Mad Men: 10 Ways Betty Got Worse & Worse

Betty Draper was one of Mad Men’s lead characters who was around from the very first episode and lasted until the very end. She played a big part in the series, but she wasn’t always someone who fans loved, as she was quite a frustrating character at times. This was mainly due to the way she was written and how she was played, but there were many things that were frustrating about Betty.

While she also had plenty of positive traits as well, in terms of her character progression she seemed to just get worse as the show wore on. Even though she was showcased slightly less after divorcing Don, she ended up becoming worse and worse as a person. Within this list, we will look at 10 ways that Betty ended up becoming worse.

10 Cheating On Don

Don Draper had cheated on Betty countless times throughout the series, clearly impacting Betty’s behavior here. However, one bad behavior doesn’t excuse another, and the fact of the matter is that when she begins her relationship with Henry Francis, she isn’t divorced from Don.

She clearly feels embarrassed about the situation when Carla works out what is going on. It just showcases that not everyone is perfect and while it might end up being a great marriage, it starts out as Betty just wanting to get one over on her husband.

9 Not Wanting To Move Homes

After Betty and Don parted ways and she had started a brand new relationship with Henry and the two of them lived in the Draper family home. Despite Henry making it clear he wanted to move away, Betty held onto to the house, happily letting Don pay for everything even though he wasn’t living there.

It was just one of many examples of her stubbornness as a person, refusing to let things go from her past. She clearly just wanted to take advantage of Don and sponge off him for as much as possible, but it wasn’t something that made others happy.

8 Using Sally’s Therapist

It was clear from very early on in the series that Betty Draper had some underlying issues, but at that time period, it wasn’t something that was talked about a lot. Betty did see her own therapist early on in the series, but it didn’t really lead to much because he was having secret calls with Don and Betty was too childish.

However, later in the series when Sally saw a child therapist, Betty took full advantage. Despite the therapist believing Sally no longer needed meetings, Betty continued to push to have them as she was basically using the therapist for herself while making Sally think she needed it.

7 Trying To Sabotage Don’s Marriage

Even though Don Draper wasn’t in a relationship with Megan when he was with Betty, he didn’t waste much time in getting married to her. Despite the fact that Betty was happily married herself with Henry at this point, she attempted to sabotage his marriage in a very petty moment.

Using Sally as a pawn for her own twisted games, she took her child’s homework and tried to twist it. With Sally having to make a family tree, Betty tried to get Sally to ask about Don’s first wife. Clearly thinking it would cause them to break up while showcasing there was no low she wouldn’t stoop to.

6 Firing Carla

Carla had been the Draper family nanny from the very start of the series but had clearly been with the family for much longer than that. Because of that when she made the snap decision to fire Carla it was a real shock to people, with even Henry clearly being disapproving of the situation.

Carla lets Glen inside the house to say goodbye to Sally, but Betty doesn’t approve and loses her cool. It’s a classic example of how childish she is as a person, unable to truly analyze situations before making a major decision that has a big impact.

5 Shaming Beth

Beth and Betty start out as friends, going horse riding together, and clearly capturing the interest of Arthur. Even though he is engaged, both of the women are clearly attracted to them, and he even makes a move to Betty at one point.

To deal with her own feelings and situation, she decides to set up a three-way dinner with them all and then refuses to turn up. After Beth cheats, Betty then has no trouble rubbing the salt in the wounds, proving just how petty of a person she is at times.

4 Dealing With Her Illness

Right at the end of the series, Betty Draper was dealt a fatal blow as it was revealed she had terminal cancer. It wasn’t a huge surprise considering how much she smoked throughout the series, but the manner in which she dealt with the disease just proved how immature Betty was at times.

While she might have been trying to protect Sally, she wasn’t exactly kind and considerate as her daughter was struggling to come to terms with it. She was the same with Henry and Don, refusing treatment and continuing to smoke like a chimney.

3 Flirting With Glen

This was one of the strangest parts of Mad Men throughout the entire show. Perhaps it was because Betty was quite childlike in her mindset, or just that Glen was so mature, but the strange relationship that they shared was one that made for some uncomfortable viewing at times.

While they spent many years not seeing each other, right in the end they would meet again where Betty forgot who he was and had no problem in flirting around with him. Thankfully, Betty did eventually put an end to the idea of them dating, but it got far too close.

2 Fat Shaming

One of the more random storylines that came and went was Betty’s bout with weight gain. This was written in due to January Jones being pregnant in real life, but it was quickly forgotten about and didn’t actually help Betty as a character at all as she ended up just fat-shaming herself and others.

Rather than using this storyline as something to empower her character, Mad Men somehow made her worse. She would just mock others and eating, in general, which somehow made her an even worse character overall.

1 Her Parenting

At no point in the series was Betty Draper a great mother. She was impatient, stubborn, and didn’t seem to enjoy spending any time with any of her three kids. However, at least at the start of the series she did put in a little effort and seemed to care.

However, as the show went on Betty just got worse as a mother. Whether it was slapping Sally for cutting her hair or forcing Bobby to eat sweets because he traded her sandwich, Betty just wasn’t cut out for motherhood. She wasn’t great but considering her job was being a stay at home mom, you’d expect her to be better at it.

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