- This article covers Clyde Donovan's mother. For the South Park Elementary student, see Betsy.
Betsy Donovan was Clyde Donovan's mother and Roger Donovan's wife. She was of Dutch ancestry and according to Clyde, she apparently had a very good recipe for lemon bars.
She died in "Reverse Cowgirl" after Clyde left the toilet seat up. However, she was later seen alive in the episodes "Jewpacabra" and "You're Not Yelping", which is likely a continuity error.
Background[]
Betsy was originally referred to as "Martha" in her non-speaking debut in the episode, "Red Hot Catholic Love", but ten years later, this has been retconned and changed to Betsy, in "Reverse Cowgirl". Betsy was from a Dutch background and could even speak in its native tongue. She displayed her Dutch language and singing skills in the episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association" when she was singing a Dutch melody about Slash to Clyde over the phone.
Betsy stuck in a toilet in "Reverse Cowgirl"
In "Reverse Cowgirl", it is revealed that Betsy was hard on Clyde when it comes to matters such as leaving the toilet seat up, even going to his school to confront him about it. Ultimately, Clyde failed to put the toilet seat down, resulting in her death. Betsy apologized to Clyde for not being harder on him and begs him to put the toilet seat down, for his sister's sake, before she asked to be allowed to die. Her death was caused by her organs being forcefully ripped from out of her rectum, due to pressure changes caused by closing the water valve, leaving Roger Donovan, widowed, with Clyde and his unnamed sister.
Despite her death in "Reverse Cowgirl", she is seen alive in "Jewpacabra" and "You're Not Yelping", which is likely a continuity or animation error. Betsy can also be seen alive in the updated Season Seventeen intro.
Voice actor[]
In all of her appearances, Betsy was voiced by April Stewart, until her final appearance in "Reverse Cowgirl", where she was voiced by Trey Parker due to last-minute script changes.
Appearance[]
She had dark brown hair, just like Clyde and her husband. She wore a long-sleeved white top with a light brown overdress, a red belt, a gold belt buckle, and pearl earrings.
Personality[]
Little was known about Betsy’s personality. Although she was mostly portrayed as a calm and kind woman often seen caring for her son Clyde and reminding him to do his chores and interacting with the other parents, she had no problem embarrassing her son in front of his friends. It was revealed in "Reverse Cowgirl" that she can be hard on others and tends to become confrontational when she felt like she is wronged, stemming from incidents of Clyde leaving the toilet seat up, despite her repeated orders for him to put it down. It was late quoted during her funeral that she "treated people with dignity and respect."
She seems to care a lot about Clyde as shown in "Child Abduction is Not Funny" when she was terrified of him being abducted, crying when she let him go, coming to his aid when she thinks he is in distress, as shown in "Ginger Kids". She can get annoyed with him, seemingly whenever he does not listen. Such as in "Mysterion Rises" when she told Clyde to take the trash out that morning, but Clyde procrastinated to play "Super Hero" with his friends, so she had to remind for the second while knocking on his bedroom door.
Video Games[]
South Park: The Stick of Truth[]
Betsy appeared in a photograph at Clyde's house.
Prominence[]
- "Red Hot Catholic Love" - Seen in church; she was referred to as 'Martha'.
- "Child Abduction is Not Funny" - Seen at Whistlin' Willy's.
- "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" - Mentioned by Clyde.
- "South Park is Gay!" - She and the other moms are at first ok with the metrosexual fad, but then gets annoyed with it and beat up the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy men.
- "Grey Dawn" - She is held hostage by the old people along with her husband.
- "It's Christmas in Canada" - Seen in the crowd of people at the Christmas tree lighting in South Park.
- "Good Times with Weapons" - Seen at the Community Outrage.
- "The Losing Edge" - Seen watching the baseball game.
- "Ginger Kids" - She hears Clyde scream only to find him missing.
- "Free Willzyx" - She talks to the two aquarium employees.
- "The Return of Chef" - Seen with her husband after Chef comes back.
- "Cartoon Wars Part I" - Seen with her husband.
- "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce" - Seen at the town's meeting. She later explains that Clyde had a colostomy when he was five.
- "Lice Capades" - She takes Clyde to the doctor.
- "The List" - She tells Clyde it's time for him to go to bed.
- "Major Boobage" - Attends the town meeting at the community center.
- "Over Logging" - Attends Randy's speech in City Hall.
- "About Last Night..." - Celebrating the win of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
- "Elementary School Musical" - Spectates a basketball match at the school gym.
- "Margaritaville" - Seen in a blanket like the other townsfolk.
- "Pinewood Derby" - Seen among the residents witnessing Stan and Randy making another Pinewood Derby car.
- "You Have 0 Friends" (Mentioned only) - Eric Cartman says that she is taking everyone in her son's class to Casa Bonita.
- "200" - Seen at the mayor's office with the rest of the crowd.
- "Mysterion Rises" - She tells Clyde to take the garbage out.
- "T.M.I." - Seen at the P.T.A. meeting.
- "Crack Baby Athletic Association" - She and her husband explain to Clyde that Slash is not real.
- "Reverse Cowgirl" - Events during this episode led to her death.
- "Jewpacabra" - (Error) Makes a brief cameo appearance at the egg hunt.
- "The Magic Bush" - Cameo as a photograph.
- "You're Not Yelping" - (Cameo)
- "Truth and Advertising" (mentioned) - Cartman jokingly mentions that she is dead.
- "Sons A Witches" - Her ghost follows the school bus in the intro.
- "The Scoots" - Cameo as a photograph.
- "City People" - Cameo as a photograph.
Movies[]
- South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid - Cameo as a photograph.
References[]
| South Park families | |
|---|---|
Main characters' families Other characters' families | |