Lois Griffin is a cartoon character on the TV show Family Guy, by Seth MacFarlane. Lois is voiced by Alex Borstein.
Born into the wealthy Pewterschmidt family, Lois gave up her inheritance in order to marry Peter Griffin, whom she met while he was a towel boy at her family's country club. Lois fell in love with Peter because she found his lower-class, easy-going silliness more appealing than the stuffy, uptight suitors in her wealthy social circle. As a teenager, Lois was crowned Miss Teen Rhode Island and wanted to pursue a modelling career, but didn't because her father thought that was beneath the dignity of the family.
Before meeting Peter, Lois had several relationships with other men. The following were her stated relationships, revealed over the course of the series: J. Geils, the "pyro guy" from the band Whitesnake and Chaim Witz (aka Gene Simmons of KISS), a fact of which Peter was very proud when he learned of it in the episode The Road to Europe. Lois was also known to the members of KISS as "Loose Lois". She also had an apparent relationship with an unseen man named Stan Thompson, who is allegedly Meg's real father. There is also an indication that Peter may not be Stewie's father either; in the direct-to-DVD Family Guy movie (Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story), the plot revolves around Stewie's search for his "real" father.
Lois teaches piano in order to supplement the family's income, though spends most of her time caring for her family. Her first son, Chris, was unusually heavy at birth (there is a newspaper clipping on the refrigerator with a picture of Lois in a hospital bed looking extremely haggard and holding Chris; the caption reads "Elephant Child Born to Local Woman"), while her youngest son Stewie is intent on killing her, though she seems oblivious to this.
As such, she engages in the lengthiest actual conversations with her daughter Meg, giving advice and so forth.
There is a curious duality to Lois' personality. She can be vacuous at times, and seems to come across as what many modern Americans would (perhaps erroneously) term a "typical mother". However, this is in strong contrast to her other role in the series as a firebrand, and a strong woman who is exceedingly capable. This duality is best expressed in the character's own words: "I'm like one of those bald eagles you see at the zoo. Beautiful to look at, but mess with one of my chicks and I'll use my razor sharp talons to claw your fuckin' eyes out! Cookies are ready!" (The actual swear word in that sentence was obscured by the oven buzzing to indicate the cookies were done). In "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas", she has a nervous breakdown when just everything goes wrong, throws a destructive tantrum, and has to be subdued with a tranq.
Lois has some unexpected talents. She can calculate the street value of confiscated drugs with ease ("The Thin White Line"), and is a skilled lounge singer.
Lois' morals can seem questionable at times. In addition to being a long-time counterfeiter (making 10-dollar bills), she also went through a brief addiction to shoplifting ("Breaking Out is Hard to Do"). More on her questionable morality can be seen in some quotes of hers, on wikiquote. [1].
Lois was raised Protestant, for which Peter's staunch Catholic father, Francis, despises her; on their wedding day, Francis spray-painted "To a Protestant Whore" underneath the "Just Married" sign on the back of their car. She and Peter presumably raise their children in the Church, but Francis still hates her.
A strange backstory (probably intended as a joke) for Lois is shown in the episode Lethal Weapons. A flashback shows her as a circus show freak chanting "Me likey bouncey!" pictured as a "cavegirl" in a purple leopard-skin toga-style garment on a trampoline. There was no attempt to mesh that backstory with the wealthy Pewterschmidt backstory, nor was it ever mentioned in any subsequent episode.
When Lois appeared on Diane Simmons's talk show, an onscreen title described her as "Probably more of a bitch than she lets on." (To which Lois responds, "Oh, go f**k yourself, Diane.")
In Season 4, it was revealed that what Lois didn't realize was that she had acquired a tumor in her brain while repressing the feelings and thoughts of what kind of man she married, especially one with mental retardation. She puts up with his childish stupidity and hides how she TRULY feels about him, but at a hidden price.
Trivia
- In the original pilot pitch for FOX, Lois was blonde rather than redheaded.
- The second season episode Lethal Weapons suggests that Lois is going to randomly explode when she turns 50 because when Stewie was in her uterus he planted a bomb. Stewie said "my first act of violence was that ticking time-bomb I left in your uterus. Happy 50th birthday Lois!" (Dialogue from other episodes seems to indicate Lois is 40 years old as of Season 3).
- Lois wanted to go to her school dance as a teenager, but couldn't because she and her date were kidnapped for ransom. Her father refused to pay when talking to her on the phone and oblivious to her pleas, hangs up and go's back to his newspaper telling his wife "She'll be fine" (and she was, because she lived to marry Peter)