Bree Van de Kamp

Bree Hodge
General Information
Nickname(s):	Breezy Van der Tramp
Gender:	Female
Age:	48
Hair Color:	Red
Eye Color:	Green
Occupation(s):	Entrepreneur Author Socialite Caterer
Relationships
Marital status:	Separated
Relationships:	Henry Mason – Father Mrs Mason – mother; deceased Eleanor Mason – Step-mother Rex Van de Kamp – husband; deceased Andrew Van de Kamp – Son Danielle Van de Kamp – DaughterOrson Hodge – ex-Husband Benjamin Katz - Grandson Fern Mason - Aunt Edwin Hodge - Former father-in-Law; deceased Gloria Hodge - Former Mother-in-Law Phyllis Van de Kamp - Former Mother-in-Law Leo Katz - Former Son-in-Law Alex Cominis - Former Son-in-Law
Series Information
Season(s):	S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7
First appearance:	"Pilot"
Portrayer:	Marcia Cross

	I remember the easy confidence of her smile, the gentle elegance of her hands, the refined warmth of her voice. But what I remember most about Bree was the look of fear in her eyes. Bree had started to realize her world was unraveling. And for a woman who despised loose ends, that was unacceptable.
Mary Alice Young

Biography

With her unrivalled zeal for cleanliness, upholstery, homemade pies and firearms, Bree would leave housekeeping heroine Martha Stewart feeling threatened in more ways than one. Bree is recognized for her perfectionist attitude and work ethic, which at times borders on neurosis and Obsessive–compulsive disorder. She is known for making gourmet meals and breakfast treats, including her pineapple bran muffins. She also is well-versed in regards to firearm training: she owns four guns and is a card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association (NRA).

During her time on Wisteria Lane, Bree has suffered perhaps more than any other housewife, finding her idyllic, plastic existence challenged by a series of domestic dramas and tragedies.

Early Life

Born into the wealthy conservative family of a prosecuting attorney, Bree's life was forever changed when she was a child, when her mother died in her family's driveway, after being hit by a drunk driver. To deal with the trauma, Bree closed herself off from the outside world, repressing her emotions and presenting the illusion of perfection to those who saw her. She also developed an obsession with cleanliness, which began when she washed her dead mother's blood off the driveway. Bree's father remarried shortly after his wife's death. Bree and her step-mother did not get along. Bree went on to attend college, where, in her freshman year, she met her future husband Rex Van de Kamp, while attending a campus Young Republican meeting. The two connected the moment they met, as after their meeting the two went to a diner, where they stayed up until 2:00 AM, talking about immigration and state government. At the time, Bree was involved in a serious relationship with another man but quickly ended her relationship with him in order to begin dating Rex. This caused stress between Bree and her family, who did not approve of Rex as a suitor for their daughter. Shortly thereafter, the two married, with Bree quickly becoming pregnant with the first of her two children by Rex.

Season One

In Season One, Bree is forced to take part in marriage counselling when her husband Rex asks for a divorce, and her son Andrew's rebellious behaviour leads her to cover up a hit-and-run accident to protect him. Bree eventually discovers that Rex is regularly visiting a prostitute, and leaves him, seeking companionship with local pharmacist George Williams. Hoping to restore her marriage, Bree reluctantly takes part in S&M scenarios with Rex in an attempt to satisfy him sexually. As she and Rex begin to reconcile, the conservative Bree is horrified when Andrew comes out of the closet, and her attempts to correct her son's homosexuality only succeed in alienating him further. Bree continues to confide in George about her family problems, and unknown to Bree, he begins plotting to murder Rex by replacing his heart medication. When Rex has a heart attack and the doctors discover his medication was tampered with, Rex believes Bree was the one trying to kill him and writes a note, forgiving her. He then dies of a heart attack, leaving Bree devastated.

Season Two

Bree's mother-in-law, Phyllis, visits for her son's funeral. She annoys Bree so much with her constant sniping, weeping and wailing (understandable to a point), that Bree threatens not to let her come to Rex's funeral but is persuaded to let her by Andrew. The final straw is when she discovers that Phyllis has reported her friendship with George Williams to the company who are handling Rex's life insurance policy. Bree sends Phyllis home but faces questioning by the police about whether she was responsible for meddling with Rex's medication. She is eventually cleared and gets engaged to George. He then tries to rush her into marrying him as soon as possible and even starts talking about having children. After George loses his temper with an old school friend of Bree's, she ends their relationship. He tries to blackmail her into getting back with him by telling her that he has taken a lot of pills and confesses that he killed Rex. Devastated, Bree tells him that she has called an ambulance and it will be there soon but hasn't. She sits there and watches him die but later tells Andrew this, who uses it to try and blackmail her.

Events with Rex, George and Andrew take their toll on Bree and she starts drinking heavily, only realizing she has developed a problem when she accidentally loses Lynette's children while babysitting. In denial, but wanting to stop Andrew getting his trust fund from his father early, Bree joins AA but only takes it seriously after drinking too much and passing out in a shop dressing-room. She doesn't wake up until after the shop has closed for the night and has to get her sponsor, Peter, and a security guard to let her out. She has a brief relationship with Peter but that ends when she discovers that he and Andrew have slept together in her bed. Unable to take any more, she packs Andrew's belongings and leaves them and him by the side of the road, miles from home.

Danielle, meanwhile, gets involved with Matthew Applewhite and leaves home to be with him. Unfortunately Matthew's mother, Betty Applewhite, and Bree realize that Matthew murdered an ex-girlfriend, Melanie Foster, after she started calling his brother, Caleb Applewhite names. Bree had signed herself into a psychiatric unit because she felt she needed help but they wouldn't let her leave voluntarily so she had to break out. She arrived home to find Matthew and Danielle there, wanting money, but Bree confronted him about Melanie and refused to let him leave with Danielle. He threatened to shoot her if she didn't move, but the police shot him first. Betty had called them, leaving Bree with Danielle.

Season Three

Bree is about to marry Orson Hodge after a six-month relationship, but their marriage is plagued by the belief that Orson physically abused his first wife, Alma, and murdered her. Shortly after the wedding, Andrew returns home due to Orson's intervention, and he and his mother reconcile. However, the arrival of Orson's mother, Gloria, and Alma's return, cause a rift in the family once more. When the two women successfully drug Orson for the purpose of allowing Alma to rape him, Bree intervenes and learns that Gloria was responsible for murdering Orson's mistress, Monique Poulier, in order to keep him trapped in a loveless marriage to Alma. Gloria then tries to murder Bree in the bathtub and make it look like suicide, but Orson intervenes and in defense of Bree, causes his mother to suffer a severe stroke.

Bree and Orson then go on their honeymoon. Bree returns for Gabrielle and Victor's wedding, pregnant, it would seem.

Season Four

Bree and Orson struggle to keep her fake pregnancy a secret. Phyllis, Rex’s mother, discovers Bree’s pregnancy is a hoax and tries to convince Danielle to raise the child herself to spite Bree. In the end, Danielle gives birth to a boy named Benjamin Tyson Hodge (Surname eventually changed to Katz) and agrees that Bree and Orson will raise him as their own. Bree develops a rivalry with new neighbour, Katherine Mayfair. Bree and Katherine, who share many of the same interests and personality traits, have a series of small feuds before ultimately becoming friends. After a tornado destroys Bree’s house, she, Orson and Benjamin move in temporarily with Susan Mayer. During this time, Orson inadvertently reveals that he was responsible for putting Mike in a coma. Unable to forgive Orson, Bree kicks him out and during their separation, Edie Britt comes onto Orson, beginning a feud between Edie and Bree. When Edie discovers the truth about Benjamin, she uses it to blackmail Bree. This leads to Bree telling the other housewives the truth. Towards the end of the season, Bree Van de Kamp and Katherine Mayfair begin a small catering business together. In the season finale, Katherine saves Bree’s life by telling her ex-husband Wayne her secrets. When Katherine kills Wayne, Bree rallies the other housewives around Katherine to prevent her from going to prison.

The Missing Years

In the five-year jump, Bree has now become a famous cookbook author, with her Andrew working as her assistant. She is also successfully running her catering company, with Katherine as her partner. Bree and Orson have evidently worked out their problems and are still married.

Season Five

The fifth season opens with Bree just having published her own cookbook, and successfully running the catering business. Bree has reconciled with Orson after he spent time in prison for running over Mike. A flashback sequence revealed that while Bree awaited Orson's release, Danielle returned and took Benjamin back, leaving her completely alone once again. Devastated, Bree relapsed into alcoholism but was able to overcome it once again thanks to Katherine's intervention. Bree almost always puts her career before anything else, at times alienating her friends, and irrevocably causing a rift in her marriage with Orson. There is continued hypocrisy on Bree's part throughout the series - the idea behind her book is old-fashioned values, where women cooked exceptional meals for their husbands, however the work that went into the book ironically led Orson to eat mediocre takeaways alone. Orson later begins to steal to "hurt" Bree. Orson agrees to stop his compulsive stealing, but when Bree learns that he attempted to rob an old woman (which led to Edie Britt's death), she decides she has had enough. She secretly hires Karl Mayer as her divorce lawyer. Orson discovers her plan to divorce him, and threatens to send her to prison like she did to him over a staged crime she committed. Bree agrees not to divorce him, but meanwhile shares a passionate kiss with Karl.

Season Six

In early season six, Bree is unwilling to sleep with Karl, despite her marriage being strained. Orson, however, is determined to salvage their relationship, commenting that guilt is sometimes necessary for happiness, and defending his use of blackmail so that she'll stay with him. Bree takes this motto as her own and consummates her affair with Karl.

When Julie is in hospital after being attacked, Bree worries that she will lose Susan's friendship on hearing that Susan would hypothetically no longer talk to a friend who dated Karl. However, Karl's fragility convinces Bree he needs her and she begins falling for him, acknowledging her feelings when they attend the same event and Karl brings another woman. This distracts her from her business and she only realises the extent of Katherine's instability when an event is ruined. Bree dismisses her and, after getting to know new neighbor, Angie Bolen, hires her instead. Meanwhile, Karl's romantic gestures make their affair harder to hide. Suspicious, Orson gets Angie to spy on Bree. She discovers the tryst but confronts Bree, who explains that she connects intellectually with Orson but sexually with Karl, and is worried that their relationship will only ever be physical, despite his promises to change.

Bree's fears are realised when Susan also finds out about her and Karl. They fight, but despite her initial unhappiness, Susan eventually gives them her blessing. In order to get away from Orson, Karl suggests Bree threaten him, which she does, indicating she evidence of his breaking his parole, and demands a divorce. Stunned, Orson tells Bree that he wouldn't send her to prison for fraud and goes to pack, but discovers her affair with Karl. He and Karl fight and Bree tries to intervene, but an airplane crashes into Wisteria Lane, killing Karl and paralyzing Orson. Feeling guilty, Bree insists Orson come home so she can look after him, but he is disgusted by her infidelity and takes advantage. Angry about his lack of manners and personal hygiene, Bree hoses him down, but stops when he explains how angry he is with the way his life is now. Wanting to help, Bree gets two other disabled men to visit, but Orson asks her to let him kill himself, telling her that he wants to die because no one loves him. When asked, Bree can't say the words, but seeing Orson trying to drown himself in a friend's pool brings her to her senses. She stops him by telling him how much she loves him and they finally reconcile.

A young man named Sam visits Bree, offering himself as a new assistant. Impressed by Sam's skills, Bree soon promotes him to vice-president, much to Andrew's anger. While visiting Sam's home, Bree is stunned to see a photo of Rex and Sam together. Sam admits Rex was his father - Sam was born before Rex met Bree. Sam spent years watching Bree's family, wondering why Rex chose them over him, and after his mother's death, he came to see Bree. Shocked by this, Bree welcomes Sam into her life but finds herself at odds with Andrew, who suspects Sam has an ulterior motive. Sam plots to make Bree fire Andrew, which she does, but after she reveals that she and Andrew have a love-and-hate relationship, it's likely that Andrew will return. After she tells Orson about a sabotaged dinner, suspecting Andrew, Orson says Andrew couldn't be responsible because it was well planned, making Bree suspect Sam's true intentions. She discovers that Sam's mother is still alive and reveals that Sam found a letter from Rex, offering to take full custody of him. Bree confronts Sam about his lies and he angrily smashes a vase before leaving. She apologizes to Andrew but tells him and Orson she's not firing Sam for fear of how he might react.

In the season finale, Bree does try to fire Sam, but he retaliates by revealing he knows how Andrew ran over Carlos's mother 11 years before (a drunken Danielle told him). He threatens to tell the police unless Bree turns over control of the company to him. Bree agrees to do so and then says she feels sorry for Sam for losing his chance to be part of a family and suspects no one will ever truly care for the man. Orson, who had not known what Andrew did, calls out Bree on the hypocrisy of demanding he go to jail for his hit-and-run of Mike but hiding Andrew's crime. He is appalled at Bree for this and announces he's moving out. Bree tells Andrew she now knows Orson was right and is seen about to confess to Gabrielle.

Season Seven

Bree will begin to rebuild her life after losing both her husband and her business.

Trivia

• Bree is based on creator Marc Cherry's own mother, as the entire Van de Kamp family is based on the family in which he grew up.
• There is a running gag where Bree delivers a basket of homemade muffins to someone, often to new neighbors, but concludes her gesture with informing the recipient that she will need the basket back.
• Bree is an excellent singer, unlike the rest of her family.
• Bree loves Country music.
• Bree's birthday is July 4th.
• Bree has a veneer which she has cracked on several occasions.
• Bree's natural hair color isn't red.
• Bree has been warned not to get married three times;: the first time to George Williams, by his ex-fiancé Leila; then to Orson Hodge, by his former neighbor Carolyn; and then to Karl Mayer, by his ex-wife Susan.