennan suffer from difficult childhoods on the show, but psychologist Lance Sweets has the physical scars to prove it. Before being adopted by a loving couple when he was six, Lance suffered despicable abuse. In a Season 4 episode, the whip scars on his back are shown. Probably one of the reasons he could empathize so well with Booth, who had an abusive, alcoholic father and with Brennan, who was abandoned by her parents when she was a teenager. 
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  (#3) Dean Winchester

  • Supernatural, Supernatural The Animation

  TV Show: Supernatural

  The Winchester brothers had probably one of the toughest childhoods in the history of television. After their mom dies in a fire caused by the yellow-eyed demon, their dad takes up demon-hunting and basically gives up on any effort to live a normal, monster-free life due his obsession with avenging her death.

  As a result, the brothers were always on the road, worrying about when their father would come home and having to mature quickly. While other kids were learning about life, love and whatever, they were learning about demons, werewolves, and ghosts.

  And, of course, the brothers are still going through tough times. Thank Chuck they have each other, otherwise they would probably have gone nuts a long time ago.
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  (#4) Tiffany 'Pennsatucky' Doggett

  • Orange Is the New Black

  TV Show: Orange is the New Black

  A lot of Litchfield Penitentiary's inmates have tragic backgrounds, but Pennsatucky’s is probably the saddest portrayed on the series. From a young age, she wasn't taught that that sex was pleasurable for both men and woman, and she frequently sold her body for things like a six-pack of Mountain Dew. Her mother was not the best, basically using Pennsatucky to get more money from the government. She eventually became a meth addict who shot a nurse because she made a snide comment about Pennsatucky getting her fifth abortion. Which ultimately landed her in prison.

  Honestly, going to Litchfield probably wasn’t the worst thing that could happen for a character with such a sordid past. Even with all that abuse from prison guards.
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  (#5) Ned

  • Pushing Daisies

  TV Show: Pushing Daisies

  Ned, also known as The Piemaker, is a precious snowflake of a man. This despite his unique and morbid gift. Ned can bring the dead back to life with a single touch. A gift which, on the surface, seems great. But there are two major consequences. First, if the newly revived corpse remains alive for more than 60 seconds, someone in close proximity to them will die in their stead. Second, if he touches them again, they die forever.

  What’s worse is that at a young age, Ned finds out he has this ability the hard way. When he is nine, his mom dies right next to him in the kitchen, and he is able to revive her. After a minute, the next door neighbor drops dead outside. Later that night, to his horror, when his mom kisses him good night she dies again. Afterwards, Ned's father abandons him at boarding school and Ned becomes a loner.

  In short, childhood was pretty tough for Ned. He basically just had his dog, Digby, whom Ned brought back to life after he was hit by a truck. Which meant he couldn't even cuddle or touch his own pet. A sad life indeed.
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  (#6) Alex Karev

  • Grey's Anatomy

  TV Show: Grey’s Anatomy

  Like with Game of Thrones, it’s hard to find a Grey’s character with an idyllic childhood. However, no one has suffered more than Alex Karev.

  As Alex admits at one point, he basically became an adult when he was only seven years old, at which age he had to start cleaning up after his father, a raging alcoholic. He took care of his mother, who was schizophrenic, and his siblings. He spent a long time in the foster system and even landed in juvenile detention at one point for stealing food for his family. 

  There’s no wonder Alex was a bit of a prick when the show first started. Thankfully, his character growth was more than impressive over the course of the last few years.
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  (#7) The Doctor

  • Doctor Who

  TV Show: Doctor Who

  When you live for centuries, it stands to reason that not all of those centuries will be happy times. But the Doctor’s backstory is particularly heartbreaking. On top of a horrible war, at least two genocides, and the destruction of an entire race of Time Lords leaving him to be the only one of his kind, he is forced to wander the universe alone. He gets to have companions, but by their human nature, they never last very long, choosing to go on and live lives among their own. Moreover, as a Time Lord, he travels throughout the past and future, possessing knowledge of the beginning and end of the universe. It's a lot to sit with.
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  (#8) Dexter Morgan

  • Dexter

  TV Show: Dexter

  Dexter Morgan may have grown up to be a serial killer, but it's no wonder considering the sordid sadness of his childhood. His mom was a drug addict, killed right in front of him with a chainsaw. He was separated from his biological brother as toddlers. He was fortunate to be adopted by Harry, a police officer who recognized sociopathic tendencies in his young son. Harry taught Dexter a "code" by which to live that would allow him to act on his psychopathic urges without killing innocent people or getting caught. But because of his unnatural personality and lifestyle, Dexter's life is forever plagued by death and darkness.
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  (#9) Ziva David

  • NCIS

  TV Show: NCIS

  Ziva David has always been extremely tough and that’s probably due to her upbringing. Her father was a Mossad Director who trained Ziva in combat tactics and espionage from an early age. At one point, we find out that one of Ziva’s earliest memories is being led blindfolded into a forest and left to find her way back.  

  Moreover, Ziva's best friend was killed when she was 12 and her sister died in a Hamas suicide bombing not long after. Ziva joins Mossad as soon as she is eligible, wanting to revenge her death. All in all, it’s pretty clear that Ziva has seen and done a lot of horrendous things before joining the NCIS team.
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  (#10) Lord Varys

  • Game of Thrones

  TV Show: Game of Thrones

  OK, so absolutely no one in the Game of Thrones universe has it easy. Tyrion’s childhood was garbage. Daenerys grew up in the shadow of her douche of a brother. Arya and Sansa saw Ilyn Payne execute their father. And Hodor… well, the pain is still too fresh to discuss his life and childhood and where they landed him.

  And yet, of all the characters, Varys seems to have suffered the most in his troubled past. First off, he was born a slave, which is bad enough. But then he was sold to a sorcerer who drugged and emasculated him only to use his sexual organs in a magic ritual. The sorcerer then threw Varys in the streets to die.

  But The Spider wasn’t going to give up so easily. He decided to do anything to survive, so he started begging and, later, pick-pocketing. He became a master spy and worked his way up in the world. Despite Melisandre's warning that he would die in Westeros, we hope Varys sticks it out until the bitter end of the show.
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  (#11) John Locke

  • Lost

  TV Show: Lost

  One of the most interesting characters on Lost, Locke was never an open book, but we did get to learn plenty about him during the show’s run. And some of it was even heartwarming. He was born to a teenage mom who abandoned him, which landed him in the foster system. He was bullied because of his love of science. Later in life, he donated a kidney to his father, only to find out that it was all a scam. This same father later pushed him out a window, causing paralysis and the loss of use of his legs.

  Crashlanding on the island wasn't too bad of a deal for Locke, who not only regained his ability to walk, but due to the island's mysterious abilities, got a second chance at paying his dad back. 
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  (#12) Perry Cox

  • Scrubs

  TV Show: Scrubs

  Ever wondered why Dr. Cox was so mean to JD? Probably because he's the product of a rough upbringing. He alludes to his father’s abusive and drunken antics more than once during the course of the show. Furthermore, when his sister comes to visit he admits that it’s tough for him to have a relationship with her, since she reminds him some much of his horrible childhood.
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  (#13) Logan Echolls

  • Veronica Mars

  TV Show: Veronica Mars

  If asked to name the most loathsome character in Veronica Mars, it's difficult to choose between Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas and Aaron Echolls? It may just be a tie. One was Logan Echolls's father, the other his friend.

  Logan, despite growing up in luxury as a privileged 09er, had a horrible home life. His father used to whip him with a belt while his mother took too many pills, probably to cope with having children she never wanted. Aaron also used to burn Logan with his cigarettes and broke his nose at one point.  Later, Aaron sleeps with Lilly, Logan’s girlfriend, and then kills her and covers it up. No wonder Logan grew up to be the most morally confusing anti-hero of the show.
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  (#14) Kimmy Schmidt

  • Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

  TV Show: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

  If you were locked in a bunker for a very long time, would you still be able to maintain your optimism? Kimmy does. She was kept underground for 15 years - since the age of 14 - by Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne and brainwashed into believing it was the apocalypse. And yet, upon her release, she refuses to be a victim and embraces life with everything it has to offer. We could all take a page from her book.
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  (#15) Peter Bishop

  • Fringe

  TV Show: Fringe

  Peter is a pretty cool character. He’s incredibly smart, he knows how to handle himself in tough situations, and his witty remarks are always a breath of fresh air. No one would guess that his childhood was far from ideal.

  Without spoiling too much, let's just say Peter's father, Walter Bishop, wasn't a great father for a number of reasons, one of them a huge plot point of the show. This leads to Peter not connecting well with his parents and to his mother committing suicide out of guilt. Walter ends up in an insane asylum, an eccentric genius-type, and later Peter is forced to basically babysit him while he helps solve the problems of multiple dimensional worlds. 

  Somehow Peter manages to be the warmest and most likeable character of the show despite having some serious mommy and daddy issues.
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  (#16) Don Draper

  • Mad Men

  TV Show: Mad Men

  For all his faults, Don Draper grew up to be rather successful. And all despite an unfortunate upbringing. Don's real name is Richard "Dick" Whitman and he is the illegitimate child of a prostitute who died during childbirth. He lived with his father, a drunk, and his wife. His dad died when Dick was 10 and his stepmother never allowed him to forget that he was a whore's child. His early years were unhappy, to say the least, and its no wonder that Dick Whitman would go on to steal another man's identity to give himself a chance at a different life.
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  (#17) Jared Dunn

  • Silicon Valley

  TV Show: Silicon Valley

  Jared is probably the sweetest of the Silicon Valley group, but he’s also the one with the darkest past. While any mention of his twisted background is usually via offhanded remarks, they’re typically passed over by the guys as awkward jokes. Although Jared never really opens up about his dark years in any sort of expository way, the little we know about him would make anyone want to give him a warm and cuddly embrace.

  According to information from the show, and from Zach Woods’s interviews, Jared’s childhood involved a lot of dealing with Child Protective Services. His dad abandoned him and his family for a militia in the Ozarks, and his relationship with his relatives and foster guardians was marked with abuse and neglect. Moreover, Jared was bullied all throughout his school years. At one point, he admits that his best friend growing up was a stuffed animal made out of a Ziploc bag, old newspaper, and a marker.

  And yet, while it’s clear that his early years were in no way ideal, Jared managed to build a career that would make any millennial proud. He seems to have conquered his demons, to the point where he's even able to mention his past abuse to his co-workers, albeit in haunted tones. Good for him. 

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