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.
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 White Snake 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".
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 Megan, 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 claw your f____in' eyes out!"
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. This can be seen in some quotes of hers, on wikiquote. [1].
A strange backstory 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. This type of bizarre throw-away gag was common for the series.
Trivia
- In the original pilot pitch for FOX, Lois was blonde rather than redheaded.
