Karen Delaney St. Croix Popeil Walker (born Karen Delaney) was a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace (1998-2006). She was portrayed by actress and singer Megan Mullally.

Karen, originally meant to be a supporting character on the show, has emerged as a favorite of viewers and thus made more of a focal point on the show. She was a multi-millionaire thanks to her marriage to obese and extremely wealthy husband Stan Walker until discovering he was broke. Stan Walker is an unseen character.

Early years

Karen was born on either February 18, 1959, or on February 21, 1959. Karen's childhood was a rocky road, thanks in part to her unstable relationship with her mother, Lois Whitley (played by Suzanne Pleshette), a con artist who incorporated her young daughter into her schemes. Karen is often cruel to her staff at home, training them to run when she enters a room, and firing someone to make herself feel better. Other times she chews them out, but somehow this comes across as an act of affection.

Although she tries to keep her age secret, her good friend Jack McFarland revealed that she was 42 in 2001, meaning she was born in February 1959. She has been married four times — her first husband's surname was St. Croix, her second was named Popeil (a reference to the American culinary businessman/entrepreneur Ron Popeil), her third was Stan Walker (married since 1995), and she was married for 20 minutes to Lyle Finster (John Cleese) in May 2004, although she is still married to Stanley (see below), who has two children of his own, Olivia and Mason. She has intimated an illicit relationship with Ronald Reagan (claiming no one said anything to her at his funeral because she was his mistress.) Karen also goes under the alias

"Anastasia Beaverhausen," and, by her own words, she used the alias Pilar Palabundo to "beat up businessmen for cash in Chinatown." Her real name may not, in fact, be Karen, as she changes her name from time to time to throw off the "Feds." Her mother refers to her as "Kiki", which was her childhood nickname. She has made more than one reference to attending Sarah Lawrence College, although she may have been joking, referring to her lesbian tendencies (see Sexuality). She is noted also for her shrill/squeaky voice and her addiction to pills and alcohol.

To entertain herself, Karen took a job as personal assistant to interior designer Grace Adler. Though she never accomplishes any work (she cannot name a computer or a fax machine), she does not quit because the job gets her "away from Stan and the kids," as she once told an intern. Grace does not fire her because Grace's business benefits from Karen's social contacts; Karen also pays for Grace's health insurance. Karen also appears to pay Grace's Christmas bonus, unlike the usual employer paying the employee the bonus. For a long time, Karen never cashed any of the paychecks she was given because she didn't need to, instead keeping them in a box on her desk because she thought they were "pretty pieces of paper." When Stan stopped giving her an allowance, she cashed all her paychecks at once, nearly bankrupting Grace (Karen paid the money back in the end). Karen and Grace became very close over the years, and Karen's love/hate relationship with Will even turned to friendship. She also developed a best/fake-romantic friendship with Jack McFarland, an effeminately gay struggling actor.

For the first few seasons of the show, Karen lived with husband Stan Walker, an obese man whose business possibly keeps Taco Bell and Pizza Hut afloat and who has been wearing a toupee since his teens, Stan was an unseen character during the show's run, despite being mentioned in many episodes. His two children, Mason (known to Karen as "the fat one") and Olivia, by Stan's previous wife (described by Karen in one episode as "that bitch Kathy!"), were often in the incompetent care of Karen.

In the fourth season, Stan was jailed for tax evasion and told Karen to date other men. She could not bring herself to do so until she met rich bachelor Lionel (Rip Torn), but just as their affair began, Stan was released from jail. However, after Karen caught him with his mistress Lorraine Finster (Minnie Driver)--a cafeteria worker at the prison--the couple separated, and Karen moved into a ritzy hotel. After beginning divorce proceedings at the end of the fifth season, Stan died suddenly.

During season six, Karen pursued romantic liaisons and ended up marrying Lyle Finster (John Cleese), Lorraine's father. However, after twenty minutes of marriage--a sudden ceremony in Las Vegas--she asked for a divorce.

Karen has been the head of Walker, Inc., since her husband's death. However, at the end of season seven, it was revealed that Stan faked his death and had actually been in hiding. Karen began dating Malcolm (Alec Baldwin), a government agent who had helped Stan do this. However, she ultimately reconciled with Stan, and Malcolm left on a government mission to Sri Lanka. Later in the eighth season, however, Karen and Stan experienced significant marriage difficulties. They finally chose to divorce, only for Karen to learn--in the show's series finale--that his money was borrowed and that, as a result, she was broke.

Karen then pressured Jack into a relationship with Beverley Leslie (played by Leslie Jordan), who was wealthy enough to support Jack--and in turn keep Karen in the lifestyle to which she was accustomed. The diminutive Leslie conveniently left his millions to Jack before being swept off a high balcony by a strong gust of wind. Jack then became the "sugar daddy" in his relationship with Karen, which has otherwise not changed. The series finale showed that--until at least 2026--Karen lived with Rosario and Jack in a happy relationship reminiscent of their old days, and, thanks to plastic surgery, she had also not aged a day.