Brandi Souza

Brandi Souza
Queen of the Willis and Deanna & Brandi character
First appearance	"Brandi, Call the Doctor!" (Queen of the Willis) "Pilot" (Deanna & Brandi)
Created by	Ava Zinn
Voiced by	Crystal Bowersox Kassie DePaiva
Information
Occupation	Housewife
Spouse(s)	Deanna Willis (transgendered wife) Gary Hicks (ex-fiancé)
Children	Tessanne Souza (daughter) Lina Willis (adopted daughter)
Relatives	Tammie Sousa (mother) Mark Sousa (father) Patty Sousa (aunt) Louisa Sousa (sister)
Birthday	July 18, 1986

Brandi Lucille Willis (née Sousa) is a fictional character on the animated television series Queen of the Willis and Deanna & Brandi. She is the wife of the character Deanna Willis and the mother of Tessanne Willis, Alexandra Souza (formerly Alexander), Chereice Souza, and Telissa Souza. Brandi is currently voiced by Kassie DePaiva.

Fictional character biography

Queen of the Willis

Brandi Lucille Sousa was born in 1986 to Tamara "Tammie" Sousa (voiced by Tammie Souza) and Mark Stein.

Brandi got her middle name from an incident at a Sam's Club store where she went in to buy a new prop, realized she had to use the restroom, and slipped on ice. The resulting injury left Brandi in constant pain. Brandi sued the store and received a $5.3 million cash settlement, which caused her friends to see her as lucky -- hence, the middle name.

Brandi refers to the cash settlement as "money," and one of her catchphrases is "I slipped on ice at the Sam's Club." The Sam's Club story is partially contradicted in the episode "[[]]," where Brandi says that she was at the store purchasing a TV, rather than buying a new cable for her winch, and again, during the series, where she states "If I hadn't gone to get a cash advance, I wouldn't have slipped on ice, wouldn't have got my settlement money, and never would have bought these rims ... it's scary to think about the road not traveled".

Brandi claims she will never have to work another day in her life, even though the settlement was nowhere near enough to cover her expenses for the remainder of her expected natural life, and soon she wises up to that. After the Sam's Club "ice" incident, on Deanna & Brandi, Brandi tried to commit insurance fraud by intentionally harming herself on private property, which has damaged her credibility and earned her some scrapes with the law. Brandi said she once was a real estate agent in Terre Haute, although she never mentioned it to Ava when Ava volunteered to help Brandi write a resume, suggesting she made up the story instead of having an actual record of gainful employment, or was fired.

Although at one point, her funds had dwindled to $9,000, and Ava referred Brandi to Melissa Rose, MD for some temporary work. Brandi and Melissa did some horsing around on Melissa's basement steps, the railing collapsed, and Brandi fell, injuring her back. With some regret, Brandi filed a lawsuit against Melissa. However, events quickly spun out of control, and Brandi's attorney threatened to sue Craven Gifts instead (on the grounds that Ava was acting as a Craven employee when she referred Brandi to Melissa), correctly sensing higher fee potential in suing Craven than in suing Melissa. With the help of Melissa and Ava, Brandi was able to manipulate things so that the attorney would come out on the wrong end of a lawsuit, and the attorney ended up cutting Brandi a check for $5.3 million (Her "usual lawsuit fee and not a penny more") to make the whole thing go away.

Brandi has a definite tendency toward scam artistry, as seen in her lawsuit against Melissa and subsequently getting a settlement from her own attorney. Brandi also went to great lengths to avoid paying a garbage-pickup tax, claiming the tax to be "un-American", by placing her garbage into Ava's garbage cans. Brandi is also somewhat dim: She once cut her hand on barbed wire and refused to go to the hospital because (she says) her family has a long history of getting shot in the woods and dying in hospitals.

In spite of her flaws and somewhat unattractive looks, Brandi is a genuinely good-hearted person: She cares deeply for Deanna and always tries her best to do right by Deanna. In "Three Women and a Bitch," where they learn that Brandi is pregnant, and does the right thing by Deanna while remaining true to herself -- and finally being welcomed into the Willis family.

Brandi also shows her devotion to Deanna in the episode "Ode to Deanna" when she protects Deanna from learning that her rapist is in prison, preserving Deanna's good image.

Deanna and Brandi's daughter Tessanne is born in the episode "Brandi See, Donkey Do." Brandi adopts Deanna's first child, Lina, after Moniqe Cruz was arrested for Deanna's rape in the four-part episode "The Rape of Heather Willis" after the maternity rights for Monique were terminated and given to Brandi by default.

The Souzas

Brandi and Deanna met in elementary school in Quillsville, although Deanna clearly had romantic feelings towards her. Brandi unfortunately was for the most part oblivious to Deanna's feelings, and instead dated Deanna's unofficial rival Gary Hicks. Despite Deanna's attempts to get Brandi to see Gary for what he truly was (a self-centered, irresponsible jerk), Brandi ended up marrying Gary shortly after graduating middle school. Seeing no reason to remain, Deanna reutned to Quillsville and left Brandi behind in Detropolis.

Despite many attempts at making their marriage work, Brandi and gari ended up separating due to gary's heavy drinking and drug abuse, leaving Brandi to raise their children alone. Gary would visit occasionally, but more out of selfish desire than any familial reasons. After years apart, Brandi was of course overjoyed to see her elementary school crush, Deanna again. Deanna and her daughters (Lina and Tessanne), who were passing through Detropolis while driving to New York, had stopped by Arsenio Hall High School to retrace Deanna's old haunting grounds at Drew Carey Elementary School. Brandi invites Deanna, Tessanne, and Lina to stay at her house, which results in a rekindling of their friendship that soon blossoms into a full-blown romance. The two soon marry, and honeymoon in New York City a few months later.

Having been friends for years prior to getting married, Deanna and Brandi have a close relationship both sexually and platonically. Brandi comes off much more patient and understanding than Deanna's first wife, _______, and is more attentive to her as well. Her relationship with her children meanwhile is somewhat more shaky, as both her children are the result of a broken home and neglectful father. Brandi does her best to keep her children under control, but is aware that they need a father figure at times. Yet despite any issues that she and her kids have, it is clear that they care for one another. Brandi's relationship with Lina meanwhile is underdeveloped yet, save for the fact that Lina is quick to do what she can to follow Brandi's wishes for fear of another divorce occurring. It is also implied that she sees Brandi as the mother figure that ______ should've been. However, she has shown to be willing to protect her from danger, such as when she saved him from an ax-wielding Kassie in "A Nightmare on Grimmie Street" by throwing a wine glass at his head.

She takes care of odd jobs, assisting Principal Whitney when she is indisposed and serving as a secretary of sorts (she can type 85 words per minute).

She is shown with an extremely large posterior, that is joked about often in the series.

She tends to drink a lot of wine to the point she might be an alcoholic.

She is a talented and proud Recorder player and wears a wig that hides her gray hair.

She is quick-tempered.

In "Papa Drama", it is revealed that her father is Mark Souza who was part of a band in the 1970s until she left Donna with Aunt Patty. The two of them reunited by the end of the episode.