Gilmore Girls’ Rory Cheating History Has a Simple but Heartbreaking Explanation

Summary:

• Gilmore Girls ’ Rory Gilmore has a bad history of cheating on, or with, her boyfriends.
• There might be more than one reason for this, with the notorious daddy issues standing out.

Gilmore Girls establishes right from the first episode that Rory is a special and unique princess who can do no wrong. And it does seem that way until she starts making questionable choices that, most of the time, still work out in her favor, at least in the first seasons.

Later, Rory is incapable of facing the music and dealing with consequences of her own actions—especially when it involves guys. So where do these particular issues come from?

Firstly, Rory’s never had a father figure growing up. Sure, some guys come and stay every now and then when Lorelai ventures out to dip her toe in the dating pool. They never stay for too long, though, even if Rory likes some of them enough to maybe hope for something resembling stability in her mother’s love life. In Lorelai’s defense, she always tries to hide her lovers from Rory, at least until she’s old enough to have a boyfriend of her own.

Instead, she replaces Rory’s potential dads with old movies and shows about great romantic love, and we all know that these were the poster children for toxic, abusive, or co-dependent relationships.

Secondly, Rory’s own father doesn’t seem to need her; he comes and goes, too, sometimes showing up only to leave again, with Rory wondering if it would be the last time she saw her father. You might say that he is the reason why she keeps cheating on her boyfriends: she is afraid of letting them go, opting to stay and cheat, rather than break up and get into a new relationship. It’s the comfort level for Rory Gilmore, and we see that she prefers it that way, never learning a lesson from her mistakes.

Thirdly, Luke might be the only sort of father figure Rory Gilmore’s ever had, and that’s saying something because, let’s face it, the guy is also a mess when it comes to personal relationships, even with his own daughter, let alone Lorelai or his sister.

Some fans claim that Richard and Emily’s relationship has at least some semblance of normalcy, and yes, we think that if Rory got to see her grandparents when she was a kid, she might have turned out different, at least in the relationship department.

Basically, Rory’s never seen a functional couple. Is it any wonder she doesn’t know how to emulate it?