Blanche Devereaux - Children and Grandchildren

Children and Grandchildren

At various times over the course of the series, Blanche mentions six different children, including two daughters (Janet and Rebecca, both of whom appeared in the series) and four sons (three of them—Biff, Doug, and Skippy—were mentioned in the episode "Bringing Up Baby," while the fourth, Matthew, was mentioned in the episode "To Catch a Neighbor" and made an onscreen appearance on an episode of The Golden Palace, played by southern comic Bill Engvall). In the third season episode "Bringing Up Baby", when Dorothy questions an impulsive car purchase, Blanche says to her: "I have had four children, I have never had a Mercedes". This makes it possible that "Biff" or "Skippy" were nicknames for two of Blanche's sons. During the series, Blanche learns that George also had a son named David (Mark Moses), as the result of an affair.

During the course of the show, Blanche is revealed not to have been very 'hands-on' as a mother, as she frequently left her children to nannies and housekeepers. She had a strained relationship with both of her daughters, especially Janet, something that led to some of the most dramatic storylines as she expressed regrets that she wasn't there for her children more (the relationship between her four sons is never mentioned). However, Blanche slowly rebuilt her relationships with Janet and Rebecca throughout the series. By the time the series ended, both Rebecca and Janet had healed their relationships with their mother.

Blanche's daughter Rebecca was seen most often on the show, although she and Blanche had frequent falling outs and bitter fights. Prior to the show's start, they had had a falling over Rebecca's decision to drop out of school and take up modelling; then, they fought over Rebecca's verbally abusive boyfriend; later, they fought over Rebecca's decision to be artificially inseminated. They then feuded over Rebecca's choice of a "birthing center" instead of a hospital, and finally feuded again when Rebecca's believed Blanche was using her baby to "get men". In each case, they eventually made up again (something Blanche seems not to have ever done with Janet).

Blanche also has at least four grandchildren, David, Melissa, and Sarah (all born to Janet, who married a "Yankee" named Michael Blackmore), as well as Rebecca's child, Aurora.

Blanche's grandson David visited the girls, but was unhappy and rebellious, due to problems in his home life (his parents fought and ignored him). After David confided in Blanche, she told Janet that she wanted David to live with her, leading to a bitter falling out between mother and daughter. David was depicted as being 14 at the time, which would have made him born in 1971. This would have made Blanche a grandmother at 39 or 40 years old, which means that Janet likely was a teenage mother (or is the result of a continuity error).