Marc St. James - Personal Life

Personal Life

References to Marc's sexuality are coy in the first season. He behaves in a stereotypically flamboyant manner and makes puns and witty jokes on suggestive terms like "flaming" and "out." Before coming out to his mother, he long claimed to have a girlfriend who lives in Canada.a Marc also mentions having used Amanda as a beard for two years when with his family.

When Marc's mother, played by Patti LuPone, comes to visit, Marc uses Betty as a fake girlfriend to cover up his sexuality and they have dinner at Betty's house. However, when she calls Betty's effeminate nephew Justin "swishy", Marc defends the boy and tacitly reveals his own "swishness" and homosexuality. Scandalized, she leaves for home.b and while a little sad at first over his Mother's rejection of his sexual orientation he nonetheless is also happy that he can live his life on his own terms now.

In Season Two, Marc begins dating Cliff, a photographer whose scruffy and overweight appearance is at once charming and distressing to the fashion-conscious Marc. Their relationship gets off to a rocky start when Marc doesn't recognize Cliff's invitation to a movie and dinner as a date. Subsequently, Marc has to overcome his embarrassment of Cliff, which he does after Cliff dumps him. The pair's first public date is Wilhelmina's wedding to Bradford Meade. They got engaged but after Marc cheated on Cliff, they broke it off.

Marc has brief though recurring run-ins with Justin. In the first season, Marc advises the fashion-conscious Justin to "Be who you are, wear what you want. Just learn how to run real fast." Marc also mentors Justin while he interns at MODE in Season Two.

Marc's best friend is Amanda. The two share spiteful fun in teasing Betty (and others). Marc supported Amanda during her secret relationship with a straight designer who publicly pretended to be gay to help his career in the fashion industry. Marc supports Amanda in her various personal issues, including her discovery Fey Sommers is her birth mother, the search for her birth father, and Amanda's capitalization on the 15 minutes of fame that being Fey's love child gives her. Despite their frequent participation in mean-spirited antics, Marc and Amanda sometimes encourage each other to act morally. For example, Marc encourages Amanda to hand over the letters and perfume for presentation at Claire Meade's murder trial, evidence resulting in Claire's exoneration.

Marc's relationship with Betty is largely adversarial, and he frequently insults and humiliates her, often with the help of Amanda. As time passes however, and their professional positions become more aligned, their relationship develops into a simultaneous rivalry and camaraderie. When Wilhelmina temporarily becomes Editor-in-Chief of MODE, she spitefully lures Betty (who had left with Daniel) away from Daniel and back to MODE. However, when Wilhelmina begins to see potential in Betty, Marc felt betrayed and gives Betty a sack full of letters to shred. It initially appears he is demeaning Betty, but Betty learns the letters are Daniel's previously unseen fan mail. Their discovery results in Wilhelmina's demotion to Creative Director and Daniel's reinstatement as Editor-in-Chief at MODE -- and Betty's reinstatement as his assistant. Marc admitted to Betty he was motivated to show her the letters out of jealousy.

After completing the YETI program alongside Betty in season 3, Marc and Betty find themselves vying for the only available editor space at MODE. Ultimately, the choice is left up to Wilhelmina and Daniel, who flip a coin. In the season 3 finale, the coin favors Betty, and having lost the editor's position, Marc is last seen being consoled by Amanda, his dreams temporarily dashed. But he becomes the Junior Fashion Editor now when he gets the promotion from Wilhelmina.

In the final episode it is implied that the new Editor in Chief of Mode Wilhelmina has made Marc the new Creative Director.