Marissa Benson

Marissa Benson is a recurring character on iCarly and the mother of Freddie Benson.

Biography
Marissa Benson is a woman who resides in Seattle. Marissa is a part-time nurse and Head of the Building Watch Patrol in Bushwell Plaza.

Marissa was married to Mr. Benson and had one child, Freddie Benson, with him. The whereabouts of Mr. Benson are unknown as Marissa is shown to be the sole guardian of Freddie. She is the devoted and caring mother of Freddie Benson (see Maddie for their mother/son relationship). Freddie likely took on Marissa's last name as it was revealed that Marissa's side of the family is the Bensons.

In his late 20s, Freddie was forced to move back in with his mother following two divorces and the failure of his tech startup company. He brought Millicent, his adopted daughter from one of his marriages, with him.

Physical Appearance
Marissa Benson is a middle-aged woman with brown hair.

Personality
Marissa is shown to be nosy, aware of everything, overprotective, and borderline psychotic. However, she is a caring and devoted mother who would go to great lengths to protect Freddie from anything and everything that might be even remotely dangerous to him. This decreases after iMove Out, in which she promises never to embarrass Freddie again (including unblocking all of the channels on his TV), Freddie threatening that he would move out again. Despite that, she is still somewhat overprotective of him, as seen in iBeat the Heat and iPsycho. Marissa is an anti-hero throughout the series, due to her overprotective, cautious, and sometimes selfish personality, but she at times is shown to be kind and gentle (such as when she cares for Lewbert when he is hurt in iHurt Lewbert).

Marissa regularly gives her son tick baths and possesses an industrial-sized first aid kit. According to iMove Out, she was pregnant with Freddie for 11 months to "make sure that he was done."

In iFence, Mrs. Benson becomes particularly upset when Freddie takes up fencing. It turns out she comes from a long line of fencers and she, herself, once took up the sport because her father made her (he'd been a part of The Fencin' Bensons) and became addicted to it. She initially objected to Freddie fencing, but eventually relented, later revealing that she is herself a skilled double-sword fencer.

Her relationship with Carly Shay, Kayla Lee and Sam Puckett is one of general tolerance. She agreed to allow Freddie, and the three girls to go to Japan to collect their iWeb Award only if she came along, (iGo to Japan). Although she generally seems to like Carly and even implied she would like her to be Freddie's girlfriend in iWill Date, Freddie, she became hostile towards her when Carly supported Freddie's fencing, and then later again after Freddie was hurt from saving Carly's life in iSaved Your Life when she caught them kissing she angrily screamed, "What the yuck?!" Just before the kissing, she said to Carly, referring to Freddie hit by the taco truck, "It should have been you!" This proves that Mrs. Benson is different from other parents because most parents would be sad that their child's in pain yet proud that he/she made a heroic move saving a life, as opposed to Mrs. Benson, who's instead upset that Freddie's in pain and angry at Carly because she thinks Carly caused the accident. She doesn't approve of Carly as much and also in iBeat the Heat, as she calls Carly a "dummy." She seems to blame Carly for causing her son's injury, although this makes no sense since Freddie saved her life voluntarily.

As for Spencer Shay, her attitude towards him varies from general annoyance and disgust to treating him in an almost motherly way (in several episodes she's seen ordering Spencer about).

In iChristmas, Carly experiences an alternate reality in which Spencer and Mrs. Benson had fallen in love and were engaged to be married. Since Carly wishing that Spencer was normally caused this alternate reality, Marissa, therefore, just like normal people.

In iHurt Lewbert she found herself taking care of injured doorman Lewbert Sline and sparks of romance flew between the two until Freddie, horrified at the prospect of Lewbert being his mother's boyfriend, orchestrated an accident that caused her mothering instinct to kick in. She is now hostile towards Lewbert, as shown in iBeat the Heat.

Although her occupation is unknown, it has been revealed by Dan Schneider that she sometimes occasionally works as a part-time nurse.

She seems (especially in iSaved Your Life) to dislike Carly (although she likes Carly in some episodes) because she "hurt" Freddie (who rescued her) but doesn't show any hate towards Kayla and Sam who hurts her son frequently. She may be unaware of Kayla and Sam's treatment of Freddie - he may never have told her about it and Sam has never bullied him in front of her. However, in iCan't Take It, she does show hate towards Kayla and Sam and doesn’t dislike Carly that much it may also be because Freddie had a crush on Carly and Kayla and she sees Carly and Kayla as someone who takes Freddie's attention away from her. In iMove Out, she mentions that Carly got Freddie interested in the three girls, causing his "boy chemistry to be out of wack." Judging by Carly’s reactions toward Mrs. Benson, it appears that her dislike of Carly is mutual, as Carly has stated she is a nightmare and said on TV that Carly, Kayla and Sam said she is a pain.

Ever since iSaved Your Life, Mrs. Benson has shown a dislike towards Carly. Examples are in iBeat the Heat and iSam's Mom as she rudely calls Carly "dummy" or "dumbo." She is also sometimes rude to Spencer and Kayla as in iFind Lewbert's Lost Love when she called Spencer stupid.

In iStill Psycho and iToe Fat Cakes, Mrs. Benson is shown to be very neurotic and suffers from Mysophobia (fear of germs) as proven by when she admits to Carly she bathes in her sweatshirt and that she uses hand-sanitizer and a tissue to open her apartment door.

Mr. Benson
(Ex-husband) Mr. Benson is the ex-husband of Marissa and the father of Freddie Benson. Marissa's ex-husband has never appeared on the show. According to the script of an unaired scene, his name of Leonard.

Lewbert Sline
(2008; Ex-boyfriend) In iHurt Lewbert, Marisa took care of Lewbert when he was injured. They developed a relationship, but later broke up.

Spencer Shay
(2008; Alternate-reality fiancé) In iChristmas, Spencer was the alternate-reality fiancé of Spencer. Carly did not approve of this relationship and screamed when she saw them together.

Millicent
(Unknown-Present; Step-granddaughter)' Millicent and her adopted grandmother have bonded well and Millicent calls her Grandma B. Mrs. Benson provides bubble baths for Millicent and they both bond over Toledo House Flip. Marissa seems to really love spending time with Millicent and supports her in her activities, like when Marissa went to see Millicent's play.

Trivia

 * In iMove Out, she promises to Freddie that she will no longer act overprotect towards him, but in further episodes she breaks her promise.
 * She shows some interest in sculpting because Freddie talks about her going to pottery classes at "Color Me Pot". (iFence)
 * Mrs. Benson slapped Lewbert so hard that she popped his wart, this is one of many times something hurt Lewbert's wart. (iBeat the Heat)
 * She comes from a family of fencers and was forced to fence by her parents. Despite this, she hates fencing and tried to stop Freddie from fencing, so he doesn't become obsessed with it, like her father and grandfather were. (iFence)
 * She used to drive a Prius until Spencer stole its battery to power a helmet. (iGo To Japan)
 * Sometimes she likes to make rhyming sentences, usually to make Freddie do something he doesn't want to, i.e. eat mushrooms or sit up straight (iHurt Lewbert, iWill Date Freddie, iMove Out, and iBeat the Heat)
 * It's possible that Mrs. Benson is divorced or her husband is dead, seeing as her husband is never shown or heard. Some hints are in iChristmas were she and Spencer are engaged. Another hint is in iHurt Lewbert where she had a little relationship with Lewbert, only for that to end when Lewbert shows his inner self when Freddie gets hurt by falling the stair. Also, in iHurt Lewbert, Carly, Kayla and Sam joke that, if Marissa and Lewbert continued dating, they would be married and that Lewbert might become Freddie's step-father.
 * A possible reason she could be divorced is that her husband couldn't stand her anymore and left her and Freddie.
 * Another possibility is that Mrs. Benson never had a husband. In iFence we find out she comes from a long line of circus fencers, called The Fencin' Bensons. This implies that her maiden name is Benson. Given that Freddie is also a Benson, it's possible that Mrs. Benson and Freddie's father never married. (Other possibilities do exist, of course.)
 * Marissa means "of the sea", but she thinks it means "honeysuckle" (iHurt Lewbert).
 * Marissa has shown some signs of mental instability, such as screaming loudly and ripping her clothing at the first sign of discord in her life, such as disobedience from Freddie. She also seems to fall into mental disarray at the sight of uncleanliness, regarding things in a childlike manner or convulsing in panic.
 * Marissa's overprotection by her son has paid off in iStill Psycho.
 * She appears again in the Sam & Cat special #TheKillerTunaJump where she thought Freddie was looking at Carly's door even though he was getting a phone call from Cat.
 * In an episode, it was revealed that Mrs. Benson gives Freddie an $8 monthly allowance because she thinks if she gives Freddie more he will buy a bus ticket and leave her. According to Freddie, this is "not really [stupid]", possibly indicating that Freddie's dad bought a bus ticket and left her.
 * It is shown in the revival, especially in iLove Gwen, that Marissa has gotten over her dislike for Carly and respects her unlike in the original series, where she held a grudge against Carly.
 * She has never been to a sleepover.
 * As of iLove Gwen, she doesn't own a smartphone. However in iParty With Victorious, she was seen with a PearPhone meaning she must have downgraded sometime after the original series ended.
 * She only appeared twice in the first season of the revival, but Miranda Cosgrove hopes that Mrs Benson will appear more times in the second season.
 * According to Freddie's blog, How Sam Ruined Our Thanksgiving!, Marissa is very allergic to cats.