Miss Piggy Miss Piggy is one of the central characters on " The Muppet Show " . She is a force of nature who developed from a one - joke running gag into a complex , three - dimensional character . Miss Piggy is a prima - donna pig who is absolutely convinced that she ' s destined for stardom , and nothing is going to stand in her way . Her public face is the soul of feminine charm , but she can instantly fly into a rage whenever she thinks she ' s insulted or thwarted . Kermit the Frog has learned this all too well ; when she isn ' t smothering him in kisses , she ' s sending him flying through the air with a karate - chop . Piggy ' s Biography . From modest beginnings ( which she is quick to gloss over ) , Miss Piggy first broke into show business by winning the Miss Bogen County beauty contest , a victory which also marked her first meeting with the frog of her life , Kermit ( whom she often calls " Kermie " ) . The rest , as they say , is history ( and a lot of juicy gossip , too ) . In 1976 , Miss Piggy started out in the chorus of " The Muppet Show " . Thanks to her charisma and a correspondence course in karate , Piggy made her presence known and soon became the lead chanteuse and femme fatale on the show . Quickly , her career expanded to include television specials , home videos , records and books . Her " how to " volume of advice on absolutely everything , " Miss Piggy ' s Guide to Life " , became a national bestseller , and her fabulous face has been featured on the cover of countless magazines too numerous to mention . Miss Piggy starred in two regular " Muppet Show " sketches - - " Veterinarian ' s Hospital " , as the ravishing Nurse Piggy , and " Pigs in Space " , as the enchanting First Mate Piggy . She also has a dog named Foo - Foo . Miss Piggy has starred in all eight theatrically - released Muppet feature films , and both made - for - TV movies . She starred in two television specials , " The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show " and " Miss Piggy ' s Hollywood " . She also starred in her own workout album . Miss Piggy ' s Talents . Miss Piggy considers herself a dramatic actress and a great singer , but she has other talents , too ( besides karate ) . In the Kaye Ballard episode of The Muppet Show , it has been proven that Miss Piggy can play a few instruments such as the trumpet and kazoo . Miss Piggy proves to be great at bending metal bars ( for example , in " The Great Muppet Caper , " she bent back the jail bars , and in " The Muppets Take Manhattan , " she was able to bend a metal bar ) . As shown in " The Great Muppet Caper " , Miss Piggy also has the ability to model , tap dance , swim , drive a truck , and ride a motorcycle . Pointed out by Rowlf in and Kermit in A Muppet Family Christmas , no one can make an entrance like Piggy . Kermit and Piggy . Eventually in the films , Kermit started returning her affections and ( unwittingly ) married her in " The Muppets Take Manhattan — " although subsequent events suggest that it was only their characters in the movie that married and that their relationship is really the same as ever . Before " The Muppets Take Manhattan " , in of " The Muppet Show " , Miss Piggy unsuccessfully attempted to get Kermit to marry her . She wrote a " comedy sketch " involving a wedding between her and Kermit , got Scooter to trick Kermit into signing a marriage license , and hired a real minister for the sketch . However , during the skit , before Kermit was to say " I do , " he introduced Lew Zealand instead . In , after planting one too many rumors about her and Kermit ' s relationship to the gossip papers , Kermit fired Miss Piggy , having guest star Loretta Swit replace her in " Pigs in Space " and " Veterinarian ' s Hospital " . The rest of the cast were sad , until they realized that this meant they ' d be rid of Foo - Foo . Eventually , Loretta Swit got them to sing a song , and all was apparently forgiven after that . A month before the debut of their 2015 ABC series , " The Muppets " , Miss Piggy and Kermit formally announced that they were breaking up . Piggy said in a statement that " “ Dating moi is like flying close too the sun . It was inevitable that Kermit would drop down to the ground while I stayed in the heavens . ” " while also concluding it was a mutual agreement . Kermit however countered " “ After careful thought , thoughtful consideration and considerable squabbling , Miss Piggy made the difficult decision to terminate our romantic relationship . ” " It was specified , however , that they will continue to work together . Kermit has apparently moved on with his new girlfriend , a pig named Denise , who works for ABC . Kermit and Miss Piggy occasionally perform musical numbers together . Some of their duets include " I Won ' t Dance " , " Ukulele Lady " , " Waiting at the Church " , " The First Time It Happens " , and " Love Led Us Here " . Family and Background . Miss Piggy was born above Becker ' s Butcher Shop in a small town . Frank Oz filled in some of her backstory in a 1979 " People " magazine article : " " Miss Piggy ' s father chased after other sows , and her mother had so many piglets she never found time to develop her mind . ' I ' ll die before I live like that ! ' Miss Piggy screamed , and ran away to the city . Life was hard at first . People got all the jobs ; pigs had to take what was left . To keep going , Miss Piggy walked a sandwich board for a barbecue stand . Desperate , she took a stage name , Laverne , and entered a beauty contest . She won and got her big break : a bacon commercial . This led to a season as mascot for a local TV sportscast called " Pigskin Parade " - - and then on to " The Muppet Show " . " " Commentary in the Muppet Morsels on " " revealed the fate of her father , and expanded more : " " Her father died in a tractor accident when she was young and her mother wasn ' t very nice to her . She left home as a teenager after graduating charm school and working in a department store selling gloves . She was forced to pose for some ads including a bacon product . She also had to enter beauty pageants to survive in the world . " " Speaking years later on " Take Two with Phineas and Ferb " about what it was like to grow up on a farm , she said that it was " Very humbling . . . I don ' t like being humble , so I got out fast . " She also confirmed having done bacon ads during a 1984 appearance on " The Merv Griffin Show " , and her beauty pageant career culminated in a win at the Bogen County Fair , after which she began her rise to fame in Hollywood . Piggy has two dim - witted nephews , Andy and Randy Pig , who she sometimes employs as seen in " Muppets Tonight " and " The Muppets " . She also has at least one niece , aged six , who she mentions in " The Muppets " episode " " to compare with Denise who eats her cupcakes upside - down so that there ' s just a handful of frosting left . A niece is mentioned again by Kermit in " " when Piggy begins listing current trends that she thinks makes her relevant . According to her , Miss Piggy was educated at the Paris School of Fashion , but she refuses to publish her birth date . Performing Piggy . Frank Oz performed " Piggy Lee " on " The Tonight Show " on May 24 , 1974 , lip - synching with Hamilton Pig to " Old Black Magic " . Five months later on October 13 , 1974 , Jerry Nelson performed " Piggy " ( not yet Miss Piggy ) on " Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass " . A beady - eyed variation later appeared briefly in " " ( 1975 ) , in a sketch called " Return to Beneath the Planet of the Pigs . " By the time " The Muppet Show " began in 1976 , she was recognizably Miss Piggy , sporting large blue eyes , wearing a flowing lavender gown , and jumping on Kermit , the love of her life . Muppet designer Bonnie Erickson remembers , " My mother used to live in North Dakota where sang on the local radio station before she became a famous jazz singer . When I first created Miss Piggy I called her Miss Piggy Lee - - as both a joke and an homage . Peggy Lee was a very independent woman , and Piggy certainly is the same . But as Piggy ' s fame began to grow , nobody wanted to upset Peggy Lee , especially because we admired her work . So , the Muppet ' s name was shortened to Miss Piggy . " The character was referred to as " Piggy Lee " in one " Muppet Show " episode , . She also uses that name in the 1977 " Muppet Show Annual " released in the U . K . Miss Piggy soon developed into a major character as the Muppet creators recognized that a lovelorn pig could be more than a one - note running gag . Frank Oz has said that while Fozzie Bear is a two - dimensional character , and Animal has no dimensions , Miss Piggy is one of the few Muppets to be fully realized in three dimensions . She became one of " The Muppet Show " ' s most popular characters , which was noted by Jim Henson during the development of " Fraggle Rock " . When discussing characters for the show , Henson included this in his notes : Miss Piggy ' s distinctive personality has been seen in a few other Muppet characters before the famous sow ' s debut . For instance , this personality and voice can be seen ( and heard ) in the " Sesame Street " versions of Little Miss Muffet and Snow White , both performed by Frank Oz . Miss Piggy ' s entourage . Like all great Hollywood divas , Miss Piggy has employed a variety of personal assistants , servants , publicity and talent agents , and others to further her career . This sometimes included her " Muppet Show " colleagues ( such as Scooter on several occasions ) , but more often required outside help . Casting History . " Primary Performers " " Alternate Performers " External links . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _