Lily Aldrin - Biography

Biography

Lily grew up in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York. Of Swedish descent, she is the granddaughter of a woman named Lois and the daughter of Janice Aldrin, whom Lily describes as a feminist. The creators stated in commentary that there is no evidence to the contrary that Lily's grandfather is astronaut Buzz Aldrin - and like Buzz Aldrin, her grandfather is said to have fought in the Korean War. Her father is revealed to be a man named Mickey, an unsuccessful board game creator living in his parents' basement. Janice and Mickey divorced when Lily was younger.

During her high school and college years, she is shown to have been a part of the goth subculture, with her hair dyed black. Lily dated a guy named Scooter, admitting she only dated him because he looked like Kurt Cobain. She met Marshall during her freshman year at Wesleyan University in 1996 and dated him throughout college.

As of the episode, "Say Cheese", aired on March 22, 2010, Lily is 32 years old. According to her Curriculum vitae, which is shown in "The Possimpible", she is "Fluent in Italian, Certified in Teaching English as a Second Language, Proficient in Photoshop, Quark, Java".

Lily is often portrayed to be the most morally-inclined member of the five-some. She is rarely impressed by Barney's antics, shows a consistent dislike for people not being true to themselves (when Marshall took the "soul-destroying" corporate job) and is often horrified by the use of bad language (especially when directed at her). Despite this, she is prone to outbursts related to sexual language or harsh slang words (an example of this being when she told Ted he did not kiss Robin because he "chickened out like a little bitch" in the pilot episode). Of the couple, Lily is the impulsive one (and is terrible at keeping secrets); Marshall is often required to be the voice of reason. Lily also appears to have a talent for subtle and covert operations among her group of friends when she feels something has to be done, as revealed in "The Front Porch". Barney has even described her as a "manipulative puppet master" and "pure evil". She is often curious about trying out new things. She finds it easy to sustain platonic friendships with both men and women, although she is usually found in the company of men (Ted, Marshall, Barney). She is also prone to a reaction at certain words; "moist" makes her shiver, while "sack" and "booger" make her laugh.

Lily frequently states her need for regular sex, saying that if she went without it for too long she'd be "out there selling it for a nickel". Even though Marshall normally gets very nervous about encounters with women besides Lily and thinks about the consequence, Lily normally shrugs them off, such as getting excited that Marshall spotted a stripper who looked very identical to her while secretly attending a strip club with Barney. Also, in "Jenkins", when Marshall is nervous about Lily meeting Jenkins, an attractive female co-worker of Marshall's, after meeting her she casually asks Marshall if he wants to go get something to eat. Later in the episode, however, Lily attacks Jenkins after hearing that she kissed Marshall.

Lily has confessed several times, albeit as an aside or in a joking fashion, that she finds her best friend, Robin, sexually attractive. In fact, when Lily laments that her relationship with Marshall meant that she never had a "college lesbian experience" in Season 1, Robin kisses her in "Best Prom Ever". In "The Scorpion and the Toad" Lily states that Robin has a "great ass". In the season 4 episode "Do I Know You?", Lily confesses to Barney about not being able to pretend she has not noticed Robin's body. In the Season 5 episode "Robin 101", Lily states that Robin has been the subject of some sexually "confusing dreams". In the Season 6 episode "Hopeless" Lily's slip of the tongue suggests that she has a secret crush on actress Mila Kunis. In "The Perfect Cocktail," it is revealed that drinking martinis causes Lily's bisexual tendencies to emerge, and, as we see through a flashback, she drunkenly attempts to coax the guys into daring her and Robin to make out. In the Season 7 episode "The Broath", Lily inadvertently reveals that, at one point, she had even tried to convince Marshall that they should engage in a threesome with Robin (aspiring a shocked "what?" from Robin). Later in the episode, during Barney's "Broath", he commands for Lily and Robin to kiss, something that Lily is more than willing to do, and attempts to keep kissing Robin for a longer time than required. In the Season 8 episode "Lobster Crawl", Lily helps Robin to seduce Barney by suggesting she "gets freaky" with another girl, but is disappointed when Robin does so with another friend instead of Lily. Well aware of Lily's sexual attraction to her, Robin tends to alternate between ignoring Lily's feelings, and being creeped out by them (in "The Perfect Cocktail, when Lily suggests they get Marshall and Barney drunk off martinis, Robin immediately cuts her off "Absolutely not. I'm not going anywhere near you and a martini" then revealed Lilys drunken attempt to make out with her "every time".)