Carolyn Griffins

Carolyn Griffins is a recurring character in seasons one, two and three of Sweet L.A. Life. and Sweet L.A. Life: The New Generation. She is portrayed by Beth Broderick and debuts in "Listen Up".
Carolyn is the mother of deceased Ethan Griffins and Sarah Griffins and the grandmother of Caleb Griffins, Ethan's son with Kira Wu and Cayla McDaniel, Ethan's daughter with Callie McDaniel. Although she sees Caleb on a regular basis, she is estranged from Cayla due to Carolyn's mistreatment of Callie.
A staunch Catholic, Carolyn and Mitch vocally opposed Ethan's relationship with the young and liberal, Callie McDaniel, looking down on her, her career as a hairdresser, and Callie's lesbian older sister, Layla. Nevertheless, Ethan and Callie continued their relationship despite their age-difference and different backgrounds. Disapproving their relationship and believing Callie isn't suitable to marry Ethan, Carolyn and Mitch soon began interfering in their son's relationship, they plotted to have Ethan move to New York for a position at a law firm in New York, which led to his tear-jerking break up with Callie. Ethan would later discover this callous action and stops speaking to both of his parents for interfering in his career and his relationship with Callie. Carolyn strongly disapproved of Callie's sense of style and her friendships with many LGBT characters, while Callie clashed with Carolyn, accusing her of using her religious beliefs for evil games. She also lashed out that Carolyn was ten-times worse than her own mother.
Carolyn's biggest tragedy occurs in 2021 when Ethan, aged 54 is killed in a car crash; she never fully recovers from his loss and worse, she and Mitch banned Callie from attending Ethan's funeral causing her to crash a minivan into the ceremony. Because Ethan was planning to end his marriage to his second wife, Kira Wu and remarry Callie, Carolyn cruelly blamed her for both Ethan's death and the separation of his marriage to Kira (even though Kira was more at fault). When Callie discovered she was pregnant with Ethan's child at age 41, she chose not to tell both Mitch and Carolyn, due to their mistreatment of her and Carolyn would use her religious beliefs to attack Callie's character as a mother. Two years later, Carolyn is later horrified to learn of Callie had given birth to Ethan's daughter, Cayla and had not known of her granddaughter's existence. What was worse, she learned of her relationship with her first love, Ben Michaels, a transgender man with a daughter, Briana. She also learns that Callie's best friend, Nathan Cross, an openly gay man had officially become Cayla's adopted father. Furious that Callie never told her about her granddaughter and that she is raising her with her sister and close friends, including her transgender boyfriend, Carolyn sued for permanent custody of Cayla, confirming Callie's worst fears. Ethan's widow, Kira Wu came to Callie's defense spoke at the hearing, revealing the same cruel treatment she received from Carolyn during her marriage to Ethan. She then told Carolyn to drop the custody case and let Callie keep Cayla or Kira promises her she'll never see her grandson, Caleb again. Fearing that Kira would stay true to her word, she drops the suit and Callie vows to never let Carolyn go near Cayla.
==Notes==
*Similar to Gayle McDaniel, Carolyn is a staunch catholic and looked down at gays and lesbians.
*She and her husband, Mitch had plotted to split Ethan and Callie up throughout their 19-year history together, due to Callie's friendships with several LGBT characters and she had a sister, who was a lesbian.
*Carolyn's stringent religious beliefs was the focal point on why her former daughter-in-law Callie McDaniel never told her about Cayla.
*Carolyn still remains Callie's biggest enemy in the series.
*Callie finally punched Carolyn in the nose after discovering that Carolyn set her up as an alcoholic.