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You're not done. Right? You're unfinished. You're work in progress. I mean, if I had told you 5 years ago that you were gonna have Lucas the way that you did, or that you were gonna marry Pete, you would've laughed at my face. Right? If I had told you 2 years ago that you'd be a widow, you would never have believed me. Because you don't know what tomorrow brings. You know? It could be anything, absolutely anything. Could be good, could be bad. Could be this hot bookstore owner guy, or could be just you and your amazing little boy. But you don't know, because you're not done. I mean, you won't know the point of the book until it's written. The book that is your life is a work in progress. So you, Violet Turner, you're unfinished.
Sam Bennett to Violet Turner

Violet Turner is a psychiatrist at Seaside Health and Wellness. She was married to Pete Wilder until his death and together they have a son, Lucas.

History[]

Early Life[]

During her freshman year of college, Violet was raped when a man broke into her dorm and helped through it by her best friend Kara Wei[1], Violet helped Kara through her problem of accidentally killing her abusive mother.[2] Violet takes offense to women who lie about being raped,[3] and when confronted about an almost conversation between her and Addison; Violet says that it's something that she wasn't going to talk about it, that "it is what it is."

The rest of her college years were a dark time for her. She slept with three of her college professors, one of whom may have been a woman, as exploring her sexual boundaries was a way for her to take back her sexuality.[4]

Attack and Aftermath[]

One of Violet's schizophrenic patients, Katie, who was pregnant but miscarried. She refused to let anyone perform a D&C to remove the dead tissue. After talking to Violet and Dell, she finally realized that her baby was dead. She allowed the doctors to perform a D&C.[5]

Later, Katie came to visit Violet at her house. She told her that Violet had her baby and that she wanted it back. Katie proceeded to inject her with a drug that left Violet paralyzed from the neck down and began to lay out surgical instruments and a medical textbook to perform a c-section, all the while talking about how Violet's baby died so Violet took Katie's. Violet tried to coach Katie out of it, saying that Violet's baby was a boy, while Katie's a girl. She said that she believed Katie and that they both love the baby, and if Katie would begin to cut, the baby might get hurt. Then, the baby kicked, which Katie thought was a calling and became even more convinced to start. Violet asked her if they could wait, and Katie knocked her out as a result. Cooper came to the house, but was interrupted by a call and left, despite Violet's gagged attempts to call his name. Katie began to place the scalpel on Violet's abdomen, but Violet said that she was placing the scalpel too high, and began to instruct her through the c-section.[6]

She was later found by Pete and Naomi, who called 911. She was brought to St. Ambrose, where Addison operated on her. In the operating room, Dell began to talk to her, despite knowing that she was unable to hear him. They contemplated removing her uterus, but Cooper said that wouldn't be what Violet wanted, though he later contradicted that when they found Violet's baby. Soon after, Violet began to crash, though Naomi was able to save her. After she got out of surgery, she chose the baby's name, Lucas.[7]

She was later released from the hospital and went home with Pete and Lucas. She had trouble connecting to Lucas, leaving most of the primary care and parenting to Pete. She also had a new-found fear of answering the door, usually hiding in the closet whenever someone knocked or rang the doorbell. She assured Pete that she was fine and that he could go back to work, but he was skeptical.[8]

Leaving Lucas and the Practice[]

After she had recovered from the attack, Violet tried for a while to take care of Lucas. However, she came to the conclusion that she couldn't take care of him and that she had to take care of herself before she could do that for her son. Violet left Lucas with Pete, his father. Sometime after that, she left the practice while on a trip with Cooper. She stayed for a while in Costa Rica and New York. In New York, she sought professional help from a colleague to handle her trauma. Later she returned to LA where she told Pete that she wanted to be a part of Lucas' life. Pete was hesitant at first, but ultimately Violet got to know Lucas.

Lawsuit[]

While healing from the attack, Violet found consolation in writing. She wrote an 800-page memoir about the specifics of her life, including working at the practice and her attack. One of her friends pushed her to publish it, and after gaining the support of her friends at the practice, she ended up publishing the book and titling it "Beautiful Scars."[9]

Her attacker, Katie Kent, filed a lawsuit against her claiming that it breached doctor-patient confidentiality and affected her healing process. Despite the restraining order against Katie, Violet visited Katie at the restaurant she worked at and tried to convince her to drop the charges. Katie then visited Violet's office that night trying to apologize for all the pain and trauma she caused and dropped the charges.[10]

Following the lawsuit, the medical board opened an investigation regarding Violet's medical license. After a few interviews, they chose to suspend her license. They also started coming after Oceanside Wellness Group for the same concerns - breaching doctor-patient confidentiality. While this was all happening, Violet decided to go on a book tour for a couple of weeks, causing a strain in her marriage with Pete.

Pete's Death[]

Personality[]

Violet is very patient and optimistic. She is shown as a great person to talk to and will help when someone is in a bind.

Violet tells her patients that happiness can be attained with focus, but she has trouble finding happiness in her own life, even going so far as to question the usefulness of her profession.

Relationships[]

Romantic[]

Allan[]

Six months prior to when Addison first arrived at their Oceanside Wellness Group, Violet's boyfriend, Allan, had split up with her and she was torn by the break-up. As she started to heal, she ran into Allan in a supermarket to discover that he'd gotten married to a younger woman only a few months after their break-up. Violet was shaken badly and even went as far as "stalking" Allan with constant calls as she tried to deal with him moving on while she kept trying to. She and Allan tried to be friends but Violet realized she was only hurting herself and cut off all contact.[11]

Sheldon Wallace[]

Violet decided she wanted to sleep with both Pete and Sheldon. When she got pregnant, she didn't know who the father was and freaked out. The men agreed to a paternity test, but she didn't do so for the remainder of the pregnancy nobody knew who the father was. Sheldon was also in love with Violet at this point, as was Pete, and Violet didn't know who to choose.

Pete Wilder[]

PP2x22-11

Pete kisses Violet.

While she was pregnant with her son Lucas she was unaware who the father was. It could have been either Pete Wilder or Sheldon Wallace, although she had expressed an intention of keeping the baby and having Cooper move in with her.

As Pete's relationship grew more serious with Lisa, he told her about Violet's baby. She asked him to figure out what he wanted and eventually, he decided to leave her and tell Violet but before he informed Violet, Sheldon proposed to her. Violet didn't answer straight away, Pete instead tells Violet he should have fought for her and loves her, and she chooses Pete over Sheldon.

After Lucas was ripped from her womb by Katie[12], she didn't feel anything toward him and even though Pete (the father) tried and tried to get her to bond with him, she eventually gave him up to Pete. After she slept with Addison's father, Pete gave up on her.

After a few months, Violet returned from her trip from Costa Rica healthy[13] and she sued for partial custody of Lucas.[14]

She and Pete got back together and quickly got married.[15] They fought when she wanted to adopt Betsey.[16]

After her license was suspended, she ran to do a book tour, missing him having a heart attack. She got back from the airport as he was in surgery. It was after months of arguing and remaining together that they decided to separate.

After they had both dated other people and took a small break from their marriage they soon realized that they still had feelings for one another. Violet decided that they needed to go to counseling to find out what the problem was but Pete just wanted to "have fun" and enjoy the fact that they were okay. They went to a few counseling sessions but Pete stormed out of one and refused to go to another one. He began working a lot and he became very reckless even landing himself in jail for taking a patient off of life support to respect his undocumented wishes. After Violet begged him to cooperate with the court for bail Pete was set free but was on trial for what he had done. After being together one night Violet asked him what would happen if he was taken back to jail. The next day Violet receives a text message from Pete saying that he went on a run and that whatever happened he loved her. Pete ends up being absent from his court hearing that morning and Violet had many doubts about his whereabouts assuming that he ran away from it all. Eventually, they found Pete's body in the ditch of a canyon dead from a heart attack.[17]

"The Captain" Montgomery[]

Violet slept with The Captain while he was visiting Addison. While they had sex, she became embarassed about her scar, though The Captain said that it was a reminder that she survived something and she should do whatever she wanted to do for a while.[18]

Scott Becker[]

When Violet calmed down an angry patient in the emergency room, Scott Becker, a paramedic, asked her out. She turned him down at first but after she saw that Pete was moving on, she agreed to go on a date with him, and it went well.[19]

He spent the night, but Violet said she wasn't able to have sex with him. After Violet was punched by a patient's husband, she found Scott and he said that he was there for her after he treated her.[20] Later, after being confronted by Pete about their relationship, Violet decieded to have sex with Scott.[21]

Scott later wanted for the relationship to progress, which meant to him meeting Lucas and Violet's friends. She told him that her life was complicated and that Scott made her feel good, helping her forget everything else in her life. All she wanted was detached, mind-numbing sex, which Scott agreed to.[22]

After Scott got injured following an attack, he asked for Violet, who came to the hospital and attempted, at first, to reduce his shoulder with Pete. She wasn't able to apply enough pressure until Pete encouraged her to trust him. Scott later told her that he saw how they talked with each other and they deserved to be a family, effectively breaking up with her.[23]

Friendships[]

Cooper Freedman[]

PP4x20-5

Cooper and Violet, best friends.

When she joined the Oceanside Wellness Group, Cooper became her best friend.

It became a tradition that every year when they received their bonuses, they would take a holiday together. Violet became concerned when Cooper didn't want to go on their annual trip, and their relationship was strained when she figured out that Cooper was sleeping with Charlotte King.

During her pregnancy, she had Cooper to run errands for her, including tying her shoes because she couldn't see her feet. Unexpectedly, Charlotte and Violet began to bond over Cooper and Charlotte did the girly things that Cooper could not, as well as helping Violet with her pregnancy symptoms.

Kara Wei[]

PP2x05-7

Kara and Violet hug.

Violet met Kara in college and the two became best friends. When Violet was raped, Kara helped her through it, but Kara never told her of the abuse she went through as a child.

Kara and Violet met again when Kara was running for congress. She explained to Violet how she was depressed after the abuse she went through as a child, so she went through shock theraphy. She wanted that file destroyed since she was concerned that it would ruin her career if a reporter got a hold of it.

They later had lunch together. and Violet told Kara that she shouldn't hide from her past. She had an opportunity to be good, to embrace what happened to her and go public with the shock therapy. Kara was enraged and said Violet that she didn't go public with her rape and that she was with Violet every step of the way as she buried it. Violet said that it was different and mental illness was nothing to be ashamed of, and that it could help lots of people if they knew that there was no shame in talking about that.

Their friendship ended when Violet gave her an ultimatum: to choose her friendship or her career, and choose the person she was or the person she wanted to be. When Violet gave her the file, Kara immediately started shredding the file with no hesitation, and Violet left.[24]

Addison Montgomery[]

After Naomi moved away with Fife and Betsey to New York, Addison was without a person to complain to and work through her problems with and Violet was in desperate need of a female friend to do just that with. One day Violet asked Addison if she wanted to come to lunch with her and Lucas. She and Addison started talking and complaining to each other and started to help each other get through their unrealistic amount of drama. Then Addison asked if they should be friends and Violet said yes. From then on Addison and Violet would go out for coffee (or tea in Violet's case) and walk into each other's offices unannounced to tell each other about their issues. Addison figured out what she needed to do about her relationship with Sam and Violet figured out what to do about her relationship with Pete with help from one another. Eventually they grew to be really good friends who helped each other through a lot.

Naomi Bennett[]

She was a very good friend to Naomi, but when Addison joined the practice, Naomi forgot about her and started talking to Addison like she did with Violet, instead, casting Violet aside.

Career[]

Violet attended the University of Oregon, and pursued medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Violet Turner is a board certified psychiatrist specializing in general adult and adolescent psychotherapy, diagnosis, evaluation, and management of pharmacological medication. She currently works at Seaside Health and Wellness. She is licensed to screen birth mothers and prospective parents.

She is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Psychiatrists. Dr. Turner has presented papers at numerous professional conferences and has published articles in peer-reviewed journals such as American Journal of Psychiatry and Annals of Clinical Psychiatry. She used to counsel rape victims and she ran the suicide hotline.

She got her license suspended due to using details of patients in her book, most notably Katie Kent. It was re-instated a few months later.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • Out of all characters that have been on Private Practice for all six seasons, Violet is the only one who has never been to Seattle Grace Hospital, nor any of the hospitals that were established there later on.
  • Violet thinks she can dance, but according to others, she really can't.[source?]
  • Violet has had two abortions during a "misspent youth".[25]
  • She lost her virginity at the age of 17 and there was no magic about it, as there was a lot of friction.[source?]
  • She plays air guitar.[source?]
  • Violet does not like grass.[source?]
  • Violet drinks tea, not coffee.[26]
  • She hates iced tea.[27]
  • She despises soup, though she drinks it when she's queasy.[28]
  • Violet is the last doctor to be seen treating a patient on Private Practice.
  • She's also the one who said the last line on the show, aside from laughter from her colleagues.
  • She wrote a book named "Beautiful Scars"[29], and later another one, tentatively named "Private Practice".[30]
  • She's pro-choice.[31]
  • She likes Mark Twain.[32]
  • She isn't religious.[33]
  • The address of her home throughout most of the series is 326 Las Brisas Canyon.[34]

Gallery[]

A more complete gallery with pictures of Violet Turner can be found here.

Notable Episodes[]

These episodes are Violet-centric or otherwise very informative about her life.

Memorable Quotes[]

Appearances[]


References[]

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