Lettie Mae Thornton is the single, abusive alcoholic mother of Tara Thornton.

Tara's father's whereabouts are currently unknown. Lettie Mae had one sister, Lafayette Reynolds' mother, who has since passed.

Lettie Mae is an alcoholic; while Tara was growing up, Lettie Mae would frequently steal money to buy alcohol and ignore her daughter. This caused Tara to spend a lot of time with Sookie Stackhouse, so much so that Sookie's grandmother, Adele Stackhouse, became a second mother to Tara. This caused animosity between Adele and Lettie Mae, and at one point Adele called social services on Lettie Mae, though she managed to keep custody of her child. Although Lettie Mae has spent much of Tara's life drunk and abusive, there is still a strong bond between them.

Season One

Lettie Mae is first shown drunk in her home, belligerent and angry with Tara. Lettie Mae throws a bottle at her, causing Tara to leave home. ("The First Taste")

Lettie Mae attended Adele Stackhouse's funeral, slightly sober, to pay respect to Adele. It was at the funeral that she told Tara she needed money for an exorcism, as she believed there was a demon inside of her forcing her to do evil. Tara eventually agrees to pay for her mother's expensive exorcism. ("Cold Ground")

Later, mother and daughter journeyed into the woods outside Bon Temps to meet with a woman named Miss Jeanette who preformed Lettie Mae's exorcism, curing her from her alcoholism. It is later revealed that Miss Jeanette was a fraud, but the power of Lettie Mae's belief in her "exorcism" led her to recover from her addiction.("Burning House of Love")("I Don't Wanna Know")