Pete Wilder

Dr. Peter "Pete" Wilder is a character on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice. He is played by actor Tim Daly.[1] Dr. Pete Wilder’s first appearance was in an extended episode of Grey’s Anatomy, The Other Side of This Life.

Character history
Pete works at the Oceanside Wellness Center as a naturopathic doctor and licensed herbalist. He graduated from medical school and practiced traditional western medicine for a number of years before spending five years in China studying alternative medicine. Pete’s medical practice combines eastern and western medicine in an integrative approach, and he is often asked to provide expectant mothers with holistic birthing plans. [2] Pete has also lectured locally and internationally on the subject of Oriental and Eastern Medicine. [2]

During Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery's first visit to Oceanside Wellness, Pete and Addison establish a teasing and often flirtatious relationship. Addison initially labels Pete a “quack,” but she allows the “cute hippy boy” to treat her with acupuncture. Although Pete is immediately attracted to her, he promises their mutual friend, Dr. Sam Bennett, that he will stay away from Addison. However, after finding Addison crying over her newly discovered infertility, Pete kisses her to prove that she isn’t “dried up.” Addison seems open to pursuing a relationship with Pete, but is warned off by Sam. According to Sam, Pete is a serial monogamist, unable to emotionally connect with any woman since the death of his wife. Pete's last foray into office romance was apparently disastrous, and resulted in the unnamed OB/GYN's sudden departure from the practice. In response, Oceanside Wellness instituted a strict "no consorting" rule.

Pete's relationship with his wife is somewhat mysterious and he appears reluctant to discuss their marriage. During a visit to her grave on the anniversary of her death, we discover Anna Wilder died in 2001, at the age of 40. (In "The Other Side of This Life," Sam stated that Pete’s wife had died eight years prior. However, in a subsequent interview, Tim Daly said that there is some confusion as to whether Anna died six or eight years prior, which was finally decided to be six years prior.) In a discussion regarding a patient, Pete hints to the other doctors that he stayed in an unhappy marriage because his wife was sick and that they were unable to make the marriage work. Pete eventually tells Addison that he went to bed with his wife on a Tuesday night and when he awoke the following Wednesday morning she was dead. He further states that no night was perfect during their marriage, not even their wedding night. This information was the most that Pete has ever divulged to any of his co-workers about his wife. During a second visit to his wife's grave, Pete unleashes his pent-up anger to his wife's headstone. After stating that Anna was "a mean, cold bitch" and that he hated her, Pete softens and apologizes for not being able to save her. Pete later reveals to Violet that at the time of Anna's death they had been trying to conceive a child.

In the Season Two a mysterious woman from Pete's past appears in clinic and reveals surprising facts about his past. Meg Curtis (played by Jayne Brook) is a Doctor Without Borders physician and Pete's former lover. They met when they were both residents and later worked together as Doctors Without Borders. Meg reveals to Pete's surprised co-workers that once during the war in Bosnia Pete (whom Meg calls Peter) refused to evacuate and, despite the martyr fire, stayed with sick children for the whole night saving the lives of most of them. Later Pete told Meg, who has a smoking habit, that his wife was a smoker and she didn't quit the habit before she died. Despite their renewed relationship, Meg decides to come back to Ghana, where she works in malaria fighting program, but Pete asked her to come back to him, because she makes him happy.

Relationships

 * Anna Wilder (wife, died in 2001, at the age of 40)
 * Dr. Addison Montgomery (love interest)
 * Dr. Meg Curtis, (current love interest)

Trivia

 * Pete rides a Triumph motorcycle.
 * Before settling on the name Pete Wilder, the creators of the show considered and rejected "Pete Finch" and "Pete Fisher."[3]