Name: Harriet Beaumont Simms-Roberts (Karri Turner)
Rank: Lieutenant, USN
Current Station: Office of the Inspector General, JAG Headquarters, Falls Church, VA.
Harriet originally replaced Bud as Public Affairs Officer on the USS Seahawk (“Crossing the Line”). She was transferred to Norfolk in “Washington Holiday”, and then to JAG HQ in the third season. Her relationship with the bumbling Bud often serves as comic relief, but they sometimes clash when working opposite each other (“Chains of Command”). We learned that she comes from a very affluent Southern family in “Yesterday’s Heroes,” and her mother quickly made it clear that she didn’t approve of Bud. Harriet, with her father’s help, managed to put up with her mother’s constant carping long enough to survive the wedding (“Wedding Bell Blues”).
Since married couples can not work together under Navy regulations, Harriet was transferred to the Inspector General's office, but Admiral Chegwidden arranged for her to still work out of JAG HQ. In season four, Bud and Harriet discovered that they were expecting a baby (“Embassy”). Despite one health scare for Harriet (“The Martin Baker Fan Club”), A.J. Roberts was born at JAG Headquarters in the episode “Yeah, Baby.” Harriet was also promoted to LTJG during this season.
At the beginning of the fifth season, we found out that Harriet has gone onto reserve duty so that she can spend more time with baby AJ (“King of the Greenie Board”). Harriet was one of the few JAG staffers to get along with Renee Peterson: she wore a dress ‘borrowed’ by Renee in “Surface Warfare,” and invited her over for a “girls’ night” in “Valor.”
Late in season five, Bud and Harriet found out that they were expecting a second child (“Promises”), and they decided to name the baby Sarah, after Colonel Mackenzie (“JAG TV”). Unfortunately, baby Sarah died during birth (“The Princess and the Petty Officer”), and when Bud brought charges against the Navy doctor who delivered Sarah, Harriet was forced to confess that she’d lost a baby once before (“Family Secrets”). She returned to active duty in the sixth-season episode “Touch and Go,” and was promoted to full lieutenant in “Lifeline.”
When Bud left home for sea duty in the seventh season, Harriet had to juggle her responsibilities at JAG while caring for baby A.J. on her own. Feeling that their family had outgrown their small apartment in Rosslyn, she decided to buy a house, and hit a slight snag when she kept that fact from her husband. Lieutenant Singer exacerbated the situation, which culminated in Harriet throwing a punch at the much-despised lieutenant. After Bud’s injury, she has had to handle a great deal of hardship, but she is surviving. At Christmas during season eight, she and Bud discovered that they were going to have another baby (“All Ye Faithful”).
(Biography
used by permission by AeroGirl)