Barbara Henrickson

Infobox character
colour = #AA0000
colour text = white
name = Barbara Dutton Henrickson
series = Big Love


caption =
first = "Pilot"
last =
cause =
creator = Mark V. Olsen
portrayer = Jeanne Tripplehorn
episode =
nickname = Barb
alias =
species =
gender = Female
age = 40's
born = 1960's
death =
specialty =
occupation =
title =
callsign =
family =
Nancy Dutton (mother)
Cindy Dutton (sister)
spouse = Bill Henrickson (husband)
Nicolette Grant (sister-wife)
Margene Heffman (sister-wife)
children = Sarah (daughter)
Ben (son)
Tancy (daughter)
Wayne (step-son)
Raymond (step-son)
Aaron (step-son)
Lester (step-son)
Nell (step-daughter)
relatives = Joey Henrickson (brother-in-law)
Joey Jr. Henrickson (nephew)
Margaret Henrickson (sister-in-law; "deceased")
Wanda Henrickson (sister-in-law)
residence = Sandy, Utah
religion = Mormon
nationality = American

Barbara "Barb" Dutton Henrickson is a character on HBO's "Big Love" portrayed by Jeanne Tripplehorn. Barb is the first wife of Bill Henrickson. Barb was raised in a traditional Mormon family, outside polygamy. Bill and Barb met while in college, and married soon afterwards. Together, they had three children. Barb almost died of uterine cancer after the birth of Tancy "Teeny" Henrickson, the youngest of Barb's children, right before Bill married wife #2 Nicolette "Nicki" Grant and later, wife #3 Margene Heffman.

Biography

Barb's mother and sister disowned her because she followed Bill into polygamy; her sister is shown as the modern, one-husband wife, raising the children (plus an adopted child) and holding down a job, whilst repeated references are made to Barb's mother "not being ready" to meet with Barb at the time of the first season of the show, some years after her battle with cancer. Barb substitute teaches first grade and seems to be the wife with the "cooler" head. She has a close relationship with youngest wife Margene Heffman, who looks up to her as the head sister-wife.

Indeed, both wife #2 Nicki and wife #3 Margie look up to Barb as not only big sister, but also like a mother. For example, when Nicki pits herself against Marge, they both scramble to get Barb's attention and wisdom to solve the conflict, most prominently seen in the episode 'Good Guys and Bad Guys'. In this argument, Nicki has commandeered Margene's mother away from Margene, and when they find out Barb is on the phone, they both fight over the line to tell Barb their side of the story. Barb, though she's closest to Margie, is often paranoid about the youngest wife's relationship with the teenaged Henrickson children. Margie, being scarcely out of teenhood herself, has a close friendship with Barb's son and oldest daughter, which Barb is both jealous and scared of at the same time. Barb simultaneously fears that Margie may be the better mother and that her son may have a crush on Marge.

Season Two also seems to be closing upon Barb's realization that the polygamous religion that she finds herself involved in may not be an ideal situation, as a barbaric civil war begins between the polygamous compounds and she sees the abusive behavior of other polygamous couples, specifically Bill's parents and Roman and his many wives. She also begins to realize that just because she, Nicki, and Margene are off the compound, it doesn't mean that their situation is any different from those that are fighting within the compound. She also fears that her oldest Ben Henrickson believes in polygamy.

Because Margene wants to be a surrogate mother to the neighbor's baby Barb "outs' the family as polygamous. She also tells Bill that there will never be a time when there will be a fourth wife and he offers her as a show of loyalty a board membership in his new company Weber Gaming.