Debra Barone is the abrasive wife of sports columnist Ray Barone. She lives with him and their three kids, daughter Ally and twin boys Michael and Geoffrey. To her dismay, Ray's parents Frank and Marie, live directly across the street. The role of Debra is played by actress Patricia Heaton.
Childhood and Background
Not much is known about her childhood, other than the fact that she wasn't raised properly and she grew up in an upper-class family, something that once prompts Marie to pressure her into admitting to the Barones that she thinks she is better than them and that she's spoiled. Her parents are Warren and Lois, and she has a sister, Jennifer, who became a nun.
Debra was used to dating rich, good-looking guys before meeting Ray, whom she met while he was delivering a futon to her apartment. At the time, Debra was doing PR work for the NHL hockey team the New York Rangers.
Character Development
While Debra is usually stressed throughout the series, her nagging isn't too bad early on, but gets worse in later seasons, a result of contantly putting up with Marie's obnoxious behavior and Ray's reluctance to help out more around the house.
There was a big blow out between her and Marie, which resulted in a cliffhanger for Season 6 which resolved itself in the beginning of Season 7.
And there was also one episode (The Shower) where Debra went to the local jail for operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol (although the car was only parked and she was not actually driving).
Debra's hairstyle and wardrobe constantly change as the show progressed.
Personality
Debra is the loyal and dedicated wife to her husband, Ray. She is also extremely attractive and sexy. She is sometimes overly emotional, bitter, mean, uncaring, uptight, and by some standards she is an abusive spouse. As Ray mentioned in the episode The Skit, she is a "cranky, uptight yell-machine". She is constantly at odds with Marie who often criticizes her on her cooking and housekeeping skills. She gets along with her father-in-law Frank for the most part and is a very good friend to Robert, her brother-in-law.
Relationship to other major characters
- Wife to Ray
- Sister-in-law to Robert
- Daughter-in-law to Frank and Marie
- Mother to Ally, Michael and Geoffrey
- Friends with Amy and Linda
- Sister to Jennifer
- Daughter to Warren and Lois
Epilogue
In the shows timeline, in mid 2008, Debra finds out that Ray had fathered a child with an 18 year old girl named Shaniqua, in the parking lot of a night club, in the back seat of a yellow 2005 Lamborghini Gallardo when he went out with Doug Heffernan, in the Raygn Bulls episode of the King of Queens. This causes Debra to become infuriated and realize that Ray is not ready to settle down and be an adult. She divorces him and takes the kids, all his money, the car, and only leaves him with the house, since it is across thwe street from his parents, Robert, and Amy. After this she moves into an apartment in Manhattan to settle until she finds a more permanent residence. Marie chases her down and tries to convince her to "call off the divorce", and atepts to do so by blaming her and not her son. Infuriated, Debra takes a final stand against Marie, calling her an egomaniacal housewife, with nothing better to do than talk down those she finds threatening. She then proceeds to push her out the door, and recites the phrase, "It's time to take out the trash" (referrence to when Marie did the same to Roberts first wife Joanne). Fueled with anger, Marie schemes a plan to take the kids when Debra is not there so she can keep them for herself, in an attempt to use them to her advantage to convince Debra to go back with Ray, not think this is a crime. Robert finds out what is going on, as he is over hearing Marie talk to herself reciting the plan. Marie arrives at the apartment, and convinces the kids that she is picking them up to go to the Happy Zone. They go along with her, but her plan is ruined when Robert is waiiting outside the building in his uniform with his squad car, saying that if she doesn't take the kids back up, then he will have to put her under arrest. Another squad car arrives, with another police officer wondering wat is going on. Robert informs him that he is merely talking to Marie, but an eyewitness, tells the officer, that she was attemting to kidnapp the children. Marie is sentinced to 15 years in jail, where she eventually dies, and Robert Barone is demoted to Cadet for lying to a fellow police officer. Debra goes on th Harvard Law School where she earns her Juris Doctorate (J.D.). She then meets and marries Dr. Leonard Green (Rachels dad from "Friends"), and they have a son together, Leonard Jr.
Episode Appearances
Debra appeared in all episodes except "Cruising with Marie". (See the complete list of episodes.)
Memorable Quotes
- DEBRA (To Ray): Do you know how close you are to the end of your life?!
- DEBRA (frequently throughout the series to Ray): Idiot!
- DEBRA: Don't you say another word, or I'll send your mother back in there to smack the crap out of you!
- DEBRA: Robert, you have every right to be upset, but I will get a stepladder and fight you to the death over this.
- DEBRA: When I got married, I didn't just get a husband; I got a whole freak show that set up their tent right across the street! And that would be fine—if they stayed there! But every day--every day—they dump a truckload of their insane family dreck into my lap! How would you like to sit through two people in their sixties, fighting over who invented the lawn? The lawn! And then the brother! "I live in an apartment. I don't even have a lawn; Raymond has a lawn!" But you can't blame them when you see who the mother is! She has this kind of sick hold on the both of them, and the father's about as disgusting a creature as God has ever dropped on this planet! So no wonder the kid writes stories! I should be writing stories—my life is a Gothic novel—and until you have lived in that house, with all of them in there with you day after day, week after week, year after friggin' year, you are in no position to judge me!