List of The Secret Life of the American Teenager characters
The Secret Life of the American Teenager is a television series created by Brenda Hampton. It first premiered on ABC Family on July 1, 2008 and ran until June 3, 2013. The first season featured a cast of eleven main and recurring characters, with characters having both been written in and out of the series in subsequent seasons. The series features multiple guest stars each episode.
The plot focuses on the character of Amy Juergens, a 15-year-old who gets pregnant at band camp before entering high school. It explores how the pregnancy affects her, her peers, and her family. The pregnancy produces a son, John Juergens. In later seasons, after her younger sister starts high school, Amy finds how virtually everyone at school carries a secret or an unexpected problem.
Main characters
Cast overview
Amy Juergens
Portrayed by Shailene Woodley, Amy gets pregnant by student Ricky Underwood after a one-night stand at band camp before her freshman year of high school. At the beginning of the series, she is 15 years old. Upon entering high school, Amy begins a relationship with Ben Boykewich, a supportive classmate with whom she falls in love. She confesses her pregnancy to her two best friends, Madison and Lauren, who accidentally spread the gossip that Amy had sex with Ricky. During this time, Amy's 13-year-old sister Ashley discovers her pregnancy due to Amy's recent weight gain and erratic behavior, but promises to keep her secret from their parents. Ben proposes to Amy after finding out, because he genuinely loves her, and feels he would be a better father than Ricky due to his family's financial stability. After Amy tells her parents, she contemplates having an abortion, as she is afraid of her peers' perceptions. She changes her mind, but is still adamant about not returning to school. Ricky reaches out to Amy during this time, saying that he wants to be involved with what happens to the baby. Amy plans to go live with her grandmother Mimsy, but is unable to go after discovering that Mimsy is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and is moving into assisted care living. Amy returns to school, but is uncomfortable with being known as "the pregnant girl".Halfway through her pregnancy, Amy's mother Anne informs her that in order to keep the baby, she will have to find a job and daycare. Anne intends to get a job to replace the loss of her husband George's income as they prepare for divorce. Amy is surprised, since she assumed that her mother would stay home and look after the baby, as she had with her daughters. As a result, Amy and Ben marry using fake IDs, but they learn afterwards that the marriage was void since they were both underage. Amy then decides on adoption, and discovers that her father's longtime employee Donovan and his husband Leon want to adopt the baby. The adoption fails due to Ricky's interference, and she ultimately decides to keep the baby due to the love and support of her family and friends.
After Amy decides to keep the baby, Grace and Adrian throw her a baby shower, where Amy then goes into labor. While in the hospital, Amy reprimands Ricky for getting her pregnant, but then realizes that she was equally responsible for what had happened. She gives birth to their son, John, whom she lets Ashley name, and begins to struggle with motherhood.
After breaking up with Ben during her sophomore year, Amy briefly dates Jimmy, the son of her mother's ex-boyfriend, but their relationship ends after he finds a condom in her purse. Not knowing this at first, Amy thinks that Jimmy broke up with her because she was a bad kisser, and asks Ricky to kiss her just to be sure. Adrian finds out about the kiss, and sleeps with Ben in order to get back at both of them. Amy and Ben quickly reconcile and get back together around the end of the year.
After being accepted into a summer music program in New York City, Amy decides to go but is surprised to learn that the program is for teen mothers. During this time, Ben reveals to Amy that Adrian had gotten pregnant from their one-night stand, and that he had been keeping her pregnancy from Amy for several weeks. After breaking up with Ben, she develops feelings for Ricky when he comes to visit. She tells him that if he really wants to be with her, he has to stop sleeping around, and get tested for any sexually transmitted diseases.
At the beginning of season four, Amy and Ricky are together and are trying to be a real family for their son. After the stillborn death of Ben and Adrian's daughter, Amy and Ricky begin a sexual relationship. Three months later, Amy moves herself and John into Ricky's little apartment over the butcher shop where he works. Amy decides she wants to marry Ricky, but he thinks she's moving too fast. Later he proposes at their graduation, where he is also valedictorian. At a graduation party, Ricky kisses Adrian one last time; something Amy allowed. The next day, Ricky is surprised that Amy isn't in a hurry to marry, but is content with just being engaged until she feels the time is right for them to marry. Later in the season, Amy thinks she is pregnant again and becomes very moody. Although she finds out that she is not pregnant, she is still irritable. Ricky takes her back to where they first met and Amy begins to become a little more happy and appreciative of Ricky, and more excited about his proposal to her. Shortly after Amy discovers her mother is a lesbian, she tells Ricky that they should elope, to which Ricky agrees. Amy tells everyone that she and Ricky eloped in the season 5 premiere, keeping the fact they changed their minds at the last minute and are in fact not married a secret. The series ends with Amy breaking off the relationship and going to college in New York, leaving John with Ricky.