Parenting

10 Worse Moms to Remember When You're Mad at Your Own

by Jessica Hicks
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

WARNING: Some entries may contain spoilers! However, some of these spoilers are over 20 years old so really you should have already seen them.

10. Mrs. Robinson (The Graduate)

Mrs. Robinson essentially invented what it meant to be a cougar, and she did in the most vindictive and evil way. As if seducing her friend’s son wasn’t bad enough, she attempts to thwart his intentions of marrying her daughter after calling off their affair.

Of course Mrs. Robinson isn’t completely to blame. Dustin Hoffman could have said no. But telling her daughter that he forced himself on her in an attempt to stop them from getting married is pretty downright evil.

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9. Mrs. Voorhees (Friday the 13th)

Most people are going to automatically think of this woman when it comes to this kind of list. She murders a slew of camp kids because of a grudge she holds against something that happened 30-odd years before.

I put her so high up on the list, though, because no one loves her giant, deformed, murdering son more than this woman!

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8. Gillian Darmody (Boardwalk Empire)

Poor little Jimmy Darmody never stood a chance! Gillian is such a troubled character that she really never had a choice but to be horrible. She was a mother at 13, and from then on had a severe alcohol and man problem.

What make this woman so despicable is what she did to her son, Jimmy. Throughout the show, we always got a weird sense that something wasn’t right with them. Mama Darmody was just a little too affectionate towards her son. We find out that the reason Jimmy joined the army was to get away from his mother, who seduced him one night in college. When he woke up the next morning, he was so disgusted that he did the only thing that could get him as far away from her as possible. Oh, and why did she seduce her own son? To keep him away from his girlfriend!

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7. Nancy Botwin (Weeds)

Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. This woman is quite possibly the most infuriating mother on my entire list. She could have gotten out of trouble so many times, but she just kept going! For those of you who don’t know her background, let me enlighten you. When her husband drops dead (quite literally) while out running with her youngest son, she realizes she has to do something to make money. So she decides to get into the drug peddling business! Because that is totally what a rational woman would do in her situation…

On the one hand, I love Nancy. She is funny and really loves her kids, despite her choices. On the other hand, I want to slap her until she comes to her senses. The amount of shit she gets into is insane! Not to mention how her children turn out in later seasons. Just…why? Why, Nancy?!

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6. Norma Bates (Psycho/Bates Motel)

Another one of the more popular moms on my list is Norma Bates. According to her original portrayal, she was overbearing, spiteful and downright abusive. In her current portrayal, she is still all of these things, but she does have somewhat of a redeeming side.

Actually…nah. She commits murder and has her son help her cover it up. The woman is clearly unstable, and though she loves her son, she loves herself more.

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5. Betty Draper-Francis (Mad Men)

When I first started watching Mad Men, I felt truly sad for Betty, what with her mother’s death, her philandering husband and her fading career. That was until the second season rolled around and she started taking all of her troubles out on her children. She constantly screams at her son because he “annoys” her, and she keeps her daughter under a magnifying glass.

My theory on Betty is that she was deeply scarred during her childhood, but her neglect and abuse is just too much. Not to mention she is a prissy bitch sometimes and thinks she is the best thing ever to walk the earth. Any time she is onscreen I want smack her.

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Side note: January Jones is a very nice lady and I mean her no disrespect.

4. Lettie Mae (True Blood)

Tara is almost my least favorite character on True Blood, but not quite. No, that honor goes to Tara’s mother, Lettie Mae. This woman is beyond sympathy. Her alcohol abuse paired with her fundamentalist preaching is enough to drive anyone insane.

Even after her daughter helps her through her alcoholism, she is nothing but judgmental towards her. The woman is so self-absorbed that it’s all I can do not to throw something at my screen when she appears.

3. Cersei Lannister (Game of Thrones)

Except for Tyrion, the Lannisters are all pretty much awful people. Cersei, in my opinion, is the worst of them, next to her son. She is a special kind of evil: Where her father and brother are straight-up ruthless, she is conniving. She pretends to be your friend and then turns on you in a second.

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2. Joan Crawford (Mommie Dearest)

All right, so Ms. Crawford was an actual person, but her biopic shed some light on her. Crawford was essentially Betty Draper and Norma Bates merged together in one giant ball of crazy. She was abusive, impossible, and downright hateful to almost everyone in her life. Lucky for her, she was an amazing actress.

Mommie Dearest showed everyone the side they had been missing. Of course, there were stories from other people in the businessof her demanding behavior on set, but nothing could prepare for what Mommie Dearest revealed. The infamous wire hanger scene will live on forever and continually make me glad I always put my clothes in the dresser.

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1. Margaret White (Carrie)

All of these moms are pretty awful, but Margaret White has to be the worst of them all. She was a horrid woman who damned her child to a horrible life from day one. Carrie never stood a chance, what with her devout mother standing in the way all the time. She was forced to dress plainly, unable to make friends because her mother thought they were all sinners, and unable to talk to her mother about being bullied because she would have just been blamed.

Margaret also repeatedly locked her child in a closet with one of the creepiest crucifixes on the planet and left her for hours. And let’s not forget when Carrie got home from the worst prom in the history of proms, she flipping stabbed her! So yes, Margaret White is the worst mom in cinema/TV/maybe ever.

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