Gina Russo
Encyclopedia
Gina Russo is a fictional character in the American television series Nip/Tuck
. She was portrayed by Jessalyn Gilsig
.
, and was often the foil to Christian Troy
. She and Christian had a love/hate sexual relationship initiated by Christian when he broke Gina's 8 month long vow of celibacy
for a one-night stand
, incurring Gina's wrath against him for months.
Gina had Borderline Personality Disorder
. She alternated between adoring Christian and calling him names. She also suffered from bulimia, sexual addiction
, self-hatred
, self-destructiveness
, sarcasm
, rage
, bitterness
and a tendency to profanity
at minor setbacks.
meeting, where they began a love/hate sexual relationship initiated by Christian when he broke Gina's months-long vow of celibacy
for a one-night stand
, incurring Gina's wrath against him for months. Along with other conditions, she would have sex with different partners and forget their identities. Her Sexaholics Anonymous
group calls this "Blackout Sex".
Gina believed she was carrying Christian's child, conceived from their one-night stand. This seemed to spark a tremendous change in Christian who decided he wanted to be the best father he could to the child. The pair only found out in the delivery room that the child was not his because baby Wilber was half black.
from multiple partners ensures conception. When Christian found out about this, he threatened to take sole custody of Wilber from Gina. She responded by tracking down Wilber's biological father, James Sutherland, an older married man from Arizona. James initially took Christian's side and agreed to give up custody rights to the baby so Christian to raise the child, but he later recanted and won custody of Wilber, taking away the one thing that brought Christian and Gina together.
Gina eventually revealed to Christian she was HIV
-positive, which forced Christian to rethink his life as he called up every girl he had sex with since his relationship with Gina to warn them, and then tracked down James and Wilber so they could be tested - all three were HIV-negative. James convinced Christian to see the good in Gina, and he eventually forgave her. Christian ended up paying for Gina's HIV medication (upon finding out that she was without any health care
insurance and was not on any HIV medication), and the rent for her apartment.
: a surgical recovery spa called "De La Mer". Gina found a creative way to keep down costs on "De La Mer" and began to offer oral sex
to contractors and construction workers (male and female) in exchange for reduced fees. Julia was horrified and, for perhaps the first time, offered her validation and told her she is too good to be doing such things to herself.
Later, Gina became the final victim of The Carver, a masked serial rapist, in Miami. She later explained to Sean and Christian that she had shown up to McNamara/Troy to ask Christian to be her date. Christian refused, saying that he did not want to ruin their friendship.
" to which Christian replied that it must be genetic. Gina realized that it is not Wilber that is missing from her life. She left him with Christian after giving him a toy firetruck.
. As Christian thrust into her, Gina was sent flying backward off the ledge to her death.
Nip/Tuck
Nip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy...
. She was portrayed by Jessalyn Gilsig
Jessalyn Gilsig
Jessalyn Gilsig is a Canadian actress known for her roles in the television series Boston Public, Nip/Tuck and as Will Schuester's ex-wife Terri Schuester in Glee...
.
Character history
She was a bitter, troubled sex addictSexual addiction
Sexual addiction is a popular model to explain hypersexuality—sexual urges, behaviors, or thoughts that appear extreme in frequency or feel out of one's control...
, and was often the foil to Christian Troy
Christian Troy
Dr. Christian Troy is a fictional character played by Julian McMahon on the FX Networks series Nip/Tuck. The show revolves around McNamara/Troy, the plastic surgery practice he runs with his business partner and best friend, Sean McNamara....
. She and Christian had a love/hate sexual relationship initiated by Christian when he broke Gina's 8 month long vow of celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
for a one-night stand
One-night stand
Originally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship...
, incurring Gina's wrath against him for months.
Gina had Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Borderline personality disorder is a personality disorder described as a prolonged disturbance of personality function in a person , characterized by depth and variability of moods.The disorder typically involves unusual levels of instability in mood; black and white thinking, or splitting; the...
. She alternated between adoring Christian and calling him names. She also suffered from bulimia, sexual addiction
Sexual addiction
Sexual addiction is a popular model to explain hypersexuality—sexual urges, behaviors, or thoughts that appear extreme in frequency or feel out of one's control...
, self-hatred
Self-hatred
Self-hatred refers to an extreme dislike and hatred of oneself, or being angry at or even prejudiced towards oneself. The term is also used to designate a dislike or hatred of a group, family, social class, mental illness, or stereotype to which one belongs and/or has...
, self-destructiveness
Self-destructive behaviour
In human context, self-destructive behaviour is a widely used phrase that conceptualises certain kinds of destructive acts as belonging to the self. It also has the property that it characterises certain kinds of self-inflicted acts as destructive...
, sarcasm
Sarcasm
Sarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...
, rage
Rage (emotion)
Rage is a feeling of intense anger. It is associated with the Fight-or-flight response and oftentimes activated in response to an external cue, such as the murder of a loved one. The phrase, 'thrown into a fit of rage,' expresses the immediate nature of rage that occurs before deliberation. If left...
, bitterness
Resentment
Resentment is the experience of a negative emotion felt as a result of a real or imagined wrong done. Etymologically, the word originates from French "ressentir", re-, intensive prefix, and sentir "to feel"; from the Latin "sentire"...
and a tendency to profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
at minor setbacks.
Season One
She and Christian met at a Sexaholics AnonymousSexaholics Anonymous
Sexaholics Anonymous is one of several twelve-step programs for hypersexuality based on the original Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. SA takes its place among various 12-step groups that seek recovery from sexual addiction: Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Sexual...
meeting, where they began a love/hate sexual relationship initiated by Christian when he broke Gina's months-long vow of celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
for a one-night stand
One-night stand
Originally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship...
, incurring Gina's wrath against him for months. Along with other conditions, she would have sex with different partners and forget their identities. Her Sexaholics Anonymous
Sexaholics Anonymous
Sexaholics Anonymous is one of several twelve-step programs for hypersexuality based on the original Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. SA takes its place among various 12-step groups that seek recovery from sexual addiction: Sex Addicts Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous, Sexual...
group calls this "Blackout Sex".
Gina believed she was carrying Christian's child, conceived from their one-night stand. This seemed to spark a tremendous change in Christian who decided he wanted to be the best father he could to the child. The pair only found out in the delivery room that the child was not his because baby Wilber was half black.
Season Two
Despite the revelation Christian vowed to raise Wilber as his own, but Gina's irresponsible behavior continued. Obsessed with motherhood, she tried to have a second child by inviting a group of men over for a "conception party", in which they have group sex - the idea being that a large volume of semenSemen
Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...
from multiple partners ensures conception. When Christian found out about this, he threatened to take sole custody of Wilber from Gina. She responded by tracking down Wilber's biological father, James Sutherland, an older married man from Arizona. James initially took Christian's side and agreed to give up custody rights to the baby so Christian to raise the child, but he later recanted and won custody of Wilber, taking away the one thing that brought Christian and Gina together.
Gina eventually revealed to Christian she was HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
-positive, which forced Christian to rethink his life as he called up every girl he had sex with since his relationship with Gina to warn them, and then tracked down James and Wilber so they could be tested - all three were HIV-negative. James convinced Christian to see the good in Gina, and he eventually forgave her. Christian ended up paying for Gina's HIV medication (upon finding out that she was without any health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
insurance and was not on any HIV medication), and the rent for her apartment.
Season Three
Due to money troubles, Christian was forced to stop supporting Gina's HIV treatment, but she soon found a way to support herself by embarking on an ambitious business venture with Julia McNamaraJulia McNamara
Julia McNamara is a fictional character in the American television series Nip/Tuck, portrayed by Joely Richardson.-Character history:...
: a surgical recovery spa called "De La Mer". Gina found a creative way to keep down costs on "De La Mer" and began to offer oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
to contractors and construction workers (male and female) in exchange for reduced fees. Julia was horrified and, for perhaps the first time, offered her validation and told her she is too good to be doing such things to herself.
Later, Gina became the final victim of The Carver, a masked serial rapist, in Miami. She later explained to Sean and Christian that she had shown up to McNamara/Troy to ask Christian to be her date. Christian refused, saying that he did not want to ruin their friendship.
Season Four
Christian was given legal guardianship of Wilber, after James Sutherland and his wife died in a car accident. Gina returned to fight for her own rights to her child despite the fact that James' adult son explained that his father's will explicitly stated that Gina was to have nothing to do with the boy. Gina believed that since she had returned to success with real estate, and had sold Spa De La Mer for a large profit, she could also raise Wilber. When Christian questioned her HIV, she replied that "HIV is the new diabetes". During dinner with Christian, Michelle, and Wilber, Gina returned and tried to visit her son. When she discovered Michelle was to be his new adopted mother, she became enraged and swore that she would have Wilber. Later in the episode, Gina kidnapped her son but later returned him to Christian, telling him she does not want to raise the boy as it would require too much effort to make him a proper young man. She complained that he has "potty mouthProfanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
" to which Christian replied that it must be genetic. Gina realized that it is not Wilber that is missing from her life. She left him with Christian after giving him a toy firetruck.
Season Five
In revenge for discovering Christian and Julia were having an affair, Sean hired Gina to be McNamara/Troy's new receptionist. Despite once again claiming to be a reformed character, Gina tried to get her claws into Christian and began to watch him have sex with other women, before cruelly mocking Julia over his infidelity. Inviting Christian up to the McNamara/Troy roof for a candle-lit dinner, Gina proposed they get back together. Christian was initially wary but eventually they began to have sex, with Gina climbing onto the ledge as she was about to orgasmOrgasm
Orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
. As Christian thrust into her, Gina was sent flying backward off the ledge to her death.