  abigail anne "abbey" barrington bartlet, md, is a fictional character played by stockard channing on the television serial drama, the west wing. the role earned channing the primetime emmy award for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series in 2002. throughout the series, abbey is the first lady of the united states, the wife of president josiah bartlet. ==overview== abbey is a "world-class physician" (in her husband's words) and wife of more than thirty years to president bartlet. in the first season episode "five votes down," president bartlet mentions to charlie that they have been married 32 years, meaning they were married in 1967. her maiden name is barrington. the location of her undergraduate education is unknown. however, president bartlet once confides in c.j. cregg (his then press secretary) that he'd changed his mind about becoming a priest during his undergraduate years at notre dame after meeting abbey. abbey received her m.d. from harvard medical school. she began practicing medicine some twenty-five years before the start of the series, and is on the staff of both boston mercy hospital (fictitious) and columbia presbyterian hospital. she is adjunct professor of thoracic surgery at harvard medical school.tww transcripts -- the fall's gonna kill you season 2 she and her husband have three daughters: elizabeth, eleanor (called ellie), and zoey. at the beginning of the series, zoey is said to be 19 but this is retconned at the end of season 2 to being closer to 17. in season 2, ellie is in medical school at johns hopkins university. elizabeth is probably quite a bit older than ellie as she is married with a 12-year-old daughter in the pilot. ellie is only 24 in season two
Fictional_First_Ladies_of_the_United_States Fictional_Harvard_University_people Fictional_characters_introduced_in_1999 Fictional_medical_personnel Fictional_physicians The_West_Wing_characters