Helena Peabody is a main character of The L Word throughout seasons two through five. She is the daughter of multi-millionaire Peggy Peabody and close friend of several main characters in the show. She is played by English actress Rachel Shelley. Helena is an alpha female who almost always publicly or recklessly displays her affection toward accompanying female companions.
Storyline
Background
Helena Peabody is the only child of Peggy Peabody, a free-spirited socialite and heiress. Peggy married Helena's father, a penniless British aristocrat, in England after her fleeing a brief same-sex relationship in early 1970s. Helena was born in England c. 1974 and had primarily and presumably been living in England, hence her British accent, and later, New York. She has an ex-lover, Winnie Mann, with whom she has a son, Wilson. The couple later adopted a Chinese girl, Jang Yin. Both children spend time between both mothers after their split. Helena had a few sex-related legal problems, and every time her mother came to her rescue. It was after Peggy's retirement and Helena's appointment as the new director of the Peabody Foundation that she later moved to Los Angeles.
Season Two
Helena is first introduced in the series as the new director of the Peabody Foundation, when her mother Peggy decides to retire. Her first interaction with the major characters of the series occurs when Bette Porter visits her at the Peabody Foundation headquarters in New York City to try to convince her of the importance of keeping funds for arts projects at the California Arts Center. However, Helena shifts the foundation's focus away from the arts and towards community service, cutting all funds to the CAC and awarding the biggest grant to Tina Kennard's organization, Headquarters for Social Justice.
After meeting Tina in Los Angeles, Helena tries to seduce her, and also notices her pregnancy before Bette is informed. Tina and Helena thus start an affair[2] that lasts for the second half of the season. During this time, Helena moves to Los Angeles and tries to get more involved in Tina's life. At the same time, she becomes part of the board of the CAC and brings in Leo Herrera, who outshines Bette. Herrera's achievements lead the CAC to buy out Bette's contract during the second season finale.
Helena has two adopted children, but does not always live up to the custody agreement. The children appear to accept Helena's many affairs, often asking if her lover can come along with them on activities such as swimming or going to the zoo.
Season Three
During the third season, Helena buys a movie studio and, despite how her relationship with Tina ended, she brings her in to work with her as an executive producer of the studio. She becomes friends with Alice Pieszecki, whom she thinks might be a new love interest after an unclear tarot reading, and she tries to help her come out of depression after the break-up with Dana. Further into the season Helena gets involved with Dylan Moreland (played by Alexandra Hedison), and is eventually charged with a sexual harassment lawsuit (as Dylan was only using her to gain money). Off-court meetings of this lawsuit presented in unveil Helena's past: in 1998, Helena was sued for sexual harassment; the claim was settled out of court. In 2002, Helena violated a restraining order filed against her by her psychiatrist. She agrees to settle off court.
Helena helped Dana somewhat in her last days of her battle with Cancer and was at her funeral. She also supported the fundraiser for Max Sweeney's gender reassignment surgery, and paid for Shane's wedding during the third season finale (where she makes the disastrous decision of giving Gabriel McCutcheon money which he used to run off leaving Carla, and which triggered Shane to also leave Carmen at the altar). At about this time, her wealthy mother cut her off financially.
Season Four
After being cut off by her mother, Helena becomes Alice's roommate for the fourth season, time during which she discovers the Chart, gets fired from her own movie studio, and has a one-night stand with Papi.
The spoiled Helena, who has never really had to work before, is depicted having a hard time finding a job. After several unsuccessful attempts, Shane brings her into WA to be the receptionist, but she proves to be unsuited for the job and quits. Further on, Alice convinces Phyllis Kroll to hire Helena as a caterer for a party from which she ends up without profit after an incident in the kitchen.
Helena later joins Shane and Alice at the Roll the Dice movie premiere party. Here, she meets Catherine Rothberg, an actress who invites her to play poker at her high stake game. Helena loses and is in a struggle to pay her debt of fifty thousand dollars as a penalty, but the actress agrees to spare her from the debt if she wins another card game at her house. If Helena loses, Catherine implies she will demand sexual favours from Helena. Helena initially has doubts about whether to attend the game, questioning whether or not she would become a whore, but decides to take Catherine on nonetheless. She ends up winning the game, but still embarks on an affair with Catherine, as it is now theoretically on her own terms.
Catherine seduces Helena into a world of high stakes betting on poker games and horse races, but the terms of their relationship seem unclear to the rest of Helena's friends. Even when Helena wins big, Catherine seems to keep the winnings (possibly because she was using Catherine's money to bet), and when Helena loses, it is Helena's problem (such as when she loses $100,000 on a horse race after a tip from Catherine doesn't work out as they hoped).
Helena is also forced by Catherine to ignore her children to do what Catherine wants. Towards the end of the season, she is also seen doing menial jobs for Catherine, all because Catherine bankrolls the wealthy lifestyle Helena craves. After Catherine makes a bet whether Shane and Paige will still be together in six months, with the stakes being a million dollars for Helena or Helena's services as a servant and sex slave for a year for Catherine, Helena snaps, and cleans out Catherine's safe.
Season Five
Helena is admitted into prison on charges of stealing money from Catherine. Due to her being a 'flight risk', her bail is set at an undisclosed, but high amount. While Alice attempts to contact Helena's mother, Helena is warned 'not to drop the soap'. Later, after being romantically entangled with another butch inmate named "Dusty", her mother Peggy Peabody bails her daughter out of prison. They both appear at The Planet and Peggy declares they will both be going to live in a country in Europe with no extradition treaty with the United States. Helena has other plans in mind and escapes out the back of The Planet. She confides in Shane, who is smoking a cigarette behind The Planet, and it is revealed that she has plans of retrieving the money that she stole from Catherine to set Dusty free and escape to a Polynesian island paradise with her, as is signified with the light fingering of a puzzle piece given to her by Dusty.
Later in the season Helena leaves Dusty and returns to L.A. in time to receive her ailing mother, who reinstates her heiress status. She learns of changes that happened during her absence. At her mother's encouragement, Helena takes over both SheBar and The Planet from Dawn Denbo. In the process, she also claims Denbo's Lover Cindi (Cindi Annabelle Tucker) as a prize.
Season Six
Helena resumes her relationship with Dylan Moreland in season 6, after "testing" her in order to estimate whether Dylan is after her money and wants to exploit her again or actually cares for her.
Interrogation Tapes
In her interrogation tape with Sgt. Duffy, she reveals she didn't hide Catherine Rothberg's money. She used it to piss her off, because Catherine was a big republican, so she donated it to lesbian centers, fertility clinics, etc.