Laura Cunningham, portrayed by Candice Rose, is a minor character in Stranger Things, being introduced in the fourth season. She is the wife of Phillip Cunningham and mother of Chrissy Cunningham, a young cheerleader who attended Hawkins High School.
History
The background of Laura Cunningham is not known. At some point, she met and married a man named Phillip Cunningham. Together, they had a daughter, Chrissy, born in June of 1968, and a younger unnamed son. Chrissy grew to be quite popular among her peers, becoming head cheerleader and the most popular girl in school. However, below her happiness lied sorrow and depression; Chrissy suffered from bulimia nervosa as a result of Laura's pressure to be pretty and her mother constantly having to loosen her already-tight cheerleading outfit. Chrissy began seeing her school counselor, Ms. Kelley, after beginning to suffer from headaches, nightmares, and nosebleeds.
1986
On March 21, 1986, Chrissy was brutally murdered in the Munson trailer in Forrest Hills Trailer Park. Her limbs were broken backward and her eyes were gouged out of her skull. A funeral for Chrissy was held on March 25. Laura spoke a eulogy near her casket, saying that her "angel" is in Heaven but is frustrated that the monster that killed her is still loose and "feels" the devil in Hawkins.
Personality
Laura was abusive and domineering to her daughter, forcing her to have a perfect figure and image, and would get short-tempered if her daughter got upset with her commands. With Chrissy's hallucinations, it's possible this abuse extended through her husband, silencing him when he objected to her abuse. She appeared to be a religious zealot, claiming that God has a plan and believed that the Devil was in Hawkins and took Chrissy. She was devastated that her daughter was murdered, but her abusive actions are what caused Chrissy to get killed.
Relationships
Familial
In the visions of her trauma induced by Vecna, Chrissy’s mother appeared both mentally and emotionally abusive towards her daughter - and it’s implied her comments about Chrissy’s figure caused her daughter to develop her eating disorder. It’s unknown if Laura was also physically abusive to Chrissy, though in one of her visions Chrissy heard her mother threatening to “gut her like a pig”.
In spite of the abuse she inflicted upon her daughter, Laura spoke at her funeral and appeared devastated by her death - believing the rumors that her daughter’s murder was at the hands of a Satanist cult.
Laura appeared to have the more dominant personality between herself and her husband, being the one to speak at their daughter’s funeral why he silently stood by her side. His meek nature was further implied by Chrissy’s vision where her father’s eyes were gouged out and his lips sewn shut - implying he turned a blind eye to his wife’s abuse of their daughter, and never spoke up against it.
Appearances
| Season Four appearances | |||
| The Hellfire Club* | |||
| The Nina Project | |||
*Can be seen via vision in "The Hellfire Club"
Family tree
note: family trees are only visible on desktop.
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Gallery
Trivia
- Laura is the series' first abusive parent to be a mother; all others, such as Neil Hargrove and Lonnie Byers, were fathers.
- Laura shares some similarities with and bears some resemblance to Sarah Palmer from Twin Peaks, another morally dubious mother of a troubled teenage girl.