Maddy Perez

“	She quickly realized that there are two kinds of people in the world. The people who sit in the chairs, with their feet in the foot bath. And the people who kneel in front of the foot bath.	”
— Rue’s voiceover[src]

Madeleine “Maddy” Perez is a main character in the first and second seasons of Euphoria. She is portrayed by Alexa Demie, while her 11-year-old counterpart is portrayed by Keilani Arellanes.

Confident, combative Maddy is Nate’s on-and-off girlfriend and finds herself bearing the weight of Nate’s emotions.

Biography

Early life

“	Maddy knew who she was from a very early age. For as long as Maddy could remember, everybody loved her. She never knew exactly what it was. She just knew that she had something special. Something intangible. Something immeasurable. And she had that fucking confidence.	”
— Rue’s voiceover[src]

From a young age, Maddy frequently competed in beauty pageants to great success due to her high levels of self-confidence. However, after her mother saw a news report about a pageant coach being arrested as a child molester, she was prohibited from entering any more pageants. Despite initial protests (which involved refusing to eat for a week), Maddy began to realize that she enjoyed “not doing anything” and embraced her lack of desire for a career. While studying the rich women whom her mother worked for as an esthetician, Maddy decided that she wanted to become one of them in order to avoid being trapped in a strained, loveless relationship like her mother and father’s.

At some point, Maddy entered a relationship with Nate Jacobs. After watching the 1995 film Casino, Maddy began to idolize Sharon Stone’s portrayal of Ginger McKenna, a rich showgirl who used her looks and wits to manipulate men into supporting her wealth. With her in mind, Maddy learned how to convince Nate to buy her expensive items by making him feel confident and powerful, partially via sex. She often watched porn to analyze the performers and learn new techniques, although she never gained arousal from doing so.

Maddy and Nate’s relationship was tumultuous; they took multiple breaks, during which Maddy would often find herself hooking up with other guys including a DJ who said he opened for Calvin Harris, a stockbroker with a family, and a roller rink owner. She disliked Nate’s volatile personality and feared that it would lead to him hurting her one day; despite this, she knew she would continue loving him regardless of his actions, a fact that made her “sick to her stomach.”[3]

At some point, she became a cheerleader in the East Highland cheer leading squad, alongside Cassie Howard.

Season 1

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Maddy is first seen in her room with Kat Hernandez and BB. She questions Kat if her ‘areolas’ look weird, Kat says they are fine. Maddy then talks about how Nate (her on-off again boyfriend) makes her feel bad about herself.

At the party held at McKay’s parents’ house, Maddy and Nate are found attempting to make one another jealous. Maddy was seen on Tyler’s lap and says hi to him. She then is found hooking up in a pool with him when all of a sudden Nate gets mad and calls Maddy a whore, she then responds, “Suck my dick.”

She is found sleeping in her room with BB and Kat.

Personality

Maddy is illustrated as confident, emotional and extroverted. She is rarely seen by herself and is always surrounded by friends, yet she seems close with Kat and Cassie.

Maddy lacks a vocal filter, and is seen as straight forward and honest, she says what is on her mind and has no care what most think of her. Maddy defends her friends when others make rude remarks, showing care and sincerity in her actions. This can be seen when arguing with Kat, as Kat had told Cassie her and McKay will not stay together “forever,” or telling BB to “stop being a cunt for five minutes” towards Kat. Additionally, informing Tyler that she is only having sex with him to make her “ex-boyfriend jealous.” However, according to Kat, she’s self-absorbed and unable to give up Nate.

She often embraces her sexuality (has many one night stands and has no problem asking boys out to dance/make out/kiss her) and has moments of compassion towards her friends and Nate. She also uses her sexuality to her advantage, such as receiving gifts.

Maddy has numerous bad traits: she is shown to be extremely selfish, lying about being sexually assaulted and helping Nate get out of a possible charge for hurting her. When she is in trouble, she is shown to be extremely emotional and dependent on her friends for comfort. On the other hand, Maddy can be seen as immature and jealous. She and Nate both constantly use other people and will act in a sexual manner towards them to make each other jealous. This can only be seen towards Nate, perhaps indicating that Nate brings the worse out of Maddy.

Physical appearance

Maddy has full lips, tan skin, black shoulder-length hair, dark brown eyes, and a slight gap in her front teeth.

As a byproduct of her pageant years and as a physical aid to her confidence, Maddy is always seen in fashionable clothing: usually, her outfits are two pieced: a slim, flattering top paired with a matching bottom set. She often wears colorful, yet structured, graphic-styled makeup that compliments her and her outfits, with sharp winged eyeliner being one of her staples. She maintains a sense of style both in school and in social events. Only in moments of despair does she deviate from her style.

Relationships

Family

Sonia Perez

“	It feels good to know that there’s one person in this whole fucked up world who has my back! You think I want this?! You live in the same house and you don’t even say one word to each other. That’s the difference between me and you!	”
— Maddy to her mom[src]

Sonia, Maddy’s mother, is a prominent character in the early part of season 1, though she retreats later in the season. In her appearances, Sonia demonstrates her love and encouragement for her daughter, but their mother-daughter relationship is complicated by Maddy’s boyfriend, Nate. When she finds out about Nate’s abuse towards Maddy, Her mother decides to press charges, much to Maddy’s dismay, which makes Maddy angry. Also, in episode 5 of season 1, it is shown that Maddy is portrayed as a frequent pageant winner, encouraged by her mother and father. They support her doing this until a child molester in the pageant business is ousted. Sonya forbids Maddy from competing after this. Even though Maddy did not deal with the molester, Sonya wanted to protect her from any harm she could’ve potentially experienced. Maddy, however, gets mad at her mother for this and resents her for standing in the way of her dreams. Maddy also does not respect her mother’s job and wants to instead be the person getting waited on.

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Ted Perez

Maddy is seen on the show to resent her dad for his alcoholism and lying about his ability to keep a job. She also talked about how her mother and father live in the same and don’t even talk. So, she might also resent her parents’ dysfunctional relationship.

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Romances

Nate Jacobs

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“	It wasn’t the violence that scared her, it was the fact that she knew no matter what he did, she’d still love him.	”
— Rue’s voiceover[src]

Sometime in high school, Maddy started to develop an attraction to Nate, which lasted a while before Nate finally asked her out. Their relationship started very positively: Nate gave flowers for her every day and really loved her and Maddy reciprocated. Maddy made sure she was a perfect girl for Nate: imitating porn stars selected to please him and pretending to be a virgin. As a result, Nate would buy her with gifts like fur coats. However, later, the two created a habit of breaking up, during which Maddy slept with other men. Despite being conscious, Nate still loved her and the two always made up. Nate also likes to fantasize about using violence against men in a situation where Maddy’s life was in danger.

Nate and Maddy both love each other very much but their relationship is violent and toxic. Nate and Maddy are together for the majority of season one. In the last episode, Maddy and Nate seem to have broken up again. They start out by following their same pattern of making the other jealous. However, when Maddy and Nate start dancing together, Maddy tells Nate that their relationship isn’t healthy. Nate says he knows it isn’t good for them.

She has a dysfunctional relationship with both Nate’s parents, before the carnival he told her that his parents hated her. He told her to wear something less slutty, but while on MDMA she went to their chili stand in the same clothes. She pushed their chili pot from the stand and called his mother a cunt.

By Season 2, it’s implied they have formally parted ways, although Nate is desperate to win her back.

Friends

Cassie Howard

“	You’re a fucking coward, and I would’ve never done this to you… I would’ve never done this to you…	”
— Maddy to Cassie[src]

Cassie is seen to be one of Maddy’s closest friends throughout the show. She could even be considered as Maddy’s best friend. They’re seen with each other throughout most of the series. She is also one of the only people who knew what was going on with Maddy and Nate’s relationship in season 1. They’ve been friends for a long time as shown from the flashbacks to their freshman year in high school in a couple of episodes. Their friendship took a turn for the worst when it was found out that Cassie was sleeping with Nate behind Maddy’s back in episode 5 of season 2. It is not known if Maddy and Cassie will rekindle their friendship in season 3. But, it is unlikely they will.

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Kat Hernandez

The two are kind of always together and Maddy even seems to grow to respect Kat more as the show progresses. When Maddy finds out about Cassie and Nate, it’s Kat who she talks to. When Kat opens up about how she wants to break up with Ethan despite things being good on the surface, Maddy is there for her with advice.

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Barbara Brookes

Barbara Brookes (BB) hangs around Maddy a lot throughout the series. They seem to be good friends. Or at least BB tries to be Maddy’s friend, with her seen hanging out with Maddy and Kat at times. They don’t have many scenes alone together. They’re both usually around a mutual friend when interacting. She got invited to her birthday party in season 2 episode 5. So she must value their friendship in some way.

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Jules Vaughn

“	I wish you could see yourself the way the rest of the world does.	”
— Jules to Maddy[src]

Jules and Maddy haven’t been given much screen time in the series. They’re only seen with each other when in a room of mutual friends throughout the series. They went to the bowling alley in season 2 episode 2 in which Jules said “I wish you could see yourself the way the rest of the world does.” alluding to her having a fondness for Maddy and wishing Maddy could see how much she was worth. Maddy knew that the girl in the tape was Jules, which is part of why she was wanting to hold on to it.

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Lexi Howard

Maddy and Lexi have a relatively good relationship. She’s seen hanging around Maddy most of the series and she was invited to her birthday party alongside her sister Cassie in season 2. Maddy also reassured her in the dressing room before her play started in episode 7 of season 2 showing that she cares about Lexi. Also she is seen supporting her throughout her play in episode 7 & 8 season 2.

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Rue Bennett

Maddy and Rue have a close relationship. They share an instinctive trust for each other, as evidenced by the fact that when Rue told Maddy that Cassie was fucking Nate, Maddy believed her in a heart-beat.

“	Maddy has always liked Rue and has had empathy for her. She knows everyone’s fucked up in their own ways and she doesn’t ever want to judge her, so in that moment it’s very easy for her to trust Rue.	”
— Alexa Demie about Maddy and Rue

Samantha

Samantha is the woman whose son Maddy babysits. Wealthy and carefree, Samantha is essentially who Maddy wants to be when she grows up. She looks up to Samantha and her life, viewing it as the one she would like for herself.

Appearances

Season 1 appearances
Pilot	Stuntin’ Like My Daddy	Made You Look	Shook Ones Pt. II
’03 Bonnie and Clyde	The Next Episode	The Trials and Tribulations of Trying to Pee While Depressed	And Salt the Earth Behind You

Quotes

“	Dad, stop being a pervert! We’re literally, like, all naked!	”
— Maddy to her dad[src]

“	I don’t know. Do you think straight guys ever, like, watch gay porn?	”
— Maddy to Kat[src]

“	Yeah, I’m not supposed to be here right now, because I’m dressed like a hooker and none of you like me, but I just wanted to say congratulations.	”
— Maddy to Nate and his family[src]

“	I’m just saying, love is a million things. Sometimes it feels good and sometimes it doesn’t. The one thing I know is that Nate loves me no matter what. He’d fucking kill for me, and I’d kill for him. It feels good to know that there’s one person in this whole fucked up world who has my back. You think I want this? You live in the same house and you don’t even say one word to each other. That’s the difference between me and you.	”
— Maddy to her mom[src]

“	Out of sight, out of mind.	”
— Maddy seeing Nate in her mirror[src]

“	When you get older, don’t be an asshole to girls you like.	”
— Maddy to Theo[src]

“	Did you know that I loved you? I’m not talking about obsession or fighting or fucking. I’m talking about love. Did you feel loved by me?	”
— Maddy to Nate[src]

“	You see, this is why I don’t believe you when make all of these promises, and you’re like: “Oh, let’s get back together, you’re the only person in the world I care about. You’re the goddess, and it’s my fault for not treating you like a goddess. I promise, Maddy, I’ll change, I’ll grow, I’ll be better. I don’t deserve you, but I love you. Please when I move to college, move with me, marry me, have my babies…”	”
— Maddy to Nate[src]

Trivia

• In “The Next Episode”, Maddy dresses up as Iris “Easy” Steensma from the 1976 film Taxi Driver.
• Maddy has an evil eye tattoo behind her right ear.
• It is very likely that Maddy’s birthday is January 31, 2001. In “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird”, which takes place in February 2019, Rue states that she saw Nate and Cassie kiss last month. In the same scene, the decorations from Maddy’s party are still up from the previous episode, implying that the date of the night before was January 31.[4]
• It is implied that Maddy has a cat based on the cat tree beside her nightstand in her bedroom.[5]
• Inspiration for Maddy’s jeweled makeup looks stemmed from Nina Simone’s own rhinestone look.
• Based on multiple social media posts by Alexa Demie, it is implied that Alexa does Maddy’s makeup instead of the makeup crew.
• Sam Levinson and Euphoria’s fashion designers thought that she was the type of girl who wears matching outfit sets. This would explain her denim outfit, carnival outfit, and mall outfit.
• Since Maddy’s birthday is January 31st, she is an Aquarius.

Gallery

See also: Category:Images of Maddy Perez

References

1. ↑ Maddy is 17 years old in the first season of Euphoria, which takes place in 2018. 2018 minus 17 equals 2001, so she would have been born in or around 2001.
   In “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird”, Rue mentions that she saw Cassie and Nate get together “like a month ago”, “right after New Year’s”. The decorations from Maddy’s birthday party have not yet been removed, implying that this revelation occurs the night after. Through Rue’s usage of “a month ago”, we can assume that this revelation also occurs in February, so the earliest that Maddy’s birthday can fall is January 31.
2. ↑ “You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Who Can”
3. ↑ “’03 Bonnie and Clyde”
4. ↑ “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird”
5. ↑ “A Thousand Little Trees of Blood”