Happy Mothers Day: The Worst Moms in TV, Movies

Mother Jefferson is the definition of an awful mother-in-law. She babies George and thinks he can do no wrong, acting like an innocent, sweet old lady when he’s around. But when it’s just her and Louise, she becomes a complete savage. As terrible as she is, her insults are an artform.

In one of her many roles as Black Hollywood’s mother, Jenifer Lewis plays Tina Turner’s mom in the classic film starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. First she leaves Tina when she’s just a child, and later she seems more concerned with how much money she can make from Tina’s rising career than her daughter’s well being.

“Descendants” follows the teenage children of famous Disney villains as they leave home and go to school with the kids of their parents’ rival heroes. Wendy Raquel Robinson is fabulously over the top as Cruella de Vil, spending most of her scenes talking to a stuffed dog.

Lynnetta a.k.a. Penny’s biological mother on Good Times, wasn’t just abusive, she was selfish and manipulative. After Penny established a nice life with Willona, she tried to come back and get custody, not for Penny’s well being, but just because she wanted it. Thank God Penny had Willona and the Evans.

Lettie Mae was the worst kind of hypocrite. Nothing Tara ever did was good enough, or righteous enough for her. Of course, she was busy sinning all over Bon Temps, but she never let that stop her from endlessly condemning her daughter to hell.

Olivia Pope thought her mother died in a plane crash, but she actually was a terrorist who caused the crash. She returned to ruin Olivia’s life by going after Fitz, who was the love of her daughter’s life.

Let’s be very clear, Scarlet Witch is the bad guy, not Wanda. She thought she was trying to save her children, but she was really just ruining the life of another universe’s Wanda. In the end, Wanda was able to overpower Scarlet Witch and be a hero one last time.

D’Angelo wanted out of the life. He was ready to move on. But, his mother manipulated him into staying, setting him on a path that would ultimately lead to his death.

Danai Gurira’s Michonne is a hero in all aspects of her life, except as a mother. I know this is controversial, but abandoning her children during the zombie apocalypse on the off chance that Rick is alive is irresponsible. Maybe the family will be reunited in the new spinoff series starring Gurira and Andrew Lincoln?

Mae never met an insult she didn’t like, proving that nobody knows how to cut you down like a church lady.

Olivia King knew she was destined to be a star. Unfortunately, being a mother wasn’t also part of that destiny and she left her family behind. Though she and her daughter were able to eventually reconcile, she can never make up for all the time she missed.

Victoria was more concerned with appearances than her daughters’ trauma. Even when they directly confronted her with it, she still didn’t want to admit what was happening.

Her children and grandchildren having superpowers isn’t good enough for Alma, and she lets them know it constantly. She’s so awful to poor Bruno, he spends his life living behind a secret wall in the house. And Mirabel is a nobody without powers. She doesn’t deserve all the forgiveness she gets.

Cersei is obviously a narcissistic psychopath, but she did love her children. The problem is she loved them too much. When Tommen starts listening to his wife, Margaery, and the High Sparrow instead of her, she arranges to BLOW UP EVERYONE! Seems like a bit of an overreaction.

Do you know how bad of a mother you are to be the worst on a list with Cersei Lannister and an actual evil witch? Mary blamed Precious for everything that was wrong with her life, never even pretending to care about the harm she was doing to her child. That being said, Mo’Nique earned every last bit of that Oscar.

In memory of one of our best writers at the Root, Stephanie. We miss you.