#i could analyze linda and gayle's entire childhood tbh because its obvious why bob is so messed up and what big bob did to him

[br1ghtestlight]

i think if gayle was raised by actual competent parents she would have grown up to be more emotionally stable tbh she has character traits of all three belcher kids except brought to an extreme and with no support

like she has gene's love of performing and attention and his inferiority complex/feeling like a failure compared to his siblings (this is referenced FAR LESS for gene but trust me its a thing) and tina's social awkwardness and love of boys/romance, louise's general disregard for social rules and love of chaos and adventure but the difference is the belcher kids were raised by GOOD PARENTS who loved them and taught them to deal with their emotions in a healthy and productive way without enabling them

meanwhile gayle was very clearly neglected and put down all her life (people always say gayle got all her parents attention and took it away from linda but i dont see any real proof of that i think they just didnt care about taking care of their kids in general, at least beyond basic physical needs)

she never had parents to tell her she was important and loved or to help her deal with emotional dysfunction or feeling like nobody cared about her and acting out to get attention/faking an illness (VERY CLEARLY a sign of severe mental illness) im not saying gayle is a good person or sister and she mistreats people in her life a lot but she got a terrible mix of abuse/neglect from her parents and enabling from her sister so its not surprising she turned out this way

tbh linda is only as well put-together as she is because it was a coping mechanism in a dysfunctional family (and probably a promise to herself that she would be better than her parents) and she also obviously has issues with boundaries etc