Charlotte King

"You can't change what you've done, but you can change who you are and improve your life."

- Charlotte King

Charlotte King is the Chief of Staff and attending urologist at St. Ambrose Hospital; additionally, she is a sexologist at Seaside Health and Wellness. She is married to Cooper Freedman with whom she has four kids: Mason Warner, and Georgia, Caroline, and Rachel King-Freedman.

Early Life
She is from Monroeville, Alabama.

When she was fifteen, she had to shoot her horse Marjorie after it sprained its ankle. Marjorie was her last pet and when she thought she might have been pregnant, she thought about naming the baby Marjorie.

She always wanted to make her father, Big Daddy, proud, so she became a doctor.

Being Assaulted
In St. Ambrose Hospital as Chief of Staff, she told a noisy patient to wait his turn. However, that man had mental problems. He thought that women had to respect him and because Charlotte was mean to him, he assaulted her later that day. Getting ready to go home, Charlotte left her office in the hospital. When she turned around after having closed the door, the man knocked her head against the door and dragged her back into her office. ("All in the Family")

She tried to resist and scratched the assaulter, which only enraged him more. He continued punching her eventually raped her in her own office. Shortly after, she left her office, bruised and bleeding. She hobbled to the nearest supply closet to get some bandages, but Pete Wilder, who was working in the ER that night, noticed her. He followed her and caught her when she fell down. He carried her into a room in the hospital.

Charlotte chose not to tell anyone that she was raped and even hurt badly, she continued bossing everyone at the hospital around. She only allowed nurse Sheila in her room, not any of the "bitchy ones" and the doctors from the practice. However, Addison didn't buy the story that the assaulter took her wallet and she asked everyone to leave the room. When they were alone in the room, Charlotte came clean to Addison. She told her that she was raped. Addison did a pelvic exam and tried to pursue Charlotte to report the assault, but Charlotte refused. However, Addison secretly did a rape kit and kept it in the hospital under the name of Jane Doe, thinking Charlotte might want the assaulter's DNA later. ("Did You Hear What Happened to Charlotte King?")

Some time later, Charlotte returned to work, but she still hadn't fully recovered yet. Upon entering her office, she started getting flashbacks of the assault and she went to the practice instead. Her colleagues there tried to act normal around her, but they all failed to do so. Sheldon was the only one who actually left her alone like she wanted them to. Pete came into her office to check on her wounds, reminding Charlotte of the rape and she almost started crying in front of him. Violet offered to help her too, but Charlotte refused, saying it was impossible for Violet to know what she was going through. She also completely shut out Addison, because Addison saw her at her most fragile point. Amelia offered her donuts and said she was going to meetings for addicts. She also talked to her about craving to pills after something terrible happened, but Charlotte denied she was craving for pills.

Addison eventually told Sam that Charlotte was raped. On his turn, he asked Violet to talk to Charlotte without actually saying that she was raped. However, Violet suspected something and talked to Pete, who suspected the same. When talking with Violet in his office about the night Charlotte was assaulted, Sheldon said he was in the police office talking to a rapist. Seeing the way Violet reacted to the word "rapist", he asked her if Charlotte was raped. Violet said she also suspected that Charlotte was raped.

Cooper told Charlotte he simply couldn't leave her alone after what happened. This seemed to help her deal with it a little bit better, as she dared to enter her office again shortly after, without having flashbacks. Violet later come to Charlotte's office, and she started talking about the time she was raped herself, leaving Charlotte devastated. She went to Amelia's office and asked her to go to a meeting with her, admitting she was craving for pills. Meanwhile, Addison made calls to have the pelvic washings from Charlotte processed. ("What Happens Next")

Personality
Generally, the character has served as somewhat of a foil to the other doctors at Oceanside Wellness Group, often impeding their progress in helping patients through somewhat unorthodox methods by applying and enforcing legal, medical and ethical implications. However, during her insomnia episode, Charlotte revealed that she has trouble connecting with others because signs of affection were discouraged in her family. More recent episodes have lessened the use of the character as a mere obstacle and the relationship with Cooper has somewhat humanized her.

Billy Douglas
At Oceanside Wellness, Charlotte told a patient that she married her first love and they had a fairy tale-like relationship. However, she caught him in their bed having sex with another woman. She couldn't forgive him for that, and they broke up.

Before Charlotte married Cooper, she talked with Billy about their marriage. It turned out Billy was gay and cheated on her because he wanted to know if he'd feel different with another woman, but he said he didn't.

Cooper Freedman
Much later, she started up a relationship with Cooper Freedman after meeting through an internet dating service. They stayed together for a while, but after they broke up, she began to feel sick which made Cooper think that she was pregnant. After he convinces Charlotte that she might be pregnant, she takes a pregnancy test and while they are waiting for the results, they begin to think of names and when they see that the test came back negative, Charlotte tries to get back together with Cooper, but he refuses.

Following the death of her father, Cooper goes with her and comforts her and they eventually get back together, but Charlotte dislikes Cooper living with Violet and they argue over that. Charlotte creates another roadblock in their relationship when she sleeps with Archer Montgomery and is caught by Addison, but Cooper sees this as a sign of her pushing him away, and he forgives her. Eventually, Charlotte begins to bond with Violet over Cooper and her pregnancy, but eventually they part ways when she reveals that she slept with Archer Montgomery and Violet tells her, professionally and personally, that it's not okay that she did that. Charlotte and Cooper stay together and eventually have a Vegas wedding.

Her relationship with Cooper took kind of a blow when he found out that Cooper has a son and Charlotte tried to pay Mason's mother to leave them alone, but they eventually reconciled. Charlotte developed motherly feeling for Mason when it became clear that his mother would die.

Charlotte became pregnant with triplets which both she and Cooper refer to as the 'Cooplets'. Charlotte went into premature labor and delivered the first triplet, whom they later named Georgia. Two months later, she delivered the last two triplets. Because she named Georgia, Mason named the second baby Caroline, and Cooper chose Rachel for the third.

Sheldon Wallace
At some point, Charlotte had a sexual encounter with Sheldon. She stated to Amelia that the rumors about Sheldon's penis are true.

Archer Montgomery
Charlotte had a sexual affair with Archer in his office at Oceanside Wellness Group. Charlotte did this to hurt Cooper, because she was afraid of their growing relationship and wanted it to blow up in her face.

Career
Dr. King is a graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School and is the Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose Hospital in Santa Monica. She also opened a rival practice, Pacific Wellcare, that is located on the fourth floor of the same building as the Oceanside Wellness Group. (PP: Know When to Fold).

The owner of the practice, William White, fires Charlotte from director of Pacific Wellcare when he hires Naomi to replace her. His reasoning is that good leaders have a heart, not someone who can obtain people (PP: Yours, Mine & Ours).

Following the revelation that Cooper is broke and that the remaining staff at the Oceanside Wellness Group are looking to buy Naomi's share of the business, Charlotte gives Addison and Sam a check for Cooper's share, as well as a blank check for her to buy into the practice (PP: Pushing the Limits). After much debate between Addison and Sam, including Charlotte confronting Sam, Sam and Addison decided to hire Charlotte as a new member of staff at Oceanside Wellness (PP: Strange Bedfellows).

Charlotte moves into Pete's old office, offering sexology as her specialty, in which Addison describes some of the equipment (sex toys) into the practice as "interesting". Charlotte has had this idea for a long period of time, hiring a web designer to build her a website that will allow her to offer advice, as well as providing consultations by email and book appointments to see her.

Notes and Trivia

 * There is an inconsistency in where Charlotte graduated from medical school. In Private Practice promotional material, it claims she is a Yale graduate, whereas Cooper claims she is a Johns Hopkins graduate. It's possible that she attended Yale for medical school and completed her residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. ("Homeward Bound")
 * Charlotte has neonatal rounds at St. Ambrose Hospital, which she has asked Addison to cover for her when she returned home to see her father (PP: Homeward Bound) . Since Chief of Staff is a bureaucratic and administrative role, it is assumed that these rounds are part of her duties as a urologist at St. Ambrose, indicating that Charlotte practices pediatric urology.
 * Charlotte is the only character of the original main characters of Private Practice to never appear in a Grey's Anatomy episode. She has, however, visited Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital.
 * Charlotte was revealed to be a surgeon in "Strange Bedfellows", specializing in urology, electing sexology as a new specialty to practice at Oceanside Wellness.
 * Charlotte loves fried chicken.
 * Charlotte has a slight fear of needles.
 * She likes to read, her favorite book being "To Kill a Mocking Bird". It was written by Harper Lee, who is from the same town as Charlotte, Monroeville.
 * In Which Sam Gets Taken for a Ride is the only Private Practice episode in which Charlotte doesn't appear.
 * Mason calls her Mama.
 * She is in NA and allergic to local anesthetic. ( Did You Hear What Happened to Charlotte King? )
 * Charlotte seems to care deeply about her friends, especially Amelia, whom Charlotte goes out of her way to help after Amelia relapses and returns to her addict ways.
 * She loves to drink Martini, which is why she knows how to make extremely good Martinis.
 * Even while pregnant, she continued to boss around people at St. Ambrose.

Notable Episodes
These episodes are Charlotte-centric or are otherwise very informative about her life.
 * In Which Charlotte Goes Down the Rabbit Hole
 * Homeward Bound
 * Did You Hear What Happened to Charlotte King?
 * What Happens Next
 * Can't Find My Way Back Home
 * Blind Love
 * ...To Change the Things I Can
 * Aftershock
 * Georgia on My Mind
 * Full Release

Memorable Quotes

 * Cooper: Sure thing, Charlie.
 * Charlotte: You call me that again... You will be hobbling down that aisle! –What We Have Here...


 * Charlotte: I don't like people. It's rare that someone comes along I can even tolerate. -Two Steps Back
 * Charlotte: Our son needs you.


 * Pete: People need connection to stay healthy, positive connection with another human.
 * Charlotte: I don't--I don't need your pity positivity. I don't know what Violet told you, but I connect. Okay?
 * Pete: Yeah, when?
 * Charlotte: None of your business--
 * Pete: Business. Right. Maybe I'm not the guy to help you. Maybe you need someone--
 * Charlotte: Who I can't irritate? Find that man for me and I'll marry him. My family didn't believe in displays.
 * Pete: Of affection?
 * Charlotte: My mother, there was the occasional sloppy kind that followed cocktails.
 * Pete: And since then?
 * Charlotte: Who has time for that kind of thing?
 * Pete: I'm sorry, Charlotte. Do you want to try again?
 * Charlotte: Why not? My hair's already shot. -In Which Charlotte Goes Down the Rabbit Hole