Christina McKinney (Ashley Jensen)

Ashley Jensen as Christina McKinney

Background

Christina emigrated to the United States from Scotland and is one of 10 children; she is a seamstress who works at MODE magazine and calls her office "The Closet" because of the leftover fashion designs she has in her space, of which she uses to whip up new outfits from time to time. Christina would later find out that her workspace also served as a passageway to a secret hideaway for Bradford Meade and the late Fey Sommers.

Her knowledge of what goes on at her workplace inside and out comes in handy as she becomes fast friends and forms an alliance with new fellow co-worker Betty Suarez. And like Betty, she too has dreams, in which she aspires to be the next fashion designer.

She finally got her chance to show off her designs in the episode "I'm Coming Out", only to learn that Wilhelmina chose her show to set up for the return of Alexis Meade, who helped bring down Bradford Meade by framing him for the murder of Fey Sommers. Prior to the event a week earlier, Wilhelmina tricked Christina into turning a package in to the police in order to frame Bradford.

After turning in the evidence, Wilhelmina has been using that as a crutch, so Christina can serve as a minion for Wilhelmina; even though Christina wants nothing to do with Wilhelmina's schemes. However, when Wilhelmina threatens to blame her for turning in the evidence by lying to Betty, Christina has no choice but to go along, even if it means she has to protect her friendship with Betty after she told her to never sell her soul to the devil when she talked Betty out of cashing a check Wilhelmina gave her to help her father in exchange for turning on Daniel. When Christina came clean to Betty in "Punch Out", the outcome would result in Betty ending her friendship with Christina because of her selling out to Wilhelmina. But the two would make up as Betty realized that she needs her more than ever in "Petra-Gate", with Christina offering to help Betty seek out any info about Wilhelmina's schemes.

In the finale of Season 1, while intoxicated, she reveals that she has had a husband named Stuart (a insurance agent), whom she left in Scotland. She tells Amanda that ever since she left the country no one has bothered to look for her since.

Connections

• Betty Suarez - Assistant to the Editor in Chief; a close ally, she was the one who told Betty how she was hired and gives her info on how to deal with the "Bitches" at MODE. A member of the "Uglies" along with Christina. Christina also thinks that Betty spends too much time focusing on her boss Daniel Meade.
• Wilhelmina Slater - Creative Editor at MODE; on call to her when in times of fashion emergencies. Wilhelmina has mistakenly called her "Carlotta" and thinks that she is Irish (calling her a "drunken Irish woman," and as evidenced in several episodes, she actually does drink alcohol) because she can't understand what Christina tells her due to Christina's Scottish accent, which Wilhelmina believes includes some cursing words towards her.
• Amanda Tanen - Receptionist at MODE; she frequently calls her "Braveheart" because of her Scottish heritage; Christina on the other hand doesn't like Amanda because she knows that Amanda is very clueless and has made remarks about her sleeping with Daniel despite his womanizing ways. In the episode "Icing On The Cake" Christina came to Amanda's rescue when Amanda tried to use the bathroom while being stuck in a tight dress, and in the first season finale was the one who showed Amanda the photos and birth certificate that revealed Fey Sommers as Amanda's mother.
• Marc St. James - Wilhelmina's assistant; Christina has a love-hate rivalry with Marc, with whom she constantly bickers, mostly because of her work. When Wilhelmina feared that Christina will tell Betty about what happened during Fashion Week, she made Marc be Christina's "New Betty" so she won't say anything to Betty and hopefully lure Christina over to Wilhelmina's side.
• Justin Suarez - Betty's nephew who loves to talk fashion with her.
• Nancy - MODE employee; A member of the "Uglies" along with Christina.
• Zelda - MODE employee; A member of the "Uglies" along with Christina.

Trivia

• Christina is based on Bertha Muñoz de González, only she isn't fat, but both have a great ear for gossip.
• Has a cat, although its name isn't revealed.
• She has a fondness for alcohol, despite having mentioned in the season finale that her husband was also an alcoholic.

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