Lorelai Victoria Gilmore is a fictional character in The WB dramedy television series Gilmore Girls. Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and portrayed by actress Lauren Graham, she appeared in every episode of the show from 2000 to 2007.
Lorelai is introduced as a young single mother of a teenage daughter, Rory. Lorelai has a strained relationship with her wealthy parents, Richard and Emily, after running away as a teen to raise her daughter on her own. Lorelai remains estranged from her parents for many years, until the events of the pilot episode, where she asks her parents for help with paying Rory's tuition. Her parents agree, on the condition that she visits them for dinner every Friday.
Besides an on-again, off-again relationship with Rory's father, Christopher Hayden, Lorelai had a few romantic relationships that included Max Medina, a teacher at Rory's school, Chilton, to whom she was briefly engaged; Alex Lesman, an outdoorsy coffee house entrepreneur; Jason Stiles, a childhood acquaintance, and Luke Danes, the owner of Luke's Diner in her adopted hometown of Stars Hollow. As Lorelai frequented Luke's Diner, they grew to be close friends and eventually fell in love. In the Netflix revival miniseries A Year in the Life, Luke and Lorelai married.
Graham received widespread critical acclaim for portraying her character, and was nominated for several awards. She won two Teen Choice Awards and was also nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Lorelai is often included on lists of "top TV moms".
Arc
Background
Lorelai Victoria Gilmore was born to Richard and Emily Gilmore on April 25, 1968. Named after her paternal grandmother, Lorelai was raised in Hartford, Connecticut by her wealthy parents who wanted her to be a proper young lady of high society, go to an Ivy League college, and marry a man with wealth and status. Her early life was complicated by the high expectations of an overbearing mother and workaholic father, both parents wanted their daughter to fulfill the aspirations of their world of privilege. As a teenager, she discovered she was pregnant with her boyfriend Christopher's baby. Her parents discovered her pregnancy during a fitting for her debutante dress. This greatly embarrassed and disappointed her parents as well as the parents of Christopher, Straub, and Francine Hayden. Straub Hayden initially suggested that Lorelai have an abortion, however, Emily would not allow this, and Richard suggested that Lorelai and Christopher should marry instead. Christopher agreed, but Lorelai refused, convinced that marrying so young simply wouldn't work out. When Lorelai realized she was in labor, she left a note for her parents and drove alone to the hospital. After giving birth to her daughter, Rory, on October 8, 1984 at the age of 16, Lorelai lived with her parents at their mansion in Hartford briefly before running away to Stars Hollow, a small fictional town in rural Connecticut, to find her own life. The owner of the Independence Inn, Mia, gave Lorelai a job as a maid, and let her and Rory live in the back in a renovated potting shed. The Independence Inn is where she met her best friend, Sookie St. James, who was executive chef at the Independence Inn. Lorelai worked her way up over the years and was eventually promoted to executive management, which is her job as the show opens. For many years after running away from home, Lorelai had almost no contact with her parents, except for visits during major holidays.