Caroline Nash is the mother of Ellie Nash. She is overcoming her drinking habit, which made her daughter cut herself. With her husband overseas, in the Canadian Army, and her daughter living alone, she has the house to herself.
Character History
Season 3
Caroline's last kiss with her husband before he left.
In Whisper to a Scream, Caroline's husband leaves to join the Army for a peace mission, leaving her alone with Ellie. She is highly upset by her husband's departure, but hides her emotions from him. She becomes depressed and resorts to alcohol as a comfort, but she is left vomiting all day long, while never leaving the couch.
Caroline lying around on the couch.
She becomes an alcoholic and neglects Ellie, but still expects her daughter to take care of her. Finally reaching her limit, stress builds up within Ellie as she struggles with school work, taking care of her mother, and trying to keep her job. This dramatic increase in stress causes Ellie to cut herself numerous times, shown in a montage intertwined with clips showing her at work and her mother continually drinking.
Season 4
In Anywhere I Lay My Head, Caroline passes out with a pot of water boiling on the stove, causing a fire. Ellie manages to get both of them out of the house safely and the kitchen is the only room damaged in the house. During this time, Caroline is oblivious to Ellie's self-mutilation and passes her daughter's emotions off as being melodramatic.
Caroline slaps Sean.
Ellie's boyfriend, Sean Cameron, takes an automatic disliking to Caroline when he meets her at Degrassi's open house and offers to share his apartment with Ellie. Ellie tells Caroline that she's going to stay with Ashley until the kitchen is remodelled. Caroline calls the Kerwins and finds out that Ellie is staying with Sean.
Caroline angrily confronts her daughter at Sean's apartment. When Sean tells her to leave Ellie alone, she slaps him in the face and tells him to stay away from Ellie. Caroline takes Ellie home and assures Ellie that the charred kitchen will be remodelled, and that she's a lot better off without Sean in her life. Ellie takes out the compass and other pens and needles that she once used to cut herself & rolls up her sleeves, showing her mother the scars. Caroline finally realizes the pain that she's causing Ellie and breaks down in tears, pleading for forgiveness.
In Queen of Hearts, for a few months, Caroline is in rehab and meets Ellie for monthly dinners. When Sean moves back to Wasaga Beach, Caroline finally convinces Ellie to move back home and promises to watch her drinking habits carefully.
Season 6
In Free Fallin' (1), Ellie went home to her mother's house for the weekend with her laundry
Season 7
In Jessie's Girl, Marco Del Rossi asked Ellie about her mother while Ellie was drinking a Margherita at their roommate Griffin Pierce-Taylor's party in their apartment. Ellie told him that she had been sober for 17 months.
Season 8
Caroline calling Marco's cell phone.
In Degrassi Goes Hollywood, Caroline's relationship with Ellie is deteriorating. Ellie's father is honourably discharged from the Canadian Army and is undergoing intensive therapy for the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that he sustained in Afghanistan.
Ellie is scared of seeing her father in his current state and Caroline assumes that she lacks compassion for him and rebukes her, causing Ellie to have a breakdown and attempt suicide. She desperately tries to call Ellie throughout the movie, even trying to reach her through Marco and Paige Michalchuk.
Trivia
- Caroline is the second alcoholic mother in the Degrassi Franchise. The first was Kathleen Mead's mother Mrs. Mead.
- Caroline is the first character to set fire to a building, the others being Paige, Emma, and Miles.
- Unlike most people, she typically called her daughter by her full name Eleanor.
Quotes
- "Don't make a scene, Eleanor. Just shut up, smile, and wave." - Whisper to a Scream
- Ellie: "It's open."
Caroline: "It's the middle of the night, Ellie. There's no emergency?"
Ellie: "I had to be sure of something."
Caroline: "Sure of what?"
Ellie: "That you could come over. That you were sober. You weren't drunk."
Caroline: "You woke me as a test?!"
Ellie: "I wrote a letter to Mr. Martin. It says I'm giving two months notice."
Caroline: "Oh, so you're coming home!"
Ellie: "I...I said I wrote it, Mom. I haven't given it to him. Not yet."
Caroline: "But you're going to?"
Ellie: "No more drinking?"
Caroline: "The best I can do is try. Day by day. Try."
Ellie: "Then promise me you'll try and make it easy for me to trust you."
Caroline: "Come home, Ellie. I'm tired of being alone."
Ellie: "Yeah. Me too." - Queen of Hearts