‘Mad Men’ Romance Rundown: Who Did Don, Peggy, Roger & More End Up With?
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for all seasons of Mad Men.]
Mad Men is the kind of show you can rewatch and always discover something new. The mysterious and dashing Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and the characters surrounding him kept us riveted for seven seasons.
There was never a dull moment in the world of Don Draper, and his complicated life could give the biggest superfan a headache. Since Mad Men is now on HBO Max, the time is just right for binging the period drama yet again. With Mad Men, every detail counts, so Swooon has assembled your go-to guide to the main characters’ relationships.
Who did characters like Don, Peggy (Elisabeth Moss), and Roger (John Slattery) end up with? What happened to Peggy and Pete’s (Vincent Kartheiser) baby? We’re answering all of your Mad Men relationship questions.
Don Draper
Who is Don Draper married to?
Don Draper has a total of three wives during Mad Men’s run and many, many mistresses:
Anna Draper
Don’s first wife is technically Anna Draper (Melinda Page Hamilton), the widow of the real Don Draper. The real Don is killed in the Korean War, and Dick Whitman steals his identity. Anna eventually discovers that Dick assumed her late husband’s identity. Despite the new Don’s lie, he grows very close to Anna. When Anna dies, Don is heartbroken. Anna is the only person to have ever known the true Dick Whitman.
AMC / Everett Collection
Betty Hofstadt
Don and Betty (January Jones) meet at a photoshoot. She is working as a model, while he’s writing the ad copy. The couple eventually marries and welcomes three kids: Sally, Bobby, and Gene. Beautiful Betty, whom Don calls “Birdie,” often feels oppressed living in suburbia and quickly suspects Don’s hiding secrets from her. Betty can have an ice-cold demeanor when she wants to, and she is often harsh toward her oldest child, Sally.
Betty and Don ultimately split over Don’s relentless infidelity and Betty’s affair with Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley). Their marriage is irreparably broken when Betty discovers the truth about Don’s identity. However, she never exposes him.
Megan Calvet
Don and Megan (Jessica Paré) meet while she is working at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. She becomes his secretary for a time, and their relationship intensifies when Megan joins Don and his kids on a trip to California. He proposes on that trip, and they get married shortly after. Megan leaves Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to pursue her acting career, which leads her to move to Los Angeles. Mounting tensions, the pressure of long distance, and the realization that they’re both on very different life paths cause Don and Megan to divorce.
Who does Don Draper end up with?
Don Draper doesn’t end up with anyone. In Season 7, Don heads to a retreat in California to find peace and heal himself. The final image of Don is him meditating and seemingly coming up with the iconic “Hilltop” Coca-Cola commercial.
Even though Don is single at the end of Mad Men, he certainly had his fair share of love interests across seven seasons: Midge Daniels (Rosemarie DeWitt), Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff), Dr. Faye Miller (Cara Buono), Sylvia Rosen (Linda Cardellini), and Diana Bauer (Elizabeth Reaser), to name a few.
Betty Draper
Why did Don and Betty Draper split up?
For one, Don couldn’t keep his pants zipped. He repeatedly cheats on Betty throughout their marriage. Betty eventually cheats on him, too, with Henry Francis, but only after stumbling upon another one of her husband’s lies. When Betty finds out that Don lied about his identity, their marriage is pretty much over. She is unable to trust Don and feels like she has married a stranger.
Don and Betty’s relationship after their divorce is tense. However, when Sally (Kiernan Shipka) tells Don that Betty is dying of cancer, he calls his ex-wife in the series finale. In their last conversation, Don sweetly called Betty “Birdie,” his affectionate nickname for her.
Mike Yarish / AMC / Everett Collection
Who does Betty Draper end up with?
After divorcing Don, Betty marries Henry Francis, who worked for Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Henry and Betty met when she was still married to Don and pregnant with Gene. During their marriage, Henry is devoted to Betty and is a stabilizing presence in her life.
Peggy Olson
Did Peggy Olson and Pete Campbell have an affair?
Yes, Peggy and Pete have an affair in the first season of Mad Men. Their affair starts when Peggy begins working at Sterling Cooper as Don’s assistant. As a result of their illicit relationship, Peggy gets pregnant. However, she doesn’t even realize she is pregnant until she goes to the hospital for stomach pains. She gives birth to a baby boy in the Season 1 finale.
Carin Baer / AMC / Everett Collection
What happened to Peggy Olson and Pete Campbell’s baby?
After Peggy gives birth to her and Pete’s son, she places the baby up for adoption. Because it’s a closed adoption, we never learn any additional details about the baby’s whereabouts. In the Season 2 finale, Peggy confesses to Pete. “I had your baby, and I gave it away,” she tells him, before adding that she “wanted other things.” Pete and Peggy never speak about their child again.
Did Peggy Olson and Don Draper ever get together?
No, and thank goodness. Peggy and Don’s relationship remains strictly platonic through Mad Men’s seven-season run. Their friendship is based on trust and respect. Peggy and Don love each other like family — and often fight like family, too. (“That’s what the money is for!”) When Peggy is in the hospital after giving birth, Don is the only one to visit her. He encourages Peggy to pick herself up and move forward.
Despite ups and downs, Peggy and Don value their relationship more than most of their romantic ones. Their bond is the heart of the show. Echoing Don’s words to her in the hospital, Peggy urges Don to come home and leave his demons behind once and for all in the series finale.
Michael Yarish / AMC / Everett Collection
Who does Peggy Olson end up with?
Peggy’s endgame is with art director Stan Rizzo (Jay R. Ferguson), who is introduced in Season 4. Stan and Peggy become friends first, but they don’t openly admit they’re in love with each other until the series finale.
Pete Campbell
Did Pete Campbell find out about his baby with Peggy Olson?
Yes, Pete finds out about Peggy’s baby in the Season 2 finale. He is stunned by the news, but he buries the secret as Peggy did. Peggy and Pete continue to work together after her confession, and they never bring up the baby again.
Who did Pete Campbell have an affair with?
Pete has a number of affairs, despite being married to the Trudy Campbell (Alison Brie). His most notable affair after Peggy was with Beth Dawes (Alexis Bledel). Pete attempts to be the hero in Beth’s story, but their relationship is severed completely when Beth receives electroshock therapy and forgets Pete.
During his separation from Trudy, Pete begins dating Bonnie Whiteside (Anna Camp) after moving to Los Angeles. Their romance ends during their visit to New York, which is the beginning of Trudy and Pete’s reconciliation.
Justina Mintz / AMC / Everett Collection
Do Pete and Trudy Campbell end up together?
Yes, Pete and Trudy get back together after their separation. Pete begs Trudy for another chance. The series ends with Pete, Trudy, and their daughter, Tammy, boarding a private plane for Wichita, Kansas, where the family is moving for Pete’s new job.
Roger Sterling
Who does Roger Sterling end up with?
When Mad Men begins, Roger is married to Mona Sterling (Talia Balsam, Slattery’s real-life wife). They have a daughter named Margaret. After Roger and Mona divorce, he marries the much younger Jane Siegel (Peyton List). Their joint LSD trip is the final nail in the coffin of their failing marriage.
Roger’s third and final wife is Marie Calvet (Julia Ormond), who also happens to be the mother of Megan Draper. In the series finale, they head to Paris for their honeymoon.
Michael Yarish / AMC / Everett Collection
Is Roger Sterling the father of Joan Holloway’s baby?
Yes, Roger and Joan (Christina Hendricks) have a baby together. Roger and Joan have an on-again, off-again secret relationship. After they’re robbed at gunpoint, Roger and Joan have sex, which is when their baby is conceived. Joan considers having an abortion, but she decides to keep the baby and pass it off as her husband Greg’s (Sam Page).
Joan Holloway
Who did Joan Holloway marry?
Joan was actually married twice. Her first husband was a man named Scotty, who is only briefly mentioned and never seen onscreen. Joan’s second husband is Dr. Greg Harris, a deeply insecure man who rapes Joan in Don’s office. When he fails to become a surgeon the normal way, he enlists in the Army, where he can work as a surgeon. He is sent to Vietnam and voluntarily reenlists, which is the final straw for Joan. After Joan and Greg divorce, he meets a nurse and has twin sons.
Michael Yarish / AMC / Everett Collection
Were Roger Sterling and Joan Harris in love?
Yes, but it’s complicated. Roger and Joan’s affair started before the events of the show, and it’s clear from the jump that they have a genuine affection for each other. The timing is just never right with these two. They are in love with each other at times, but over the course of the show, their dynamic evolves into a deep friendship.
In the final episode, Roger reveals he’s going to marry Marie, but he shares a final scene with Joan. She alludes to timing being an issue with their relationship. “I guess somebody finally got their timing right,” she tells him. Roger also lets Joan know that he’s changed his will to include their son, Kevin.
Who did Joan Harris end up with?
Our girl Joan is single by the end of Mad Men. At the start of the series finale, she’s still seeing Richard (Bruce Greenwood), but she ultimately breaks off their relationship to focus on her film production company, Holloway-Harris.
Mad Men, All Seasons, Streaming Now, HBO Max
