Madea Relatives - TV Tropes (2024)

Portrayed by: Kimberly Elise

A woman who an ex-wife of Charles.

• The First Cut Is the Deepest: Helen plays with this; she was initially very reluctant to start a relationship with Orlando due to how much Charles had hurt her, but she eventually gives in.
• Lawof Inverse Fertility: She wanted children with Charles, but had two miscarriages. Meanwhile, he had two kids with his mistress.
• Revenge: After Charles gets shot by a gangster he was defending and is paralyzed, Helen uses her position as the only one left to take care of him to get revenge. Of course, she then realized that it wasn't really that fulfilling.

Portrayed by: Cicely Tyson

Helen’s mother

Portrayed by: Rochelle Aytes

The grand-niece of Madea and daughter of Victoria who is forced to be engaged to Carlos.

• Beware the Nice Ones: She is friendly and calm, but at the end of the movie, she finally has had it with Carlos' abusing her and fights back with a pot of hot grits.
• The Dog Bites Back: She made sure Carlos strikes her for the final time by taking Madea's advice and throwing a pot of hot grits in his face before beating him with a frying pan and taking off her engagement ring.

Portrayed by: Lisa Arrindell

The grand-niece of Madea, Lisa’s half sister, and daughter of Victoria who falls for Frankie after two bad relationships.

• Aw They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite her arguments with Victoria, she does care about her as she gives her a hug and appreciated her comment on her marriage to Frankie.
• Broken Bird: She went trying very hard to overcome it. She eventually does.
• CallingTheOldWomenOut: She calls out Victoria for the latter having been abusive towards her and not even helping out Lisa from her forced engagement.
• Rapeas Drama: She was dolled up for her stepfather to rape her so that he wouldn't leave her mother.

Portrayed by: Lynn Whitfield

A gold-digging woman and a niece of Madea. She is also the mother of Vanessa and Lisa.

• Abusive Parents: She is emotionally abusive to both her daughters even though they're now adults. She makes it perfectly clear to Vanessa's face that she thinks her children are bastards and wishes she never gave birth to her, and keeps Lisa wrapped around her finger so she can use her trust fund. There's also the fact that she let Lisa's father rape Vanessa with a clear conscience. And to really drive it home, Victoria is encouraging her “favorite” daughter to marry someone who is beating her just so she can get more money.
• Aww They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite her neglectfulness towards both her daughters, she pretty much have an extent love for them. She even thinks that Vanessa and Frankie are a cute couple.
• Broken Bird: She herself has been broken since her junkie and prostitute mother sold her for "ten dollars and a fix."
• Blaming the Victim: She tells Lisa to stop doing whatever she’s doing that pushes Carlos to hit her because she cares more about getting money for herself than her daughter’s life.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite justifying it to her daughter's face, Victoria's collusion with Carlos goes as far as learning that he beats her daughter and she tries to insist that he stop... from now on. Everything else is ready to keep going.
• Evil Matriarch: She is one to both Lisa and Vanessa, being nothing but abusive and cruel to them.
• Freudian Excuse: She was abandoned by her mother after she was sold by her. Her marriage with her second husband went to a breaking point, with he threatened to leave her forcing Victoria to allow her husband to rape Vanessa.
• Gold Digger: She was so desperate for her second husband's money that she allowed him to rape her daughter. In the present she pushes Lisa to marry Carlos, despite knowing that he is abusing her, because she has squandered all the money in Lisa's trust fund.
• Narcissist: She has many traits of being a narcissistic mother, such as verbal abuse and wanting to live vicariously through her daughters.
• Rich Bitch: She's pretty much broke and has been draining the trust fund Lisa's father set up for her to maintain her wealthy image, which is why she's so desperate to make sure Lisa marries Carlos.
• Vicarious Gold Digger: She wants her daughter to marry Carlos, a wealthy investment banker, so that she will continue to afford her luxurious lifestyle. That Carlos is abusive to Lisa is irrelevant to Victoria.

Portrayed by: Maya Angelou

Madea’s cousin

Portrayed by: Cassi Davis

A sister of May and a cousin of Madea.

Portrayed by: Afemo Omilami

Issac’s son and Madea and Joe’s cousin.

Portrayed by: Leon La Mar

A cousin of Madea and Joe

Portrayed by: John Lawhorn

A cousin of Madea and Joe.

Portrayed by: Henry Simmons

A nephew of Madea who is antagonized by Joe when he was repairing Madea's lawnmower.

Portrayed by: Tangi Miller

Brian’s sister

[[folder: Nima]]

Portrayed by: China Anderson

Vanessa’s daughter

Portrayed by: Akhil Jackson

The son of Vanessa and the half-brother of Nima.

Portrayed by: Taraji P. Henson

An alcoholic nightclub singer at Club Indigo.

• Earn Your Happy Ending: She and Sandino get married and the kids are taken in by April.
• Electrical Bathtub: When She confronts Randy about the latter nearly raping Jennifer, she drops a plugged-in stereo in the tub.
• Freudian Excuse: The reason she is caustic and selfish is that her stepfather, a guy named "Lee", sexually abused her and lied to her mother, Rose, which made her lose faith in those that care about her.
• Jerk With A Heartof Gold: Even though she is selfish and rude, she does care about her niece and nephews.
• Mama Bear: Her response to finding out that Randy tried to rape Jennifer was to try to electrocute him.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Shegets called out by Tanya for being so selfish towards her niece and nephews.

Portrayed by:

Hope Olaidé Wilson (Jennifer)Freddy Siglar (Byron)Kwesi Bokage (Manny)

April’s niece and nephew who are being taken care of.

• Disappeared Dad: There is no mention of their father.
• Ill Boy: Manny has asthma and diabetes thanks to his mother abusing drugs when she was pregnant with him. Jennifer has had to give him insulin shots twice and even shoplifted needles from a drugstore to help with his shots.
• Jerk With A Heartof Gold: She can be mouthy and abrasive towards her elders, but she still cares about her brothers and respects her aunt when she’s in a good mood.
• Missing Mom: Their mother passed away from her drugs.
• Mouthy Kid: Though she's older than the usual, Jennifer is this towards her elders. Madea does call her out on it, albeit nicely.
• Parental Abandonment: Their mother passed away and there's no mention of a father (though, we could guess that their mother really got around). What makes things worse is that we find out that Rose, their grandmother, died on a bus of a brain aneurysm.
• Promotedto Parent: She becomes this to her brothers, with their mom dead and their grandmother missing (later on dead). This becomes deconstructed, because her mother was a crack addict, she didn't really have a choice. As she tells April, "I'm sixteen, when's my life gonna start?!"
• Vague Age: Jennifer is 16 but her brothers' ages are hard to guess, however, we can guess that Byron is the middle child and Manny is the youngest (apparently, he's ten).
• The Voiceless: Byron of the least, has only two lines than his sister and brother.

April’s sister who has three children (Jennifer, Byron, and Manny) that are being watched by her.

• Abusive Parents: According to an anecdote, as, due to her drug habits, she traded Jennifer for a crack when she was nine, put Byron in the oven, and burned Manny with her crack-pipe.
• Addled Addict: She was a crack addict and, from what we can guess, this lead to her death.
• The Alcoholic: She constantly drinks to get away from her issues.
• Posthumous Character: She passed away before the events of the film.
• The Unseen: She never appears in any flashbacks before having died.

April’s mother

• Posthumous Character: She passed away by the beginning of the film.
• The Unseen: Like her daughter, she never appears due to having passed away from a brain aneurysm.

Portrayed by: Loretta De Vine

Madea and Shirley’s niece who has cancer.

• Adults Are Useless: This was exactly why Kimberly is so resentful towards her because she wanted to keep her rape secret and so never got the former help for her trauma.
• Laser-Guided Karma: It can be said that her cancer and eventual death is this, as she covered up the fact that not only was Kimberly raped by an uncle at a young age, but also had said uncle’s child, Byron, as a result.
• Nice Girl: She only wants to have a nice dinner and keep peace so she can tell her family about her terminal cancer, which isn't helping her situation any. However, she's a deconstruction, as "keeping the peace" doesn't help matters when your daughter has some unresolved trauma from being raped as a child and your family's issues get worse and worse.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When Byron finds out Kimberly is his biological mother, and calls Shirley out for having broken her rule of “no lies”.

Portrayed by: Shannon Kane

a real estate agent, the daughter of Shirley, a grandniece of Madea and Aunt Bam, and the biological mother of Byron upon being raped by her uncle

• Foreshadowing: During the dinner scene, when Tammy reveals Kimberly had a baby at 13, Kimberly briefly, yet subtly looks at Byron, the “baby” in question.
• Freudian Excuse: She resents her family because she had been raped by her uncle at 12 and had his child at 13, but her mother never got her help for it and her family preferred to act as one big happy family instead of addressing their issues.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Although Madea is very sympathetic towards her Freudian Excuse, she still chews Kimberly out on taking her anger out on everyone (though she is somewhat justified towards her family) and tells the latter to get some professional help. This is probably why Madea is one of the only family members that Kimberly isn't resentful towards. Other than Madea being... Madea.
• Jerkass: She’s mostly because of the pent of pain of being sexually abused by a paternal uncle when she was 12 (having Byron at 13) and the inaction her family took regarding this issue and thinks she's better than her family though this is due to their willingness to ignore their issues.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While she was unnecessarily harsh to her child, she admits that she only does this out of fear that her child will become as bad as Tammy's kids. The thing is, Kimberly is right about Tammy's kids being poorly raised. Even Madea says that the boys are spoiled and rude.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She consistently touchy with a chip on her shoulder due to her past.
• Jerk With A Heartof Gold: It's implied that Kimberly will eventually become this after Calvin learns why she's so angry and mean.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: [[spoiler: She arrives at the hospital soon after she passes away. Worse, Kimberly purposely ignored her family’s calls out of spite but once her husband breaks the news, she tearfully apologizes to her mother’s corpse.
• Parents as People: Kimberly loves her child, but she’s tough towards him so that he won't turn out like Tammy's kids. The problem is that she punishes him for doing things normal for his age (he's about 6 months old). Calvin (understandably) eventually has had enough and leaves, taking the baby with him.
• Parting-Words Regret: Kimberly never got to tell her mother, Shirley , that she was sorry. Its only after she finds out Shirley’s death does Kimberly cry out how sorry she is towards her mother’s corpse.
• Only Sane Women: While she was a Jerkass, she veers into this regarding her family and the issues they have, as she's the only one not interested in running away from their issues.

Portrayed by: Natalie Deselle Reid

The daughter of Shirley, grandniece of Madea and Aunt Bam, and co-owner of an auto-repair garage.

• Flippingoffthe Bird: She flips off Harold on their wedding anniversary after he brings her flowers, considering the gesture to be weak and overall annoyed by his doting behavior.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She seems to angered for no reason, especially by anything Kimberly or Harold says or does. According to Harold, she was like this when he met her.
• Jerkass: She had is one because she belittles and undermines Harold and threw her sister's pregnancy, caused by rape, in her face to win an argument.
• Kick the Dog: Her throwing back in Kimberly's face her teenage pregnancy, which was conceived through incestuous rape, and in front of their younger "brother", Byron, who was the result of that event and who knew nothing about the circ*mstances all of his life, just so she could win the argument.
• Pushover Parents: Tammy allows her sons to be rude and disrespectful to their elders. This changes after Madea gets through to her and her family.

Portrayed by: Bow-Wow

An ex con, the son of Shirley and a grandnephew of Madea and Aunt Bam, later revealed to be her grandson (as well as Madea and Aunt Bam’s great-grandnephew) and Kimberly’s son from being raped by her uncle.

• Good Parents: Although he tries to be this, his criminal record and Sabrina’s greediness makes it difficult for him to do so.
• Jerk With A Heartof Gold: Though he's not so much a "jerk", just painfully misguided but he does care about his family.
• Love Triangle: He actually liked. the fact that both women are fighting over him, but he eventually settles his differences with Sabrina (with some forceful urging by Madea) and cuts ties with Renee by the end of the film.

Portrayed by: Anna Maria Horsford

Lacey’s mother and Madea’s niece.

Portrayed by: Tika Sumpter

Madea’s great-great grandniece who is a teacher that works at an elementary school.

Portrayed by: Jen Harper

Anthony's wife, Heathrow's daughter, and Madea and Joe's niece.

Portrayed by: Courtney Burrell

Anthony and Vianne's oldest son.

Portrayed by: Ciera Payton

Anthony and Vianne's daughter.

Portrayed by: Rome Flynn

Anthony and Vianne's youngest son.

Portrayed by: Gabrielle Dennis

Madea's granddaughter, Cora's daughter, and Tim's mother.

Portrayed by: Candace Maxwell

Madea's granddaughter, Cora's daughter, and Laura's sister.

Portrayed by: Brandon Black

Madea's great-grandson, Cora's grandson and Laura's son who comes out as gay.