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Debra Louise Barone (née Whelan) is a fictional character from the American TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. She is played by actress Patricia Heaton. On the show, Debra lives on Long Island, with her husband Ray Barone (Ray Romano) and their children Geoffrey, Michael and Ally (Sawyer, Sullivan and Madylin Sweeten respectively). Debra is occasionally visited by her mother Lois (Katherine Helmond) and her father Warren (Robert Culp).

As the wife of Ray Barone, who is usually nagging and picking on him, Debra is a stressed-out, emotional, and moody character. She grew up in Connecticut and was brought up by her loving, caring, and rich parents. Her parents are Warren and Lois Whelan. Warren and Lois have traveled throughout the world since Debra moved away. Debra's parents experienced a lot of marital troubles and received counseling for it, but eventually divorced anyway. Debra also has one older sister named Jennifer, whose lifestyle undergoes radical change when she decides to move to Zaire and become become a nun.

After learning she was pregnant with twins, Debra brought up the issue that she and Ray would need to move in a bigger home, as they would now have three children. Once Ray's parents learned of this, Frank showed the married couple a nice home across the street from two lovely neighbors, who just happened to be Marie and Frank themselves. Ray was terrified at the idea of moving across the street from his parents. Debra was able to convince him to do so, but she soon regretted it.

Debra often complains to Ray about his family, because of his mother and her dislike of Debra. She mostly complains to Ray about Marie, who gives her the most grief. Marie often barges into Debra's home insinuating how bad a housewife and homemaker she is. Most of Marie's nasty insinuations are aimed at Debra's cooking, since Marie has always been a world class cook and Debra is notorious for making lousy food. Other than Lemon Chicken (the first dish Debra ever made for Ray), her only other decent dish is braciole, which Ray likes. Though she made one good meal once, it was soon revealed that braciole was the same meal Marie made when Frank proposed, and out of respect for Marie, Debra stopped making braciole. In another episode Marie gave Debra almost all of her recipes, but this does not seem to affect the quality of the meals. Other things Marie criticizes are Debra's parental skills and housekeeping. Marie often rewashes the dishes and spends her days cleaning Debra's house all over again.

Instead of sex, Debra enjoys reading before going to bed. She is also active in the school PTA. In spite of her constant nagging at and picking on Ray and gossipy way of complaining about his family usually while in bed with Ray, Debra really does love her family, even Frank and Marie. Debra also once defended Ray when he was "being beat up by the Cookie Lady", Peggy (Amy Aquino), letting her know that she's the only one who gets to mess with Ray. Debra and Marie are known to take each other's sides on many issues as well. Debra is a very caring mother but an emotional housewife. Debra's maiden name is Whelan.

She loves Ray despite his shortcomings but is constantly tormented by her meddling in-laws, Frank and Marie Barone (Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts respectively). Debra is known to be attractive, admired by Robert - whom she tolerates better than Ray's other relatives. Ray considers her "out of league", in spite of the fact that she is frequently physically, verbally and emotionally abusive towards him.

Debra went to college and worked for a while in Public Relations for the New York Rangers. After getting married to Ray, she became a housewife.

Trivia

• Debra's maiden name is Whelan, and she has the same middle name as Amy, Louise.

Quotes

• (To her husband) "I love you, I have to like you!"
• (To her husband) "You know what? I'm tired...can you just call yourself an idiot?"
• (After Ray offers to give Alli the "sex talk") "Know what Ray? You can be there and I'll explain it to both of you."
• (To Geoffrey and Michael's teacher) "You have no idea what I have to put up with. When I got married, I didn't just get a husband, I got a whole freak show that set up their tent right across the street! And that would be fine if they stayed there, but everyday, every day, they dump a truckload of their insane family dreck into my lap. How would you like to sit through 2 people in their 60's fighting over who invented the lawn? The LAWN! And then the brother, 'I live in an apartment. I don't even have a lawn. Raymond has a lawn.' But you can't blame him when you see who the mother is. She has this kind of sick hold on the both of them. And the father is about as disgusting a creature as God has ever dropped on this planet. So no wonder the kid writes stories. I should be writing stories. My life is a gothic novel, and until you have lived in that house with all of them in there with you, day after day, week after week, year after friggin' year, you are in no position to judge me!"
• (Usually to or regarding her husband) "Idiot."
• (Angry at her husband) "What are you doing Ray?!" Ray: "Listen, I know what you are thinking." Debra: "Really? Then, why aren't you protecting yourself?"
• (To Raymond about not going to church) "You know, God can hear you right now."
• (After Ray votes against her for president of the school board) "I don't care if my platform was anti-puppy, you vote for me!"
• (To Raymond and his buddies watching sports) "I could walk through here naked and you wouldn't even notice."
• (When Marie points to the fork and spoon on the wall) "I always thought they were Robert's baby utensils."
• (On the tape recorder) I told you 8 million times, when you empty the dryer you CLEAN THE LINT SCREEN! Look at all this lint! Do you like lint, Ray? How about I give you some for your birthday? Happy birthday, Ray, HERE'S YOUR LINT!!!
• (After apologizing to Ray after a fight) "And I sigh I should've told people I know you.
• (while fighting with Ray) "If there's anything wrong it's PMS!
• (Yelling at Ray) "You are the reason for the yeller!"
• (To Ray and Robert in the cannister episode) "Hey, fat people, who cares?!"
• (To Ray on the checkbook episode) "When you're on the Titanic, you load the lifeboats. You don't stop to yell at the iceberg."

References

1. "Debra's Abuse of Ray"

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