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Piper Elizabeth Chapman is the protagonist of Orange is the New Black. In Season Six, she was sent to Maximum Security after the Riot in Litchfield Penitentiary. She was formerly an inmate at Litchfield Penitentiary and is portrayed by Taylor Schilling.
Piper's character was based on the author of Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, Piper Kerman
Personality
At the series start, Piper appears to be a somewhat innocent woman who strives to be on her best behaviour and not get in trouble with any of the inmates while doing her time quietly. However, throughout the series, as she spends more time in prison, a darker side of Piper is revealed; she is cruel, spoiled, sanctimonious and will be manipulative to get what she wants, as seen in her interactions with Brook Soso when the latter first arrives in prison. It is revealed that Piper has always possessed a cruel side to her, which is shown when she abandons her then-girlfriend Alex Vause when the latter had just been told her mother had died ("Tall Men with Feelings"). Both good and bad sides of Piper are shown repeatedly throughout the series. Despite her personal flaws, she is often willing to reflect upon her negative actions and work on character flaws pointed out by her peers as well as trying her hardest to improve prison conditions for the wellness of her fellow inmates and herself.
Physical Appearance
Piper has blond hair and blue eyes. She has an infinity tattoo on her left side, a tattoo on her left arm in white ink that says "Trust no bitch", a fish tattoo on the back of her neck, and a "window" branded onto her left arm. But in season 6 the brand is shown on her right arm. She is tall and thin, and so typical of the perfect female stereotype that her nickname in prison quickly becomes "Blondie." She also has other nicknames due to her appearance for example: "Taylor Swift," "Lindsay Lohan," "Dandelion," "Blond Katy Perry", and "College."
She usually wears a white t-shirt or thermal under her tan jumpsuit, and she notes that the prison-issue canvas slip-on look like trendy Toms ("I Wasn't Ready"). The few exceptions are when she gets furlough; where she wears several other articles of clothing, and the bug bite infestation; where she wears the same blue uniform that everyone else does.
It shows that in her younger years (early-mid 20s) she kept her hair at waist-length and mane-like.
Biography
Childhood
Piper was born June 7, 1981, at 11:42 am in Connecticut. She is the middle child, with an older and younger brother. Her older brother, Danny, has been referenced as "the perfect son" but has not appeared in the series. Her younger brother, Cal, was generally regarded as the "black sheep" of the family before her incarceration.
Piper's parents were obsessed with appearances and projected this onto their children. As a child, Piper discovered that her father was having an affair and told her mother, only to have her mother completely ignore what she said. She was able to somewhat make sense of this with the help of her grandmother. She graduated from Smith College, but spent some years after graduation travelling and seeking to find herself. During college, she met her best friend, Polly Harper, and the two years later started a soap company called PoPi.
Life with Alex
Looking for a job after graduating from college, Piper met edgy Alex Vause at a bar. Though she had never dated a woman before, they quickly began a relationship. In love and thirsting for adventure, Piper was not bothered by the fact that her girlfriend was an international drug smuggler. They travelled the world together in high style, and on one occasion Piper agreed to traffic a suitcase full of $50,000 in drug money to Belgium, immediately regretting it. Despite her discomfort in committing criminal acts herself, she was content to quit her job as a waitress just to travel with Alex to places as far-reaching as Bali, Cambodia, and Belgium, living off the enticing incentives of the global drug trade.
Eventually, Alex was desperate and begged Piper to traffic again. Piper refused, and they broke up. As Piper was due to leave to catch a flight, Alex had a phone call saying her mother had died. She begged Piper to stay with her for emotional support through the funeral, even just as a friend, but Piper refused and caught her flight anyway. Piper moved on from the break-up much more quickly than Alex, who was simultaneously heartbroken by both their break-up and the death of her mother and eventually turned to heroin to try and cope.
Piper introduced Alex to Polly while they were dating, but her best friend openly did not like her. Piper did not introduce Alex to her family, though, as they were all later surprised to find out she'd been in a same-sex relationship when she sat them down to explain the circumstances of her sentencing.
Life with Larry
Years later, Piper met Larry Bloom, a mutual friend of Polly and Polly's eventual husband, Pete. After chastising a homeless person for not taking care of his dog to her satisfaction, Piper was bitten by the beast. Using her extra key, she stumbles into Polly and Pete's apartment to find Larry house-sitting. Larry was instantly attracted to her and helped her get cleaned up, and they unexpectedly bonded. They jokingly wondered why Polly and Pete never thought to set them up before, but it quickly became apparent that no one really thinks that they're perfect together - not even them.
After the charges come through, just two years shy of the statute of limitations, Larry vowed to stick by her and they sat down together to tell her family. Piper explained to her horrified mother that she was a lesbian at the time, but is not anymore, and was horrified herself to admit to her grandmother that she wasn't really into what she was doing for the money.
At some point before her incarceration but after she had been indicted, Piper had a pregnancy scare. She was upset when the test came back negative, even though she knew it would have been a bad thing to be pregnant in her current situation.
Spending a nice day at the beach to mark her remaining days of freedom, Piper was reading books about getting through prison when Larry unexpectedly proposed. Although she was surprised that he would do this before she left, he insisted that he had to lock their relationship down. She tearfully accepted his proposal and agreed to get married after she gets out of prison.
Series Beginning
The day before she has to leave for prison, Larry, Pete, and Polly throw a farewell party for her. She apologizes to Polly because she is going to miss her baby shower, and the two joke about how Piper is going to keep her eyebrows maintained behind bars. Later that night, she and Larry decide to have sex one final time before she leaves. Just as they begin, she excuses herself to go use the toilet and Larry tells her that she is beautiful. In the bathroom, she sobs, the realization that she is leaving for prison hitting her. When she comes back out, she returns Larry’s compliment and gets back into bed. When he notices that she has been crying she tells him to forget about it and just have sex with her ("I Wasn't Ready"). The next morning, Piper and Larry drive to Litchfield in order for her to surrender.
Life at Litchfield
At the time of her incarceration, Piper is 31 years old.
Season One
After arriving at Litchfield, she is first examined by CO Wanda Bell, photographed by George Mendez and John Bennett and then brought to a temporary bunk by Lorna Morello, where she spends her first nights together with Anita DeMarco, Miss Rosa and Nicky Nichols. During her first lunchtime, she sits at the same table as Nicky, Lorna and Yoga Jones and starts to befriend them. Although Piper tries hard not to get on anyone's bad side, she had a habit of saying the wrong things at the wrong time. Red, for instance, is the first person who suffers from her thoughtless words and in retaliation refuses to give Chapman any meals, as she is the head cook of the prison's kitchen.
As well as insulting the food in front of the head cook, on Piper's first day in prison she discovers that Alex Vause, her ex, is in prison with her and that she would have to deal with the person responsible for her incarceration. Although Alex wants to reconnect with her, Piper chooses to avoid her despite Alex sneaking her some food. Meanwhile, Piper finds a way to make it up to Red for insulting her food by creating a lotion to help with her back problems. Her counsellor Healy soon takes an interest in Piper because she has a fiance and is upper-class, which leads him to think he can use her as a puppet. During the prisoner's council elections, she is chosen for a spot despite not even running for one, which makes Pennsatucky, a fanatic religious inmate who also ran for WAC, furious at her.
Piper instantly attracts the affections of Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren, who seems unaware that her feelings are not reciprocated. When Piper attempts to lay the law down, Suzanne visits her at night and urinates all over her bunk floor.
Piper asks Larry to ask his father Howard, her lawyer, to disclose if it truly was Alex who named her. Although Alex did name her as an accessory, Howard convinces Larry to lie to Piper and say it was not her in order to prevent Piper from doing something rash and extending her sentence. Thinking she has been a jerk to Alex for ignoring her, Piper makes up with Alex and they become friends. When she and Alex dance at Taystee's farewell party in a "sexually provocative" way, Pennsatucky fetches Healy who, feeling betrayed by Piper and being hugely homophobic, sends her to the SHU.
When Piper gets out, she and Alex have sex. What they don't know is that while Piper was in the SHU, Healy called Larry to tell him that Piper was cheating on him with Alex. As Pennsatucky starts to act up as a God-chosen healer, Alex starts to make her think she could really heal, along with the help of Watson, Big Boo and Piper, which ends in attacking a disabled girl trying to "heal" her and her being transferred to Psych. Piper starts to feel guilty hearing from Suzanne how horrible Psych is and convinces Caputo to re-transfer her, as she would be to blame.
After Larry ignores her for a couple of weeks, Piper manages to get a hold of him and discovers he knows that she cheated on him. In anger, Larry tells her that Alex did name her. Realizing that Larry and her have little chance of making up and that Alex is the only one she has, Piper acts forgiving towards Alex, much to her surprise. Meanwhile, in an effort to make up with Pennsatucky after getting her sent to Psych, Piper agrees to be baptized. When facing the laundry tub meant to be her baptismal pool, Piper can't go through with it. Pennsatucky feels disrespected and decides that she needs to kill Piper. She, Leanne, and Angie threaten her in the showers with a razor blade melted into a toothbrush. Before they are able to harm her, a guard yells at them to leave because it's not their assigned bathroom. Eventually, at the Christmas Pageant, she leaves to go outside, where Pennsatucky corners her and attempts to stab her with a sharpened wooden crucifix. Although Healy sees them fighting and hears Piper screaming for help, he ignores them and leaves. Using Taystee, Poussey, Black Cindy, and Janae's fighting advice, she eventually disarms and beats up Pennsatucky. We see Piper completely lose herself and punch a floored Pennsatucky again and again, blood and broken teeth flying onto the snow around them.
Season Two
Season Two opens with Piper being ushered out of the SHU as guards ignore her furtive questions. She is shoved into a van as she is transported with several other inmates to an unknown location. As the van finally comes to a stop, Piper realizes that they are going on an aeroplane. Guards continue to ignore her panicked questions. She is forced onto the plane and is seated next to Lolly Whitehill, who she shocks by graphically telling the story of how she beat up Pennsatucky. As the plane lands, she realizes that they have landed in Chicago and she comes to her own conclusion that she must have been transported for beating and possibly murdering Pennsatucky. She arrives at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a maximum security facility, and attempts to adjust to her new surroundings. She is bunked with four women; Araceli, Joyce, Mazall and Hill and immediately incurs their wrath by inadvertently stepping on the pet cockroach that they have trained to carry cigarettes. She sees Alex in the yard one day and persuades a male inmate to bring the two together by giving him her panties. This incident would later serve as the basis for her prison-panties business in Season Three.
Piper discovers she is in Chicago to testify in the trial of Alex's drug boss, Kubra Balik, and the stay is temporary. Alex forcefully pushes Piper to lie about knowing Kubra, because Alex fears he will exact revenge. However, Piper wishes to tell the truth. We see several flashbacks from Piper's childhood noting her complicated past. Piper meets with her lawyer, Larry's father Howard, who strongly advises her to tell the truth. In the van on the way to the trial, Alex pushes one last time for Piper to lie about knowing Kubra, saying she (Alex) will be screwed over if they don't tell the same story. Piper gives in and lies under oath at the trial. Afterwards, Howard washes his hands of her. Alex then informs Piper that although Alex planned to lie she decided to tell the truth, as it "all happened so fast," which leaves Piper in contempt of court; Piper now faces perjury charges and additional time. Piper shouts angrily at Alex, who is being led out of prison, ostensibly to be released.
Piper isn't seen again until Episode 3 where she returns to Litchfield. She is put back in the same room as when she first arrived. At lunch, she talks with Nicky about Alex, her paranoia that everyone keeps looking at her, and they both confess they missed each other. Piper comforts Brook Soso, a new inmate because her nightly crying was disturbing the sleep of other inmates. She refuses to call Brook by her last name Soso because "she can't say it with a straight face." The next day, she threatens Brook for lying in her bed, claiming that she is "A lone wolf who rips out the throat of sheep," shutting down Brook's friendly advances and leaving her stunned at the harshness of her words. Piper is also seen interacting with Suzanne Warren, thanking her profusely for making it look like a fair fight against Pennsatucky (we see a flashback that explains whilst Piper was beating Pennsatucky, Suzanne exited the building in a psychotic state and punched Piper, believing that Piper was her mother. She then left, and Piper and Pennsatucky were discovered lying in the snow unconscious). Under the influence of Vee, Suzanne refuses Piper's offer of seeing the movie together, leaving Piper confused as Suzanne struts off with Vee.
When Piper finds out that her paternal grandmother is sick and dying, she is very upset and immediately requests furlough, though she and everyone know that the chances of it getting approved are very unlikely. While waiting to hear from Healy about it, Piper develops plans for a Prison Newsletter, which she uses as a cover for the administration while she investigates the prison and Fig's corruption — embezzling money for her husband Jason's political campaign — for reporter Andrew Nance. She works on the newsletter called The Big House Bugle with Morello, Daya, and Flaca, and it is well-accepted, even by Healy, Caputo and the guards.
Unexpectedly, her furlough is approved, and while she receives some backlash for it and briefly plans to turn it down to appease the other inmates, Piper decides to go through with it. However, it is a day too late as her grandmother passes shortly before her furlough is even approved. Given 48 hours of freedom, albeit restricted by rules, Piper meets with Cal and Larry. At her grandmother's wake, Piper is so disturbed by the things she heard from her family's friends and her father, who, until then, has not visited her in prison. She tries to have sex with Larry in the bathroom until he tells her that he has slept with someone she knew. The pair decides to finally, officially end things. At the funeral the next day, her brother marries his girlfriend Neri in a surprise ceremony.
Given a fresh outlook on her situation through insights from comments people have made about her (her new and old self and who she really was), Piper leaves the funeral (and wedding reception) and has a drink out on the street. She then goes to Red's shop in Queens and disappointingly sees that the store has closed down and is on a lease. When she returns to Litchfield the next day, she lies to Red about this so as not to worry her further.
Upon her return, while she initially does not mind and is not interested in the details, she finds herself wondering who Larry slept with. She calls him and asks through his voicemail, and her best friend Polly later comes to visit. During their brief conversation, Piper immediately becomes suspicious about Polly's statements and, though she barely probed, figures it out eventually. As a way of telling Polly that she knows, she has her new sister-in-law Neri leave a burning bag filled with poop on Polly's doorstep — a prank Polly explained to her years prior, and so Polly instantly knows it came from her. After Polly and Larry decide to be together, they come to visit Piper in prison to ask for her blessing. Piper refused.
Possibly because of her newsletter, her connection with Andrew and Larry, who had multiple stories regarding Piper in the prison, Fig targets her and plans to have her transferred to Virginia, though Healy insists that her and a dozen other girls being shuffled off is random and simply due to Litchfield's overpopulation. During a blackout at the prison during the tropical storm Wanda, Piper takes advantage of Fig's absence and sneaks into her office, only to be caught by Caputo as she is just about to leave with a folder of invoices. Caputo has her sent to SHU but eventually comes to her, asking for details on the case being built against her. She promises to help him take down Fig, and even get him in charge of the prison if he stops her transfer to Virginia. He agrees and immediately gives the files to the warden, and Caputo becomes the assistant warden, replacing Fig.
Meanwhile, Piper reconnects with Alex, despite her betrayal. She is concerned about her welfare when she finds out that Kubra has been released due to a suspicious mistrial, and that he could be looking for Alex now for turning on him. They first see each other in person since Chicago when Alex visits her. Alex tells Piper about sleeping with a gun due to her paranoia, and the name of her probation officer as a joke—information Piper later uses and tells Polly to pass on the message to Alex's parole officer, David Crockett, to get Alex sent back to prison for violating her parole to keep her safe and prevent her from attempting to begin dealing again or skip town.
Season Three
In Season Three, she is shown at her darkest and most manipulative side when she makes a business which sells worn undergarments by inmates who have to wear them for 2 days at a time or more, sneak them to a guard, who drops them off to Cal, who sells them online, then keep the money for herself. She meets Stella Carlin with whom she becomes a 'friend with benefits', and eventually a business partner after Alex wants out of her panty business. Soon, Piper's panty wearers, led by Flaca, realize how much money they're missing out on and refuse to work until they get a fair wage. After taking advice from Red, Piper realizes she needs to pay them. When looking for a phone to get a cash card to keep her business running, she finds a variety of illegal contraband, including a shiv made out of hardened candy, a lighter, cigarettes and weed. After making the arrangements to put money in their accounts, Piper collects all the panty-wearers and tells them the good news. She then fires Flaca to set an example. Later, Flaca begs for her job back by truthfully telling Piper that her mother is sick, leading Piper to rehire her at a low starting rate. However, when Cal tells her that all her money is gone, Piper automatically blames Flaca because she was in the library when Piper was using her phone to pay the inmates. She quickly finds out that it is not Flaca, but instead Stella Carlin, who stole her money in one desperate move because she was getting out in a few days. Piper then collects all the contraband she found during the search for the cell phone and stashes them in Stella's bunk. She also stashes the screwdriver she uses in her fight with Pennsatucky in "Can't Fix Crazy", calmly remarking to Boo, "Sorry about your dildo, Boo; the cost of doing business. I'll make it up to you.", to which Boo replies, "Damn, Chapman, That is some stone cold shit". Piper then leaves whilst saying: "I don't fuck around. Let the people know".
At the end of this season, Piper's already been in Litchfield for about 9 months and has still 6 to 12 months left.
Season Four
After sending Stella to max at the end of Season Three, Piper believes that all the other inmates are now scared of her and develops a hyper-inflated ego as a result. Flaca tells one of the new inmates, Ouija, that Piper is "la jefa", meaning "the boss", although it is unclear if she really meant it or was trying to get Piper targeted. Various instances of Piper getting special treatment from the prisoners (extra toast, first priority at the phones) supports this, though Piper seems somewhat unsure of how to handle her status. Red tells her she needs protection, as an uncovered leader figure is just a target for attacks. She hires a new inmate, and bunkmate, Stephanie Hapakuka, to follow her around at all times, which Stephanie accepts begrudgingly.
After Ruiz elevates herself to the leader of the new Dominican inmates, she starts a rival panty-selling business and starts taking Piper's workers from her, enticing them with better deals. A disconcerted Piper talks to Piscatella about "gang activity", and he encourages her to start a neighbourhood watch type-group. At the first meeting, racist white inmates congregate and quickly form a White Power Group, horrifying Piper; however, she goes along with it for a time to protect her back. The White Power Group find out about Ruiz's secret business and Piper is scared it will be traced back to her own business. She plants panties in Ruiz's bunk to frame her, and, instead of Ruiz being punished by what Piper would be a short time in the SHU, she ends up being responsible for another 3-5 years added to Ruiz's sentence. A furious and devastated Ruiz promises to "bury" Piper for what she did.
After Ruiz's panty-business is revealed, the COs start a humiliating campaign of stopping inmates and forcing them to drop their pants to see whether they are wearing Whispers merchandise. The campaign is made all the more scandalous when the COs choose to target only persons of colour. One day, Piper is with Hapakuka and Big Boo when they are stopped with all other surrounding inmates. They panic, as all three are "wearing". Piper and Big Boo are waved through, but Hapakuka, a native Hawaiian, is forced to strip. Piper looks on guiltily, but her new allegiance with the White Power Group coupled with Stephanie's exposure leads her to abandon Stephanie, saying "I can't help you, but I'm rooting for you". Stephanie is left completely alone and vulnerable, as she is known by Ruiz's group as a white-supremacist sympathizer due to the fact that she worked as security for Piper.
Slowly, Piper becomes more and more disillusioned and disgusted with the behaviour of the White Power Group and distances herself from them. However, her old friends have in turn distanced themselves from her due to the company she was keeping. At Nicky's welcome back party, Piper tries to talk to her old friends but, whilst they don't snub her directly, they act disinterested in her and make it clear that they don't approve of her behaviour. Piper approaches Stephanie and tries to apologize for abandoning her. Stephanie tells it like it is, but acts like she may forgive Piper, asking if they can go somewhere quieter to talk. She leads Piper into a walk-in cupboard leading to the kitchen. Whilst in there, Ruiz's girls rush Piper, and Stephanie stares coldly after her, echoing Piper's earlier words: I can't help you, but I'm rooting for you.
Ruiz's girls drag her into the kitchen and towards the stove where a burner is lit. Ruiz punches Piper, then brands Piper's arm with a swastika using a kitchen implement held in the burner as revenge.
Piper is traumatized and has trouble functioning properly for days afterwards. Red notices her arm bleeding and demands to see the wound. She, Alex and Norma take Piper back to the kitchen and burn the swastika into a window shape.
Realizing that she had been trying to "win at prison" and was constantly "getting involved in other people's shit", Piper is noticeably changed after her branding, and becomes a much calmer person with a nicer attitude, also reconsidering her recent dismissive behavior towards Alex, which she apologizes profusely for during her re-branding. Piper becomes aware of the injustices in the way the guards are treating inmates and eventually joins Blanca Flores atop a cafeteria table, which she is ordered to stand on for days. Piper helps Alex process her guilt for having to kill Aydin Bayat and helps her recover the confessional notes she left lying around the prison. They reconnect romantically once they learn how to communicate again. When the rest of the inmate's riot after Poussey Washington's death, Piper and Alex do not join them, they run back to their dorm.
Season Five
At the start of the season she tries to stay out of trouble and avoid the rioting, however, that doesn't last long and eventually teams up with Taystee, Black Cindy, Watson and Alison Abdullah and helps to collect the "Bribes" provided by the governor. Which they then set on fire in front of the prison. In episode 8, she was part of negotiation talks with Fig, however, that all goes downhill after Fig finds out that Humphrey has been shot. After Piscatella enters the prison, she ends up being kidnapped along with Nicky, Big Boo, Alex and Flores. After Alex and Piper go through the Piscatella's kidnapping together, as well as him breaking her arm, she comes to a realisation that she wants to stay with Alex for the rest of her life, and proposes.
As for the even bigger cliffhanger, a newly engaged Piper and Alex stood hand-in-hand with Red, Nicky, Gloria, Taystee, Cindy, Suzanne, Blanca and Frieda when armed officers blew up the entrance to the Pool area.
Season Six
Piper has been moved to Litchfield Max following the events of Season 5.
Once at Max, Piper tries to find Alex. Piper misinterprets a message from Red and thinks that Alex is dead. In her interview with the FBI, Piper unconsciously blames Red. Piper is taken to genpop where she's reunited with Alex. Piper realizes her mistake and tries to fix things with Red but it's too late. Her roommate is Madison who has decided to make Piper's life miserable.
Piper gets the idea to write a memoir about her experience in prison. While looking for a memoir book in the library, she comes across old pictures of both C and D-block playing kickball together. This gives her the idea to start petitioning for a kickball team. At first, Piper struggles to get people to sign her petition but she does manage to get the 16 signatures needed to reinstate kickball. Madison and Piper both vie for the captain's position but ultimately Piper gets nominated for it.
This upsets Madison who puts gum in her hair and drugs into her shoe in order to extend her stay in prison. Luckily, Piper isn't caught with the drugs. Piper gets the idea to tell a CO about the issue and have them deal with it. She tells CO Rick Hopper about the drugs and Madison's constant harassment. She promises to tell him where the drugs are coming from when she finds out. Unbeknownst to her, Alex has made a deal with Carol to protect her from Madison in exchange for her services.
Hopper, who is involved in bringing in the drugs, changes Piper's inmate information to be part of the top 25 inmates being released in order to prevent her from snooping around. Piper ends up being granted early release. She has a brief, unorthodox prison wedding with the help of Nicky and Lorna, with Flaca and Black Cindy as witnesses. As she is walking out of prison along with her fellow early releases, she stops to watch the girls rejoicing over their kickball game on the field. She smiles to herself as she greets Cal outside the prison. The final episode ends with Cal asking, “So, what are you gonna do now?” as Piper stares off into the distance.
Relationships
Romantic
- Alex Vause (s1 ep9-13 girlfriend, s3 ep4-12 girlfriend, s4 ep11- s5e12 girlfriend, engaged as of s5e12's end, married as of s6e13’s end. Girlfriends prior to season 1)
- Larry Bloom (ex-fiancé)
- Stella Carlin (brief partner/romantic interest in Season 3)
Family
- Carol Chapman (Mother)
- Bill Chapman (Father)
- Danny Chapman (Older brother)
- Cal Chapman (Younger brother)
- Celeste Chapman (Grandmother; deceased)
- Neri Feldman (Sister-In-Law)
- Alex Vause (Wife)
Friends
- Nicky Nichols - Nicky takes an instant liking to Piper and is one of Piper's closest allies in Litchfield. She has no problem talking about things that make Piper uncomfortable such as her relationship with Alex.
- Lorna Morello
- Yoga Jones
- Red - Initially Red is indifferent to Piper until Piper unknowingly insults her food. Red starves her out for disrespecting her food for a while until Piper creates a lotion made of pepper juice for her aching back which mends their relationship. After Piper returned from Chicago, she ended up sharing the same bunk as Red. They had a very rocky start at first, but they ended up becoming friends, as they started to bond and relate more. However, when she lied to Red about her store's success this caused a lot of conflict in their relationship. Red was not afraid to reveal Piper's faults to her. They made up over a business deal in which Red helped Piper's pantie-business grow in exchange for a percentage of the profits.
- Anita DeMarco
- Claudette Pelage
- Taystee - Taystee happily sports a lock of Piper's blond hair. When she violates her parole purposely, she is assigned to be Piper's new roommate after Miss Claudette is taken to Max. She helped Piper deal with the threats that Pennsatucky presented to her at the end of Season One.
- Polly Harper (former best friend) - Polly was Piper's best friend from college. They had a soap business together which collapsed after Piper's incarceration and Polly's pregnancy. Eventually, Polly gets together with Larry which causes friction between their friendship. They don't appear to have spoken since the end of Season Two.
- Rosa Cisneros
- Big Boo
- Frieda Berlin
- Dayanara Diaz
- Gina Murphy - She is part of Red's Family
- Norma Romano
- Sister Ingalls
- Cindy Hayes
- Alison Abdullah
- Janae Watson
- Blanca Flores
- Suzanne Warren
- Gloria Mendoza
- Beth Hoefler
- Tiffany Doggett
- Zirconia
Enemies
- Pennsatucky (former) - Initially, Pennsatucky is friendly to Piper until Piper 'disrespects' her, which sends her on a quest to murder her. In their confrontation during the Christmas play, Piper angrily punches Pennsatucky repeatedly to the extent that she needs oral surgery for new teeth, something which she asked of Piper when she was elected a WAC member. Because of her new teeth, it seems as if Pennsatucky has gotten over their past conflicts and happily hugs Piper on Caputo's orders.
- Healy (former) - Initially, Healy is lenient towards Piper and offers his assistance to her in the belief that "she's not like the other girls." When he learns of Piper's sexual history, he becomes more hostile towards her, going to the point of locking her in solitary just because she and Alex were dancing close. He then called Larry and informed him of Piper's affair, leading to the breaking of their engagement. Later in Season 2, Healy helped Piper receive furlough for her Grandmothers funeral. Later he allows her to start a newsletter and they seem to bond over this.
- Alex Vause (former) - Broke up several times, have clashed due to Piper's dismissive attitude and other love interests, as well as Alex's dangerous background connections. Alex named her as an accessory to her crimes, which is what got Piper sent to prison. As of season four, they have repaired their relationship.
- Stella Carlin - Stole money from Piper. Piper got revenge by planting contraband in Stella's bunk and got Stella sent to Max.
- Maria Ruiz (civil, rival) - Piper told Piscatella about Maria's gang and business, extending Maria's sentence. Maria responded by having Piper's arm branded with a swastika. In season six, the two begin acting friendly towards each other as Maria signs Piper's kickball petition.
- Natalie Figueroa
- Piscatella
- Linda Ferguson
Novel
In an interview by a YouTube channel known as 'HeyUGuys,' Schilling explains that the show is not trying to 'impersonate' the author. Piper Chapman is an individual character who does not solidly resemble Kerman and her experience in prison; however, as the series was inspired by her book, some of the events in the series are similar to those that take place in her publication.
Memorable Quotes
For a full list of Piper Chapman's quotes, see here.
- "Oh, my god, Larry. By the time I get out, there'll have been like three new generations of iPhone."
- — Piper Chapman ("I Wasn't Ready")
- "I was in love. And it was... all crazy. And then it got... scary, and I ran away and became the nice blonde lady that I was supposed to be."
- — Piper Chapman to Larry ("I Wasn't Ready")
- "I have been here for less than two weeks. I've been starved out, felt up, teased, stalked, threatened, and called Taylor Swift."
- — Piper Chapman
Gallery
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Others
Trivia
- Piper had an online blog.
- Piper was born on June 7, 1981.
- She is a Gemini and was born at 11:42 A.M. in Connecticut, as she revealed in "Thirsty Bird".
- She isn't religious and labels herself as "secular humanist" because she thinks that agnosticism was "sort of a cop-out", as explained by herself in "Fool Me Once".
- She doesn't like Chicago's deep-dish style pizza, as mentioned by Larry and Polly in "Thirsty Bird".
- She is right-handed.
- It has been revealed that Piper is a Slytherin, as mentioned in "Flaming Hot Cheetos, Literally".
- According to creator Jenji Kohan, Piper has approximately 8 months left on her sentence.
- Piper sometimes use ‘progressive muscle relaxation’ to fall asleep.
- By the end of Season 5, she had “3 months” left. However due to her participation in the riot she has gotten 6 additional months, but then she is given early release.
Appearances
| Orange Is the New Black: Season One | ||||||||||
| "I Wasn't Ready": | "Tit Punch": | "Lesbian Request Denied": | "Imaginary Enemies": | "The Chickening": | "WAC Pack": | "Blood Donut": | ||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | ||||
| "Moscow Mule": | "Fucksgiving": | "Bora Bora Bora": | "Tall Men with Feelings": | "Fool Me Once": | "Can't Fix Crazy": | |||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | |||||
| Orange Is the New Black: Season Two | ||||||||||
| "Thirsty Bird": | "Looks Blue, Tastes Red": | "Hugs Can Be Deceiving": | "A Whole Other Hole": | "Low Self Esteem City": | "You Also Have a Pizza": | "Comic Sans": | ||||
| Appears | Credit Only | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | ||||
| "Appropriately Sized Pots": | "40 Oz. of Furlough": | "Little Mustachioed Shit": | "Take a Break From Your Values": | "It Was the Change": | "We Have Manners. We're Polite.": | |||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | |||||
| Orange Is the New Black: Season Three | ||||||||||
| "Mother's Day": | "Bed Bugs and Beyond": | "Empathy Is a Boner Killer": | "Finger in the Dyke": | "Fake It Till You Fake It Some More": | "Ching Chong Chang": | "Tongue-Tied": | ||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | ||||
| "Fear, and Other Smells": | "Where My Dreidel At": | "A Tittin' and a Hairin'": | "We Can Be Heroes": | "Don't Make Me Come Back There": | "Trust No Bitch": | |||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | |||||
| Orange Is the New Black: Season Four | ||||||||||
| "Work That Body for Me": | "Power Suit": | "(Don't) Say Anything": | "Doctor Psycho": | "We'll Always Have Baltimore": | "Piece of Shit": | "It Sounded Nicer in My Head": | ||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | ||||
| "Friends in Low Places": | "Turn Table Turn": | "Bunny, Skull, Bunny, Skull": | "People Persons": | "The Animals": | "Toast Can't Never Be Bread Again": | |||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | |||||
| Orange Is the New Black: Season Five | ||||||||||
| "Riot FOMO": | "Fuck, Marry, Frieda": | "Pissters!": | "Litchfield's Got Talent": | "Sing It, White Effie": | "Flaming Hot Cheetos, Literally": | "Full Bush, Half Snickers": | ||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | ||||
| "Tied to the Tracks": | "The Tightening": | "The Reverse Midas Touch": | "Breaking the Fiberboard Ceiling": | "Tattoo You": | "Storm-y Weather": | |||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | |||||
| Orange Is the New Black: Season Six | ||||||||||
| "Who Knows Better Than I": | "Shitstorm Coming": | "Look Out for Number One": | "I'm the Talking Ass": | "Mischief Mischief": | "State of the Uterus": | "Changing Winds": | ||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | ||||
| "Gordons": | "Break the String": | "Chocolate Chip Nookie": | "Well This Took a Dark Turn": | "Double Trouble": | "Be Free": | |||||
| Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | Appears | |||||