‘Everybody Loves Raymond’: Was Robert In Love With Debra? (POLL)
Everybody Loves Raymond will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its series premiere in 2026, and the cast is getting a head start. The ensemble will reunite for a new special airing on November 24. Over the sitcom’s nine seasons, viewers shared many laughs (and even a few tears) with the Barone family.
Debra (Patricia Heaton) was married to Ray Barone (Ray Romano), but their relationship was far from perfect. The couple got into countless fights, mainly over Ray being a lazy husband — and that’s an understatement. One topic of discussion that is continually debated to this day is whether Robert (Brad Garrett), Ray’s older brother, was in love with Debra.
Being in love with your brother’s wife certainly would not have gone over well with Barone matriarch and patriarch, Marie (Doris Roberts) and Frank (Peter Boyle), that’s for sure. Nothing ever happened between Robert and Debra, but there were certainly signs. Swooon is looking at key evidence regarding Robert and Debra’s relationship. (Plus, we want to hear your opinion in the poll and comments below.)
Was Robert in love with Debra on Everybody Loves Raymond?
That’s up to how you interpret their dynamic in the long-running series. There were several moments throughout Everybody Loves Raymond in which Robert showed signs that he was in love with Debra.
Let’s address Episode 21 of Season 5, probably the most blatant piece of evidence. When Robert is down in the dumps about his love life, Debra tries to give him some advice. “Nobody’s perfect,” she says. In front of Ray, Robert tells Debra, “You are.” Ray isn’t jealous (he should be) over Robert’s words about his wife, he’s more shocked someone would say something like that about her. “I think Debra’s perfect,” Robert reiterates. Debra is nearly too stunned to speak because she clearly never hears words like that from her husband.
In Season 6, Debra runs for a position at the kids’ school, and she loses by a narrow margin. Turns out, Ray didn’t even vote for his own wife in the election. (Seriously, this man deserves jail time.) Robert voices his support for Debra, and Ray quips, “You think everything she does is great.”
And let’s not forget that Robert is the one who gives Ray the idea of what to get Debra for Christmas in Season 7. Robert knows that To Kill a Mockingbird is Debra’s favorite book, and she even did her college thesis on it. Ray takes total credit for getting Debra the first edition of Harper Lee’s novel. Eventually, Robert admits the truth. “You should be happy with me! I told him to get you that book!” he tells Debra. Even Amy (Monica Horan) notices how thoughtful Robert is about Debra compared to her.
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In Episode 4 of Season 9, Debra asks Ray to dress better. While trying to get in a dig at Ray, Robert quips that Debra is a “beautiful woman with horribly impaired vision.” Ray decides to lie and say that women at school think Debra dresses like a “tramp.” At the next PTA meeting, Debra walks in wearing a very sexy outfit. Marie, Frank, Robert, and Amy arrive in the middle of the meeting and gape at Debra’s outfit.
Debra and Ray fight, and Marie gets in a few words as well. “I like the way I dress, and by the way, so does your son,” Debra says. Without hesitation, Robert quips, “That’s right.” He later recalls from memory the exact red dress “with the open back” that she wore to Marie and Frank’s anniversary. What he doesn’t remember? What his own wife was wearing.
In Swooon’s eyes, Robert definitely had feelings for Debra. Many fans agree. “There’s a connection between them because in their own way, they are outside the family looking in. They can feel apart from the others,” one fan wrote on Facebook. Another added, “Debra HAS NEVER HAD A THING FOR ROBERT. Robert, on the other hand, HAS ALWAYS HAD A THING for Debra.”
There are several Reddit threads about this very topic. Some fans think Robert mainly had platonic feelings for his sister-in-law. “I think he cares a lot for Debra,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “He may harbor some feelings/attraction towards her. However, I think any romantic feelings he may secretly have for her stem from his jealousy towards Raymond. He feels that Debra is much too good for Ray and that Ray doesn’t deserve her.”
One fan on the same thread believes that “Robert is one of those people who are not happy unless they are unhappy. Yes he pines a little for Debra, but it’s more because of the reason I said above. If Debra broke up with Ray and showed interest in him he would run for the hills.”
Who did Robert end up with on Everybody Loves Raymond?
Robert marries Amy in the Season 7 finale after years of an on-again, off-again relationship. They break up several times over Robert’s fear of commitment. He reconnects with his ex-wife, Joanne (Suzie Plakson), and has a fling with Stefania (Alex Meneses) before settling down.
Robert and Amy’s wedding day is a roller coaster, with Marie interrupting the ceremony. Thankfully, these two still say “I do” in the end. They are still together in the series finale.
Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion, Monday, November 24, 8/7c, CBS
