Sarah Louise Walker Laurent (formerly Whedon) is a fictional character on the ABC television drama Brothers & Sisters. She is portrayed by actress Rachel Griffiths.
Character history
Background
Sarah is a member of the Walker Family. A businesswoman in the family business and a mother of two young children, Sarah often struggles to balance her personal life with the duty of being a mother and a wife. Being the oldest of the family, she's very close with all of her siblingseven though she had trouble working with her brother Tommy at Ojai Foods because of his competitiveness, especially when she was announced in her fathers will as the President of Ojai. She was born October 20, 1967. Sarah attended the Wharton School and holds a Master of Business Administration.
She is also a liberal-minded Democrat.
Season 1
Sarah was shocked at her father's sudden death. She was the first to later discover that he was an embezzler, having stolen money from the pension fund company. In his will, her father William designated her as the company's new president, a position her brother Tommy felt should have been his. Sarah tried her best to keep the family company afloat.
At the same time she was dealing with her personal life, she discovered that her father had had a long affair with mistress Holly Harper which produced a daughter, Rebecca. At that point only she and her brothers Kevin and Tommy knew about her. Fortunately, Sarah, Tommy and Kevin later discovered that their father had bought land worth millions of dollars; the company was saved. Unfortunately, William had a last surprise for her: he had made Holly one of the major shareholder of his company. Much to Sarah's displeasure, Holly decided that she wanted to be an integral part of the company instead of selling the shares. This created tensions within the company until Holly decided to leave to create her own winery. Much to Sarah's surprise, her brother Tommy decided to quit as well and became Holly's business partner.
Sarah's relationship with her husband Joe was also strained due to her being a businesswoman and the fact that Joe is a homemaker, amongst other things. This led them to therapy to help reconnect, which ultimately would not succeed. Their daughter Paige was later diagnosed with diabetes.
It was at that time that Holly's daughter Rebecca came back to town. Holly never told her that William might be her father. Infuriated with Holly about all the things she had done to her family, particularly her mother who was shocked at the news that her husband had an illegitimate daughter, Sarah spoke to Rebecca regarding the truth about her paternity.
For a time, Nora was mad at Sarah for keeping the truth about Rebecca away from her, but ultimately they were able to work things out.
Rebecca later confided to Sarah's brother Justin, telling him that Joe had kissed her during their guitar lesson. Justin confronted Joe, stating that Joe must tell Sarah about the incident or Justin would. Instead, Joe took Sarah on a romantic weekend on the beach. Upon returning, Joe told Justin not to tell Sarah anything. However, without permission from Rebecca, Holly went to her office and told Sarah about what Joe had done. This caused a huge argument between Sarah and Joe, at which point Joe stormed out. He later returned and apologized, but it was clear that their relationship had been further damaged.
Season 2
In "Home Front", the season premiere, Sarah has sex with Joe and, upon hearing that Justin might be dead, realizes she wants her husband back. However, Joe tells her that he is now sure that he wants the divorce. Sarah also is upset in this episode due to her perception that she has no one in the family to talk to about her failing marriage. In the next episode Rebecca confesses that she kissed Joe back. Joe and Sarah meet at a café and he confesses that he has started to date his ex-wife, Paula.
While they worked out their divorce, Joe and Sarah shared custody of their children. Joe floored Sarah by abruptly announcing he wanted full custody. Joe had a lawyer who was expert in that area and unbeknownst to Sarah, he had already contacted most of their acquaintances to support him. The judge granted him full temporary custody. Their daughter did not take well to the upheaval, and ran away. They soon found her at Nora's house. Joe blamed Sarah, but realized what the arrangement was doing to their children, and agreed to go back to shared custody.