- Relationships
Family[]
Mother[]
Monk's mother died in 1994 under unknown circumstances. It is implied that although she was emotionally distanced from her children, she still took good care of them.
Jack Monk[]
Adrian Monk's father, Jack Monk, abandoned his family when Monk was 8 years old. His sudden absence left a profound impact on the two children, dramatically worsening their respective illnesses. While Ambrose always believed that his father would return eventually, Adrian gave up a long time ago.
In 2006, Jack returns to San Francisco and is arrested for driving past a red light and resisting arrest. He was bailed out by Adrian, who couldn't forgive him for leaving them. Nonetheless, they bond again when they solve a murder case involving Jack's boss together.
Ambrose Monk[]
Ambrose Monk is Adrian Monk's older brother by two years.
Due to suffering from extreme agoraphobia, he has left his house only twice since becoming an adult. Monk believes that the reason why he didn't attend Trudy's funeral was because of his phobia but later finds out that he didn't come because he blamed himself for Trudy's death. He had asked Trudy to pick up some medicine from the pharmacy for him that day since he wasn't able to leave the house and get it himself due to his condition. He believed that it was his fault that Trudy was at that place at that time and therefore got caught in the auto bomb.[1]
After the misunderstanding was cleared, Adrian and Ambrose were on good terms again.
Jack Monk Jr.[]
Jack Monk Jr. is Adrian Monk's younger half-brother. He's the child from Jack Monk's second marriage to an unnamed woman.
In Mr. Monk's Other Brother, it is revealed that he is an escapee from prison and was arrested for theft.
Trudy Monk[]
Trudy Monk was Adrian Monk's wife. After meeting Adrian in university, the two fell in love and later married. During their years together, Trudy helped Adrian control his compulsions immensely and the two led a happy life until she was murdered by a car bomb in 1997, worsening Adrian's condition and sending him into a deep depression over her loss and his inability to determine the killer.
Still hanging onto Trudy's memory years after her death (even hallucinating her in some instances), Adrian could only fully move on from her loss in 2009, when Trudy's murderer was exposed as federal judge Ethan Rickover, who committed the crime to hide the fact that Molly Evans, Rickover's illegitimate daughter and Adrian's stepdaughter, was still alive.
Friends[]
Leland Stottlemeyer[]
Leland Stottlemeyer is the captain of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) and a close friend of Adrian Monk. After Trudy died and Adrian became a recluse, Leland sought the help of private nurse Sharona Fleming to help Adrian cope with Trudy's loss, something that helped Adrian greatly in later years. After Adrian became a consultant to the SFPD, Leland at first tried to avoid Adrian's help in cases so he could solve them himself, but later grew to respect and admire Adrian's perceptiveness and frequently collaborated with him, considering Adrian's help to be an absolute must in homicide investigations.
Randy Disher[]
Randy Disher is a former lieutenant in the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) and the current Chief of Police of Summit, New Jersey. Like Captain Stottlemeyer, Randy grew to respect and admire Adrian's skills as a detective, often working with him on homicide investigations and actively arresting those who Adrian deduced committed a crime.
Sharona Fleming[]
Sharona Fleming is Adrian Monk's former personal nurse/assistant and his close friend. Making her first appearance in season one and last appearance as a main character midway through season three (although she appeared for one episode in season eight), Sharona helped Adrian overcome his reclusive behavior and assisted him in his day-to-day life (but refused to baby Adrian and often made him do things that were uncomfortable to him) until she remarried her ex-husband Trevor Howe and moved to New Jersey. The absence of Sharona in his life led Adrian to suffer a minor depression until he hired a new personal assistant, Natalie Teeger, to take her place.
Natalie Teeger[]
Natalie Teeger is Adrian Monk's current assistant and close friend. Introduced midway through season three, Natalie took Sharona's place and her responsibilities as Adrian's assistant after she moved to New Jersey. Initially having to adjust to Adrian's eccentricities, Natalie arguably babied Adrian more than Sharona but at times, did make Adrian do things that he normally would refuse to do. Through her years with Adrian, Natalie developed a close friendship with him, partially due to the fact that she was able to relate to his grief due to the loss of her husband Mitch, and closely assisted her boss in many homicide investigations.
Enemies[]
Ethan Rickover[]
Ethan Rickover was a federal judge and the man who murdered Trudy Monk to cover up the existence of his illegitimate daughter, Molly Evans. Although his identity as Trudy's murderer was hidden until the series finale (being only referred to as "The Judge" before then), this indirectly made him Adrian's archenemy throughout the series as his actions was what made Adrian lose his true love and control of his life, which in turn led to a severe worsening of his compulsions.
Frank Nunn[]
Frank Nunn (also known as "The Six-Fingered Man") was a career criminal and hitman who was hired by Ethan Rickover to assassinate Trudy Monk. After he was hired by Rickover to complete the job, Nunn himself hired Warrick Tennyson to build the car bomb that he detonated using a cellular phone once Trudy was in close proximity, killing her in the process. His direct role in Trudy's murder made him one of Adrian's enemies throughout the series.
Dale J. Biederbeck III[]
Dale J. Biederbeck III (also known as "Dale the Whale") was a wealthy financier and Adrian's longtime enemy. Adrian's hatred for Dale originated when Trudy wrote an unflattering article about him, leading Dale to sue her and the newspaper that published the article for libel suit, knowing that he wouldn't win but merely for the fact that it would torment the Monk family due to the case's hefty legal fees. This led Trudy to suffer the "worst year of her life" sell the Monks' first home, causing Adrian to resent Dale for most of his adult life. Following Trudy's death and Dale's imprisonment in a later case, he continued to taunt Adrian over the fact that he had information on Trudy's murder that he wouldn't disclose. Despite this, however, Dale still proved to be a valuable asset in Trudy's murder case as it was his tips that led Adrian to investigate and later confront Frank Nunn and Warrick Tennyson, the two direct perpetrators of Trudy's murder.
Harold Krenshaw[]
Harold Krenshaw was a patient of Charles Kroger, and later Neven Bell, and Adrian's personal rival. Despite not being an antagonist in the show, Harold's own compulsive habits often came at odds with those of Adrian's, leading the two to constantly compete against one another in nearly everything, solidifying Adrian's distaste for Harold and vice versa. However, later on, Adrian and Harold made amends after conquering claustrophobia together while kidnapped, and Harold, in a gesture of kindness, left the care of Dr. Bell so Adrian could have individual sessions with him (disguised as group sessions), seemingly ending their rivalry.[2]